1914 STAR BAR TRIO AND PLAQUE

Edmund Swetenham was the only son of Clement and Louisa. He was born in Somerford Booths, Cheshire, on the 30th of April 1890. The family lived at Somerford Booths Hall, which was built in 1612. Clement had been a Lieutenant Commander in the Royal Navy  

Lieutenant Swetenham was educated at Eastman's RN Academy and Army School, Stratford on Avon. He then gained a place at Sandhurst and was commissioned into the Durham Light Infantry on the 19th of April 1910 as a Second Lieutenant. Edmund was based in Colchester at the time of the 1911 census. In January 1914, he was made Lieutenant. 

A member of the 2nd Bn, he landed in France on the 8th of September 1914. Less than two months later, on the 27th of October, he was killed by a sniper while in the trenches near Rue du Pont de Bois, Armentières. The sniper also killed 2nd Lieutenant Vaughan and wounded two other officers. Edmund is remembered on The Ploegsteert Memorial. 

After his death, Edmund's Colonel sent the following letter to his father, "Your son only left here a few weeks ago, full of keenness at being able to serve his country at the front, and to hear so soon of his death is a great blow to all of us. He was very popular both with his brother officers and men, and he was one of the keenest and smartest soldiers."

 
Interestingly his mother, Louisa, died under German Occupation in WW2. At the time of the 1939 census, she was living in Kensington but moved to Beau Séjour Route de Moirmont St. Aubins, Jersey, shortly after. She died at the Bon Air Nursing Home in St. Saviour, Jersey, on the 13th of December 1944.