Branch of Service

Army

Conflict

World War I (1914-1918)

Date of Enlistment

20/10/1915

Date of Discharge

25/07/1919

Place of Enlistment

Sydney NSW

Gender

Male

Place of Birth

Southampton, England

Address (at enlistment)

Duntroon ACT

School(s) Attended

Herbert Hospital School, Woolwich, England

Occupation

Groom

Next of Kin

Martha Edwards (wife), Forest Lodge NSW

Service Number

9474

Final Rank

Warrant Officer 1

Final Unit

15 Company, Australian Army Service Corps AIF

Military Medal - awarded for his actions on 12 April 1918 when in charge of transporting supplies to the 17th Battalion. His convoy came under heavy shell fire at Boves (near Amiens) and Edwards rescued his wounded men, recovered the surviving horses and salvaged the supplies.

Edwards was born in England, the son of a soldier. He grew up in various army stations around the world, including Jamaica, Gibraltar and Egypt as well as in Britain. After completing his schooling he became a clerk at Woolwich Arsenal. He joined the City of London Imperial Reserve in 1899 and served with them in the Boer War for a year during which he was wounded in the hip. After returning to London he enlisted again, this time in the Metropolitan Mounted Rifles during 1902. After returning to work at Woolwich, Edwards went to sea as a steward in merchant ships and arrived in Australia in 1908. At the outbreak of war he was sent to the Royal Military College, Duntroon to work as a driver, taking the place of Imperial Reservists who had been called up for duty. Ten months later he enlisted at Victoria Barracks, Sydney, with the 15th Company of the Australian Army Service Corps.

Edwards arrived in France in June 1916 and served in the 15th Company (of the ASC) attached to the 5th Infantry Brigade on the Somme (during the winter of 1916-17), at Ypres in 1917 and at Corbie, Hamel, Villers-Bretonneux, Mont St. Quentin and the Hindenburg Line. After the war he returned to work at RMC Duntroon until 1931 when the college moved to Sydney. Edwards stayed on at Duntroon as caretaker and, when the college returned in 1937, he managed the canteen until 1942. He joined the Voluntary Defence Corps and served in the quartermasters store at Greenwich, Sydney until 1945. He died at his daughter's home in Bowral on 19 May 1963 at 84 years of age and is buried in Woden Cemetery. He is referred to as 'Albert George' in death notices.

Edwards was awarded the Military Medal for his actions on 12 April 1918 when in charge of transporting supplies to the 17th Battalion. His convoy came under heavy shell fire at Boves (near Amiens) and Edwards rescued his wounded men, recovered the surviving horses and salvaged the supplies.

Description - height 5 feet 9½ inches, weight 140 pounds, chest 36 inches, brown complexion, blue eyes, black hair, Church of England.

Ross Howarth, 'Civilians employed at the Royal Military College of Australia, Duntroon, from 1911 to 1931', RMC Duntroon, November 2000
Stand-to (Feb. 1957, p.45), RSSILA
The Canberra Times - 20 May 1963, 29 June 2000
AWM Honours & Awards
NAA RecordSearch - Series B2455 (First Australian Imperial Force Personnel Dossiers, 1914-1920)