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17801 9th Battalion, Royal Fusiliers
Alfred Edey was born in Sudbury around 1883, one of six surviving children of Alfred and Caroline Edey. His father was a foundry labourer and the family lived at 6 Burkitts Lane, before moving to 5 Church Walk and later to 65 East Street.
Alfred married Kate Byford in 1905 and they had two known children: Alfred and Florence. Alfred was employed as a goods porter on the Great Eastern Railway and the family lived at 3 Girling Street.
Alfred enlisted and served with the Royal Fusiliers, he first served ‘in a theatre of war’ in France on 8 December 1915. His battalion formed part of 36th Brigade, 12th (Eastern) Division. On 12 February 1916 the Division began moving to the Loos trenches and held the line between the Quarries and the Hohenzollern Redoubt. The area around the Hohenzollern Redoubt was where underground mine warfare was very active. On 2 March four mines were blown up beneath the enemy and the Brigade successfully captured the craters and gained important observation over the enemy. Severe fighting continued for some weeks with the division suffering over 4,000 casualties, killed, missing or wounded until it was relieved at the end of April; Alfred was one of those casualties.
He was killed in action aged 33 on 13 April 1916. There is no known grave and he is remembered on the Loos Memorial, Pas de Calais, France. Alfred was awarded the 1914-15 Star, British War medal and Victory Medal.
A Cross of Remembrance was laid close to his name on the Loos Memorial in October 2012.
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