Edward Milner Grime

Edward Milner Grime was born in Bradshaw, Turton on 3 February 1891. He was known as 'Ted' or 'Teddy' and was described by a comrade as 'Fair, 5 feet 6 or 7 inches in height and rather bald'.

He was the son of John Edwin and Dorothy Agnes Grime of 646 Tonge Moor Road, Bolton. He had two younger sisters, Mary and Dorothy.

His father, John Edwin Grime was a school teacher and head teacher in Bolton.

Ted attended Bolton Church Institute from 11 September 1903 to not later than July 1908.

He emigrated from Bolton to Australia at the age of 20 and became a farmer near Moora, north of Perth in Western Australia.

Grime family tree - pdf

Edward's War

When Britain and Germany went to war in August 1914, the Australian Government pledged full support for Britain. The outbreak of war was initially greeted in Australia, as in many other places, with great enthusiasm.

After the heavy losses of the Dardanelles Campaign of 1915 many more Australians were recruited as reinforcements. Ted enlisted on 26 July 1915 as a Private in the 11th Infantry Battalion and sailed for Egypt on 2 November 1915. There he was among the fresh men who merged with Gallipoli veterans to form the 51st Battalion, predominantly composed of men from Western Australia.

Arriving in France on 12 June 1916, the 51st moved into the trenches of the Western Front within a fortnight. It fought in its first major battle at Mouquet Farm in August and September and suffered casualties equivalent to a third of its strength in both of the attacks it launched.

After Mouquet Farm, the battalion saw out the rest of the year alternating between front-line duty and training and labouring behind the line. This routine continued through the bleak winter of 1916-17.

Early in 1917, the battalion participated in the advance that followed the German retreat to the Hindenburg Line. On 2 April it attacked at Noreuil, a village which had been fortified to delay the Australian advance. It was in this attack that Ted was killed while in a trench, by a sniper's bullet as witnesses attested. The full record of the attack can be found in the 51st Battalion War Diary.

Edward Milner Grime is remembered on Panel 152 of the Australian War Memorial. The AWM website preserves the correspondence between his sisters and the Red Cross as they anxiously tried to find out where he had been buried.

External Links:

Attack on Noreuil

51st Battalion War Diary and Appendices 2nd April 1917


Correspondence between Mary Grime (sister) and the Red Cross about the location of his grave

 


Edward Milner Grime

Lance Corporal: 3346

51st Battalion
Australian Infantry, A.I.F.

Born: Bradshaw, Turton 3 February 1891

Died: France 2 April 1917

Link to CWGC Casualty Details

Australian Imperial Force

School Badge HomeNames 1914 - 1918 Names 1939 - 1945

Canon Slade School Contact us

Bolton Church Institute School War Memorial • 1914 ~ 1918