6328 Pte Edgar Victor Burchell, 1st Hampshire Regiment

6328 Pte Edgar Victor Burchell of the 1st Hampshire Regiment died of wounds on this day, 10th July, 1915. According to Soldiers Died in The Great War (SDGW), he was borne in Calne, Wiltshire; was living at Landport, Hampshire, and enlisted at Portsmouth.

Edgar Burchell was an old soldier. His number indicates that he joined the Hampshire Regiment in the second half of 1901 and it would appear that he extended his period of service with the regiment. Certainly he was in France by 31st August 1914 and was therefore entitled to the 1914 Star with clasp and roses, all of which are duly noted on his medal index card (MIC).

Edgar was 36 years old when he died. He was born around 1880 and appears on the 1881 census as a one year old infant with one older brother - Alfred E Burchell - aged 5. The boys' parents are recorded as Edgar Burchell (head, aged 25) and Elizabeth Burchell, a dressmaker, also aged 25. Edgar's occupation is noted as "Warder, Convicts Prison & Boot Maker." His place of birth is recorded as Calne, Wiltshire, as is Alfred's. Edgar's place of birth however, is recorded as Portsmouth. This ties in with Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) information but not that on SDGW. The boys' mother was born at Littlehampton in Sussex.

By the time the 1891 census was taken, the family, living at Marden Court in Calne, had grown considerably. Elizabeth Burchell (aged 35) is now recorded as the head (but still married rather than widowed) and then, in age order are her children: Edgar (aged 11), Emily M (aged 8), Albert Howard H Burchell (aged 6), Beatrice (aged 5), Robert (aged 3) and Frances E (aged 1).

Ten years on again and a 22 year old Edgar Burchell, just a few months off from joining the Hampshire Regiment, is recorded as a Navy crew member on a ship in Gibraltar. He is noted as "single" and a "Domestic, 2nd Class."

I don't have access to the 1911 census but in the June quarter of 1912, Edgar married Alice Newman in Portsmouth.

Edgar is buried in Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery and CWGC additionally notes that he was the "son of Edgar Micah Burchell and Elizabeth Ann Burchell and the husband of Alice Burchell of 5 Regent Street, Mile End, Portsmouth. Native of Portsmouth." There is also a note on his MIC that there was an "app[lication] from A Burchell [his wife] for 1914 Star in respect of the services of the late Pte E V Burchell 12.06.19." Mrs Burchell's address in 1919 is written as 6 Orchard Road, East Cowes.

At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, WE WILL REMEMBER THEM.

Sources:

Ancestry.co.uk (Medal index card, 1881, 1891 & 1901 census, BMD registers)
Army Service Numbers 1881-1918
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Soldiers Died in the Great War