Pair: Private J. Edmonds, Lancashire Fusiliers, attached Royal Engineers, a victim of “friendly fire” who had written a poem to his wife, entitled “The Last Message”, the day before he died

British War and Victory Medals (39903 Pte., Lan. Fus.), good very fine and better (2) £60-80

Joseph Edmonds, who was born in Tilehurst, Berkshire, but a resident in Hyde, Cheshire at the time of his enlistment in April 1916, was accidentally shot on 9 August 1917, while on attachment to the Royal Engineers from the 10th Battalion, Lancashire Fusiliers. According to a feature published in The Hyde Reporter on 8 September 1917, he had written a poem for his wife, entitled “The Last Message”, the day before he died:

‘Tell her she was always with me all the day and all the night.
That she nerved me for the trenches, that she steeled me for the fight.
Tell her that her love has roused me to a higher place than death.
That the man she married loved her with his very latest breath.’

Edmonds, formerly an engine driver at Audenshaw Waterworks, ‘belonged to a military family, for three brothers are with the Colours. Sapper James Edmonds, the elder, and George Edmonds, the third son, are both serving in France, while the youngest, Private Robert Edmonds, has been in Salonika a year and eight months. Two brothers-in-law have been wounded and three cousins killed in the War.’