In 1914, D. W. Edwards volunteered, as did many Old Perseans, for duties in
France as a dispatch rider. His offer was accepted and later in that year he
arrived on the Continent as a rider with the Royal Engineers. He was
promoted to Corporal and wrote the following letter to The Pelican:
'Much has been written concerning dispatch riding at the front, and most
people have the impression that it is a life of constant excitement and
adventure. This is incorrect to a certain extent as it is only occasionally
that the dispatch rider comes under fire. But when he does he cannot take
cover and must go straight on, disregarding all the bullets and shells.
'The work may be dreadfully dull at times. There are weeks of monotonous
riding between headquarters, hospitals and other places, when one feels as
though the work is only that of an ordinary telegraph boy. But after such
work the reward is reaped in a ride to a very heavily shelled position.
'Personally I only had about half-a-dozen really fine rides during the
whole three months during which I was attached to the Lahore Division; but
these few experiences were well worth the weeks of monotonous waiting.
Perhaps my best trip was from Bethune to Givenchy about December 20th, with
a dispatch for a General "viewing operations under cover and possibly in the
trenches." I set out on my B.S.A. at high speed, and after passing through -
I simply flew along four or five kilometres of fairly good pave. But on
reaching the outskirts of Givenchy I had to slow down owing to shell holes,
heaps of bricks, etc., in the road. Every house along the road had been
holed and some had their fronts blown out. Indeed, curiously enough, the
furniture was generally in its right place, with the pictures on the wall.
After crossing Pont Fixe over the La Bassée Canal, the noise of the shells
was simply deafening. I stopped to ask the only man in sight where the
General was. He said I should find him in the farmyard near by. A shrapnel
shell burst on the house behind him, so we bolted for the farmyard. Leaving
my machine in the road, I went into the farmyard where I found the General
on his hands and knees as he peeped with his glasses round a corner of a
hayrick. One or two staff officers were likewise engaged peeping round other
corners. Having received an answer I rescued my bike and set out for home.
It was the fastest ride I have ever had, and my machine rose to the
occasion. En route I ran over a dead man lying across the road. Later on in
the day when I went out there again our guns had silenced the German
artillery.'
In February 1915 he was promoted to Second Lieutenant and transferred to
the Army Service Corps. He transferred to the Royal Flying Corps was
promoted to Captain, and won the Military Cross (Gazetted 2nd June 1916). He
was serving as an air observer with No. 45 Squadron when he was killed when
his Sopwith Strutter biplane was shot down on Friday, 6th April 1917, during
what became known to the R.F.C. as 'Bloody April'. He left behind a widow:
Mrs. C. G. K. Edwards, of 31, Hatherley Grove, Westbourne Grove, London.

From the book “The Perse School Book of Honour 1914 – 1919”
by H. C. F. Pattenden.