THE CENTENARY of the death of a soldier who has a memorial to him in Droitwich’s St Mary’s Cemetery will be marked on Sunday.
Pte Edgar Francis Talbot, a member of the 26th Battalion Royal Fusiliers, was 35 when he was killed on September 18, 1916 at the Battle of Flers Courcelette on the Somme.
The battle he was killed in was the ‘Somme Offensive’ which began on July 1, 1916 and ended on November 18, 1916.
It was the first ever battle when a tank was used.
Historian Peter Kennedy – who has been involved in researching Pte Talbot’s death with Sandra Taylor from Remember the Fallen – will put a poppy and a cross on the memorial at 11am.
The Standard reported three weeks ago about the quest, led by Sandra, to find relatives of Pte Talbot as the law states nothing can be done to restore his memorial to its former glory without the permission of any surviving relatives.
Edgar Talbot was born on December 12, 1880, in Aston, and was one of eight children. His family lived in Handsworth before they moved to Droitwich and then Burton-on-Trent.
In 1901, Edgar was listed as being a boarder of Grange Farm, Tutnall and Cobley, Bromsgrove.
Anyone with any information on Pte Edgar Talbot’s life can contact Sandra at [email protected] or e-mail [email protected] or call us on 01527 588657 and we will pass on the details.
