Lives of the First World War

6th December 1889 - 8th April 1966

Frederick's brother Edwin Arthur is believed to be the man named on the Little Gaddesden Roll of Honour as PURTON, Edward, Oxon & Bucks Light Infantry. No Edward Purton is shown in village records and Edwin is known to have served. However, no man of similar name has been found in the Oxon and Bucks Light Infantry; the only Edwin Arthur Purton found served in the Machine Gun Corps. As there is insufficient military information to assign Edwin an independent life story, details of his life have been added to his brother Frederick's story. Edwin Arthur was born 6th December 1889 in Little Gaddesden, the second child of Elizabeth and Heber Purton. In 1891, aged 1, he was living at Home Farm with his parents and older sister Ellen, aged 3. His father was a farm labourer working with the horses. By 1901, his father now a domestic coachman, the family had moved to 5 Hudnall, next door to their cousins at No 6. By then Edwin had four younger siblings: Reginald, 9, Frederick, 6, Daisy, 3, and Lizzie 8 months. The family were still at that address in 1911, with 21 year old Edwin recorded as a Butcher, probably working for Fred Janes just up the lane. In 1916 (3rd Quarter), Edwin married Ada Baker in Grantham. She was the younger sister of George Liberty's wife Lottie who had met Edwin while visiting her sister, a Laundry Maid working for Lord and Lady Brownlow. Recollections of his daughter Mary in 'A Century Remembered' indicate that the marriage took place before he went to war. She adds that after the war he was an invalid. In Spring 1919 he is shown on the Electoral Register with his parents at 5 Hudnall but he and Ada are then said to have returned to Grantham, then moved to Nottinghamshire where he worked on the railway. They had one daughter, Mary, born in 1921; her birth was registered in Nottinghamshire. Ada died in Mansfield in February 1935, aged 42. She was buried in Little Gaddesden on 7th February 1935 and Edwin returned to the village to live with his parents. In the 1939 Register he is shown, a widower, as a Painter and "A.R.P. Little Gaddesden", living with his parents at 1 Little Gaddesden. During the Second World War he served in B Company, 7th Hertfordshire Battalion, Home Guard. He was a member of No 5, Little Gaddesden, Platoon whose area included Ringshall, Little Gaddesden, Hudnall and Great Gaddesden and is named on the Supplementary List, indicating that he was not still serving when the 7th Battalion was stood down on 3rd December 1944, possibly because his health was not good enough. In 1944 (4th Quarter), Edwin married Daisy Clayton in Berkhamsted. After his parents' death, he and Daisy continued to live at No. 1. Edwin died in St Paul's Hospital, Hemel Hempstead aged 76 on 8th April 1966. His address was given as 1 Little Gaddesden and probate was granted to his widow Daisy.

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