Born in 1894 at Woodford, the third son of Robert (General Labourer) & Clara Fenton.
In 1901 he is living with his family at 38 Oxford Terrace, Maybank Road, South Woodford. In 1911 at the age of 14 Edward was working as a Milkman, his father was a Labourer to a Cartage Contractor and the family now lived at 3 Gordon Villas, Gordon Road, South Woodford.
Edward attended Churchfields School, and was a member of the Churchfields Football Club. He worked for the Dairyman R. Steele, and then later for R W & I Puddicombe at their Woodford Broadway shop.
He joined 1 Grenadier Guards on the outbreak of war, and was sent to France in January 1915. He fought at Festubert, La Basse, Neuve Chapelle, Ypres, Loos and on the Somme. He was awarded the Military Medal for gallantry in the field during fighting around the Hohenzollern Redoubt in 1915. There he distinguished himself in bombing attacks on the enemy, and rescuing an Officer under attack by shell and machine gun fire. Like many brave men, he was of a modest and retiring disposition. He was the first boy from Churchfields to win the Military Medal.
While on leave in Woodford 18 months before his death, it emerged that he was the only Private left of the Battalion who went to France 12 months before.
The routine of the Battalion involved five days in the line, two in reserve, followed by three in forward positions, but the line was very mobile. One day they had to dig in three times, and the wet weather resulted in large quantities of mud.
In October 1917 the Battalion was deployed at Passchendaele in the area of Ypres. On 12th October 1917, an order came to send a Corporal and three men out on a patrol, and Fenton asked to go. There were no enemy troops in sight, but about 200 yards from the trench he was shot through the head by a sniper.
X/R: Private Robert John Fenton (Brother)
Research by Adrian Lee, Local Historian
Sources:
Ancestry.com
FindmyPast.co.uk
Woodford Times