Edkins, H
(1896 - 1916)
Key Facts
DATE OF BIRTH:
5th July 1896
YEARS ATTENDED THE COLLEGE:
1909 - 1915
HOME ADDRESS WHEN AT THE COLLEGE:
32 Underhill Road, East Dulwich
REGIMENT
21st Battalion, London Regiment (First Surrey Rifles)
FINAL RANK:
2nd Lieutenant
DATE OF DEATH:
15th September 1916
AGE AT DEATH:
20
WHERE HE DIED (or was wounded)
High Wood, Somme
LOCATION OF GRAVE OR MEMORIAL:
Adanac Military Cemetery, Miraumont, VII. F. 23.
2nd Lieutenant Harrison Edkins
Born on July 5th 1896, Harrison was the son of clerk Robert Edkins and his wife, Lucy, who lived in East Dulwich, and was admitted to the College on a scholarship in the summer of 1909 at the age of 13. By the time of his final year he was prominent in many facets of College life, and during the 1914-15 school year he was an Editor of The Alleynian, wicketkeeper for the 1st XI, a member of the 3rd XV, captain of fives, a violinist in the school orchestra, and also an officer in the O.T.C. He had earned the Charles Oldham classics scholarship at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, but instead elected, as it was 1915, to volunteer for service.
Having taken a commission in the 1st Surrey Rifles in September of 1915, Harrison spent the next several months in England, serving as an adjutant at the Winchester Depot where he was based. In June of 1916 he went over to France with his battalion for the first time, and was leading his platoon in an assault near High Wood on the Somme when he was killed on September 15th that year. In his memory was established a prize at the College, the Harrison Edkins Violin Prize.
