Exactly when Edward Dickens enlisted and was shipped over to France to join his unit, we do not know, his service record no longer exists, being one of the many thousands that were destroyed during bombing in the Second World War.

We do however know that he joined the 1^st Battalion Hampshire Regiment with his service number being 42659 and died from his wounds within weeks of his arrival in France. From the units War Diary, we know that a new batch of replacements joined up with the unit a couple of weeks before Edward died on 23^rd April 1918. Edward may well have been one of these.

On being wounded he had been taken to No. 23 Casualty Clearing Station. This unit was based in the grounds of the Chateau de Lozinghem, in the village of the same name. He is buried in Lapugnoy CWGC Cemetery, less than a mile away from the hospital.

I have shown Edward ready to go into action, with items of kit as described in the war diary of the Hampshire Regiment, standing in the village of Gonnehem where his unit were just before going into action.