Edwin Clements was born in Little Amwell in Hertfordshire on 12th March 1893. In 1911, he was working for Hertfordshire County Council as a junior clerk. Edwin then took up a position as a clerk at St Audry’s Hospital.

In October 1914, Edwin enlisted into the 4th (Territorial) Battalion Suffolk Regiment as a private. He was later transferred to the 7th (Service) Battalion, Suffolk Regiment, joining them on The Somme in August 1916. Edwin remained with the 7th Suffolks until the summer of 1917 when, on 25th September, he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant into the 5th (Territorial) Battalion, Suffolk Regiment serving in Egypt and Palestine.

At the end of the war, Edwin re-applied for his post at St Audry’s, who were required to keep his position available once the hostilities had ceased. He rejoined on 2nd February 1919, having been discharged from the services.

In 1925, he married Dorothy Kate Sharman who was born in Melton in 1898. Her brother, Herbert, served in the Army Service Corps during the war. By 1939, the two of them were living in Derby, where Edwin was clerk and steward to Derby Borough Asylum. In later life, Edwin and Dorothy returned to Suffolk and are both buried in the graveyard of St Andrew’s Church, Bredfield. Edwin died in 1979 at the age of eighty-six.

For his war service, Edwin received the British War and Victory Medals.  

Below is Edwin's Medal Index Card showing his address as St Audry's Hospital, Melton.