Partially erased 1914-15 Star attributed to Pte E W Lawrence, 3rd London Rgt, wounded in action at Gallipoli

Partially erased 1914-15 Star attributed to Pte E W Lawrence, 3rd London Rgt, wounded in  action at Gallipoli

Impressed:

237[9]

Pte [E].W. L[A]W□□□CE

3-[L][O][N]□ R.

Possibly 2379 Pte E.W. LAWRENCE 3-LON R.

Edwin William Lawrence was born about 1895 in Paddington, Middlesex. He enlisted on 3 September 1914 aged 19 years 6 months. He was a clerk in civil life. He gave as his next of kin his father, also Edwin W, of 28 Alperton Street  Paddington. Edwin the younger served with the 2/3rd Battalion the London Regiment. First sent to Malta in December 1914 to relieve the 1/3rd Battalion in garrison there (where the opportunity was taken to train the recruits), he served in the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan as part of the Khartoum garrison between about 15 April 1915 and 13 September 1915

He  then went to Gallipoli via Port Sudan, Port Said and Mudros, leaving around 15 September, landing at Suvla Bay to join the campaign on 26 September. The battalion was attached to the Regulars of 86th Brigade in 29th Division and assigned to 'C' section of the 'Dublin Castle' sector of the line. The battalion spent the next two months holding the trenches, losing half its strength in the process, Pte Lawrence amongst them. He received a severe gun shot wound to both feet on 15 October at Gallipoli and, after admission to 15th General Hospital, was invalided home to England via the Hospital Ship 'Asturias' on the 29th. Pte Lawrence was discharged due to wounds, under paragraph 392(xvi) of King's Regulations*, on 16 August 1916 and was entitled to the Silver War Badge, number 89735. A pension record ledger entry subsequently gave him addresses in Birmingham and at Holly House Newtown near Hyde, Manchester.

*No longer physically fit for war service