EDWARD GEE 

EARLY LIFE

Edward Gee was born in 1891 and baptised at St Peter's Church, Macclesfield on 26th April 1891, the son of Hannah (nee Adams) and William Gee, a labourer of 34 Copper Street, Macclesfield.

Ten years later Edward was living with his parents, three younger sisters (Margaret, Sarah Ellen and Alice) and maternal grandmother at 30 Copper Street. His father was employed as a stone quarry labourer, and his mother was a silk winder.

In 1911, at the age of 20, Edward was still living at the same address and employed by Messrs Wetton & Son at Windyway Head Quarries as a stone dresser. He had a younger brother, Willie, born in 1912 and his mother died in 1906.

Edward married Jane Bradley at Hurdsfield Holy Trinity Church on 20th July 1912, and the couple lived at 69 Saville Street, Macclesfield.  They had two children: Edward, born on 20th May 1914, who died in 1917, and Vera Joan, born on Christmas Day 1916. Jane Gee later lived at 49 Windmill Street.

 

WW1 SERVICE

Edward attested at Macclesfield on 10th December 1915. His army medical record shows him to have been a small man, 5 feet 1½ inches tall, chest measurement 33 inches.

After basic training he embarked with the B.E.F. on 14th July 1916, serving in the Cheshire Regiment until he was transferred to the Royal Engineers on 13th April 1917. Edward was killed in action by an enemy shell on 27th July 1917, aged 26 years.

 

COMMEMORATION

Sapper Edward Gee is buried in Grave Ref. VII. C. 48 at Orchard Dump Cemetery, Arleux-en-Gohelle, Calais, France. His wife asked for the words ASLEEP IN JESUS to be engraved on his headstone.

In Macclesfield, Sapper Edward Gee is commemorated on the Park Green, Town Hall, St Michael's Church, St Peter’s Church and the Ancient Order of Foresters memorials.

 

NOTES

Cousin of Hedley Robinson of Langley, who served with a Scottish regiment.

 

SOURCES

GRO (England & Wales) Index: Births, Marriages, Deaths

Cheshire Parish Registers (Find My Past)

Census (England & Wales): 1881, 1891, 1911

Commonwealth War Graves Commission website

Lives of the First World War website

Macclesfield Times: 10 August 1917, 23 September 1921 (photo supplement)


Research by Rosie Rowley, Congleton.