Edwin TIMMS (1879–1916)

Information from his personnel file in the Canadian Army (No. 81889)

• Date enlisted: 12 Dec 1914 in Winnipeg to 32nd Overseas Infantry Battalion (he is referred to as Edward Timms in his Army records)
• Date of birth listed as 12 Sept 1879
• At some point a clerk corrected his home from 'Jump Hill' to 'Juniper Hill'
• He listed his former service as 12 years in the West Yorks (though Flora's biographies suggest he only served with them from 1899 to 1907)
• His battalion sailed for England on 23 Feb 1915 – stationed in Shorncliffe, the battalion was renamed the 32nd Reserve Battalion and provided reinforcements to the units at the front
• He was sent to the 2nd 'Eastern Ontario' Battalion on 5 May 1915 – that battalion had gone to France in Feb 1915
• He was hospitalised with rheumatic fever for 8 days in Nov 1915
• He would have had two periods of leave in England, March–May 1915, and an 8-day home leave from 20–28 Mar 1916 (this latter period would be the time Flora missed seeing him due to her children's illness)
• He was killed during a period of relative quiet, after the battle for the St Eloi craters, on 26 Apr 1916
• Flora tells us (in Heatherley) that the notification letter was misdirected – possibly due to the fact that his mother's address was given as near Brackley in 'North Hants' rather than 'Northants'!
• In May 1920, his mother Emma Timms was sent his three service medals, as well as the Canadian Memorial Cross, a small silver cross with a purple neck ribbon sent to all widows and mothers of Canadian casualties – the medals and the cross would be engraved with his name and service number
• To his father (although he had died in 1918) was sent his 'death plaque' (a circular bronze medallion bearing his name) and a death scroll, numbered 763901
• There is a copy of a letter written to his mother in June 1915 indicating that if he was killed, all his pay would go to her – his pay would have been $1.00 a day, or £1.10 a day in France. A form in the file indicates that his pension was denied to his mother after his father had died on 13 Dec 1918 – nor was Emma Timms given the $20/month separation allowance, for reasons not stated
• Edwin is buried in grave II.F.3 in Woods Cemetery, Zillebeke, Ieper, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium
• The badge worn by Flora in the photograph in Christine Bloxham's biography (page 44) is an early unauthorised version of the 2nd Battalion badge – Edwin would probably have sent it to her sometime between May 1915 and April 1916, which may help to date the picture – she is not showing any sign of mourning