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Edward Chipperfield was born in Slough in October 1894.
By the start of the First World War he was living with his uncle Edward Skingsley in Emmbrook and was employed as a nurseryman.
Edward enlisted in Reading on 19th October 1914 and requested to serve in the Coldstream Guards.
He was twenty years old, 5 ft 8 ins tall and weighed 10 stone 1 pound.
Three days later he joined 4th Battalion of the Coldstream Guards at Caterham and commenced six months training.
On 27th April 1915 Edward was posted overseas and joined 2nd Battalion of the Coldstream Guards on the
Ypres Salient.
In the summer of 1915 the Guards Division was formed and 2nd Battalion moved to 1st Guards Brigade.
On 27th September Edward received a gunshot wound to the arm whilst in action in Vermelles.
He was shipped home and after recovering spent the next few months with 5th Battalion.
During this time Edward qualified as a 1st Class Signaller.
On 28th August 1916 he rejoined 2nd Battalion on the Somme, where they were taking part in the great Allied offensive.
On the 15th September all three Coldstream Battalions were in the front line of assault, the first and only time the Regiment has gone into action as a whole.
The losses in the three Battalions amounted to 40 Officers and 1326 other ranks.
The winter of 1916-17 was spent in trench warfare on the Somme and in the summer and autumn of 1917 the Regiment played a prominent part in the
Battle of Passchendaele.
In November 1917 the Guards Division moved south from Flanders in readiness for the next Allied offensive.
During the
Battle of Cambrai
the Guards Division fought at Gonnelieu, Gouzeaucourt and Gauche Wood losing 125 officers and 2,966 men.
On 30th November 1917 the Guards Division was called forward to help stem a German breakthrough.
The attack commenced at 7.30am and was devastatingly fast and effective.
By 9 a.m. the Germans had penetrated almost 3 miles towards Havrincourt Wood.
The Third Army faced disaster, with the real prospect of several divisions being cut off in the trap.
The first attack fell on the 55th (West Lancs) and 12th Divisions on the south-eastern side of the salient.
The Germans climbed the slope to re-take Lateau Wood, pushed up the complex of shallow ravines south of Banteux, moved through Villers Guislain, and past Gouzeaucourt.
The 2nd and 3rd Battalions of the Coldstream Guards counter attacked at Gouzeaucourt without artillery support and, in spite of intense machine gun fire, regained the lost positions.
During the fighting Edward Chipperfield was wounded in action.
He was evacuated to the 21st Casualty Clearing Station at Ytres where he died of his wounds;
Edward was 23 years old.
The next day
Sidney Pinchin
died at the same Casualty Clearing Station and another Hurst soldier
Ernest Silvester
was wounded and taken prisoner at nearby Gonnelieu.
Edward now rests with
Sidney
in
Rocquigny-Equancourt Road British Cemetery,
about five miles west of the battlefield.
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