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Writer's pictureMichael Burns

Edmund De Wind: Comber’s Victoria Cross

On the 11th December in 1883, Edmund de Wind was born in Comber to Arthur Hughes De Wind & Margaret Jane De Wind née Stone.

Birth entry for Edmund de Wind
Edmund de Wind birth entry

At the time of the 1901 census the De Wind family (alongside a cook and housemaid) lived in Castle Street, Comber with Edmund now 17 listed as a ‘scholar’. Edmund had attended Campbell College between May 1895 and December 1900. He went on to work as a Bank Clerk at the Bank of Ireland working in Belfast and later Cavan. Indeed while the majority of the De Wind family can be seen in Comber in the 1911 census, Edmund is a boarder in Drumelis, Co Cavan. Later that year Edmund emigrated to Canada and continued his banking career with the ‘Bank of Commerce’ in a number of Canadian cities/regions including Alberta and Ontario.



A few months before the outbreak of the First World War, Edmund joined ‘The Queen’s Own Rifles of Canada’ before becoming a private in the 31st Battalion-Alberta Regiment in the Canadian Overseas Expeditionary Force in November 1914. By September 1915 he was in France and saw action at a number of infamous and bloody battles including Thiepval (1916) and Vimy Ridge (1917).


Canadian machine gunners at Vimy Ridge (1917)
Canadian machine gunners dig themselves into shell holes on Vimy Ridge, France, April 1917. (courtesy Library and Archives Canada/PA-1017)

Now a battle-tested Army man, Edmund went to England in April 1917 for Officer training before receiving his commission to Second Lieutenant in the 15th Battalion of the Royal Irish Rifles in September 1917. Edmund's Canadian Military records can be seen below; his attestation form (filled out upon recruitment), Canadian Service record and Canadian Discharge record.


This was to be his last commission as in March 1918, Edmund was killed in action near Grugies, aged just 34. He was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross with citation reading:


“ For most conspicuous bravery and self-sacrifice on the 21st March, 1918, at the Race Course Redoubt, near Grugies. For seven hours he held this most important post, and though twice wounded and practically single-handed, he maintained his position until another section could be got to his help. On two occasions, with two N.C.O.’s only, he got out on top under heavy machine gun and rifle fire, and cleared the enemy out of the trench, killing many. He continued to repel attack after attack until he was mortally wounded and collapsed. His valour, self-sacrifice and example were of the highest order.”

Edmund’s body was never recovered but he is remembered on the Pozieres Memorial and is of course named on the Comber War Memorial and the separate De Wind Memorial both in Comber Square.

Obituary of Edmund de Wind
Obituary of Lt Edmund de Wind

For more information on Edmund de Wind see Crown of Life (Connecticut, 2019) by Josh de Wind including a full breakdown of his service and journey during the First World War. A digital version is available to download for free here.

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