WWI REMEMBERED Ted was hit by shell after risking his life delivering a message

IN THE winter of 1916, General Sir Herbert Plumer had begun making plans for a major offensive at Messines Ridge in Belgium. The aim was to gain control of the higher ground south east of the Ypres Salient, near Hill 60.

From January 1917, the Allies – many of them Welsh miners – dug approximately 8,000m of tunnel and placed 600 tonnes of explosives under the German lines.

On June 7, under Plumer’s orders, a simultaneous detonation of all 19 mines caused such a massive explosion that it was heard in London, some 140 miles away across the English Channel.

Under a creeping barrage, three corps of the British Second Army were then sent forward and within three hours had captured their primary objectives.

One of those involved in the attack was the II Anzac Corps commanded by Lieutenant-General A Godley.

It contained the 3rd Australian Division, experiencing service on the Western Front for the first time.

Further attacks in June advanced the British line even further, and, supported by the 4th Australian Division, they took the Oosttaverne Line from the German 4th Army.

Throughout the assault the Australians lost 6,800 men, one of whom was Private Edward Burnell Wilkins, 44th Infantry Battalion, 3rd Australian Division, who was killed by German shellfire on June 8.

In a letter to his father, Henry Wilkins, explaining his son’s death, Sergeant Rumford wrote: “Ted was on his way to the officer in command of the company with a message, which he delivered after great personal risk.

“On his way back to his post he was forced to take shelter for a short period in a shell-hole, when a German shell burst very close to him and caused him instant death.”

One of seven children, Ted was born October 1889 in a cottage next to the now forgotten Lamb Inn in Nottage, Bridgend, to Henry and Elizabeth Wilkins.

Henry was a stonemason and Ted followed him into the trade, being apprenticed as a bricklayer to William J Jackson of New Road in Porthcawl.

On May 23, 1913, Ted and his cousin Cradock Burnell, also of Nottage, emigrated to Freemantle, Perth, Australia, from London docks on the RMS Osterley.

Within a few years, the ship would be used as an Australian troopship, making 59 return voyages.

Ted settled in Perth and continued his trade, bricklaying, until December 1915, when he enlisted into the A Company 44th Battalion/11th Brigade, Service No 979.

On June 6, 1916, aboard the HMAT Suevic, the 44th sailed for England, landing at Plymouth in July 1916.

While the battalion was undergoing training on Salisbury Plain, Ted was given a few days’ leave, which he spent visiting his family in Nottage.

On November 25, the Battalion left Southampton for France, where during the following months they spent their time, training or labouring.

On April 14, a couple of months before Messine, Private Edward Wilkins was allocated the duty of being a stretcher-bearer, which he continued to do until his death.

He is buried at Kandahar Farm Cemetery, near Ypres.

Notably his gravestone bears the inscription, “Known to be buried in this cemetery” because, as a result of so much shelling and the chaos of war, many Australian bodies proved unidentifiable when the Commonwealth War Graves Commission came to reorder the cemetery.

Therefore, although they know that Ted is buried within the cemetery grounds, they could not specify where.

Meanwhile, on June 13, the day the Americans arrived in France, 18 German bombers made a daylight raid on London.

The Gotha bombers were deployed from a base in Belgium and left 162 killed, of which 46 were children attending Poplar Infants School that day.

This new and deadly threat of bombers, replacing the now defunct Zeppelins, led to official safety measures being devised for civilians.

Up to that point, few precautions were taken by civilians – many had run into the streets to observe events.

While parts of South Wales seemed a long way from such danger, the effects of war continued to touch towns like Porthcawl.

June witnessed the funerals of two respected residents, who sadly had died from wounds suffered on active service.

Private Ernest Davies, Welsh Regiment, had eventually succumbed to the bullet he had received in the head six months earlier at the Somme, whilst Corporal Robert John, Royal Engineers, died of the trench fever he had contracted in April.

Both funerals were held at St John’s Church, Newton, under the guidance of the Rev Thomas Holmes Morgan, Rector of the Parish. At their respective family gravesides,