William Mordaunt Marsh Edwards

He charged an Egyptian redoubt alone at Tel-el-Kebir in 1882

William Mordaunt Marsh Edwards was born on 7 May 1855 at Hardingham Hall, Norfolk. Educated at Eton, Trinity College, Cambridge, and Sandhurst, he entered the British Army in 1876 and joined the 74th Highlanders in 1877. He served in the Straits Settlements and Hong Kong before the 1882 campaign in Egypt.

At Tel-el-Kebir on 13 September 1882, Lieutenant Edwards led soldiers of the 2nd Battalion, Highland Light Infantry, against an Egyptian redoubt. He ran ahead into the battery alone and fought the artillery officer in charge. A gunner knocked him down with a rammer, but three men of his regiment reached him and saved him. The London Gazette announced his Victoria Cross on 13 February 1883.

Edwards later served in India, became a captain in 1887 and was appointed adjutant of the 3rd Battalion in 1892. Promoted to major in 1895, he retired in 1896. He joined the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms in 1899 and became a Deputy Lieutenant of Norfolk in 1900. His other recorded honours include the Egypt Medal with Tel-el-Kebir clasp, the 1882 Khedive's Star, the Order of the Medjidie and the coronation medals of 1902 and 1911.

He died at Hardingham on 17 September 1912 and was buried at St George's Churchyard. His Victoria Cross recalls his assault at Tel-el-Kebir.