210155 Pte. Edwin James Oakes British Army 9th Devonshire from:71, George Street, Stonehouse, Plymouth (d.6th October 1917) Edwin was born in East Stonehouse in Plymouth in 1893, one of the nine children of Isaac (Jacob) and Maria (nee Rimes) Oakes.
In the 1911 census his trade is noted as Mason Labourer, tool boy in the local dockyard and is living at home with his parents and four of his siblings in 71, George Street, East Stonehouse, Plymouth, a street he was probably born in.
We are not exactly sure when Edwin joined up, but we do know he married Hilda Hutchings in 1914 in Plymouth and they had a daughter Ellen the following year in September. All we can glean from the available military information is that Edwin joined up with the Devonshire Regiment 9th Battalion and was involved in the 3rd battle of Ypres. He was killed on the 6th of October 1917 and is remembered at the Tyne Cot Memorial.
After the war Edwin's brother Charlie named his first born son after his brother as a memorial and tribute to him. Whether Hilda married again is as yet undiscovered, but his daughter married and herself had at least one son Brian.
In the photograph Edwin is to the left of his father (seated), behind him is older son Francis and to his right son Charlie.
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