Sapper Edmund Abberton
- Rank
- Sapper
- Appointment
- Australian Army 1918 Western Front
- Service number
- 10831
- Unit
- 3 Division Signals Company
- Cause of death
- Died of Illness
- Place of death
- Harefield, England
- Date of death
- 6 November 1918
- Age
- 21
- Plaque number
- M208
- Dedicated by
- His family on 22 August 2009
- More information
Biography presented during the plaque dedication:
Sapper Edmund Abberton of 3 Division Signals Company was born in Manchester, England, in 1898, one of seven boys and a girl born to Michael and Martha Abberton. He attended school at Gorton, England, before the family migrated to Western Australia in 1912 when he was 14. They lived in Railway Terrace, Guildford. Prior to his enlistment he worked as a telegraph operator at Perth GPO.
In December 1915, when he was 17, he put up his age so as to join four of his brothers who were already serving in the Army. Due to his training as a telegraph operator, he was sent to the Signal School in Victoria. In May 1916, he embarked on HMAT Ascanius in Melbourne, bound for Southampton. In November 1916 he proceeded to France and was engaged in the fighting in the Albert area.
Sapper Edmund Abberton, regimental number 10831 of 3 Division Signals Company, died of Pneumonia on 6 November 1918 at Harefield Hospital, England, after contracting Influenza. He was 21 years of age.
His official memorial is his grave in the Harefield (St Mary) Churchyard, Harefield, Hillingdon, England, where his headstone is inscribed with “Have mercy upon him Lord and let perpetual light shine upon him”. His Place of Association is Perth, Western Australia.