Ernest Edgar Daniel Grady

Edgar was born 18 August 1883 in Longford; he was a son of William John Grady who was serving as a Quartermaster Serjeant in the 6th Rifle Brigade at the time. By 1885, however, the family were living in England and were in Woolwich at the time of the 1891 Census and had settled in Aldershot by 1901, where William was working as a financial clerk. Edgar went to school in Bloomfield Road School, Greenwich. In 1901 Edgar was working as a printer manager's clerk. He remained in the print industry and by 1911 he was working as a printing works manager. By 1911, Grady had moved to South Africa, as he is recorded as having been intitiated into the Freemasons Metropolitan Lodge in Cape Town. During his time in South Africa, Edgar also served in the Cape Town Highlanders. 

Prior to the Great War Grady served with Cape Colony Defence Force. Intitially he would have fought against Germany in German South West Africa and later in Egypt. During WW1 Captain Grady served with the South African 4th Infantry, which comprised South African Scottish raised from the Transvaal Scottish and Cape Town Highlanders. Captain Grady embarked for the Great War in France on the S.S. Balmoral Castle in May 1915; he was wounded twice, and had served at the Battle of Delville Wood; sadly he was killed in action during the First Battle of the Scarpe, part of the Battle of Arras, during the disastrous attack of the 9th (Scottish) Division on the German positions in east of Fampoux, during which his regiment lost 6 officers and 200 men. Grady was mentioned in dispatches in December 1917.

Link to CWGC entry; link to Civil Record of birth; entry in the South African War Graves Project; The History of the South African Forces in Europe, by John Buchan;