WWI Hero Private Edward Price’s long-lost family located by Anglia’s Eileen Lavelle

Pte Price died on Boxing Day in 1918, six weeks after the Armistice, because of wounds he suffered in the Spring of that year.

A BBC news story in early November 2024, reporting a dilapidated grave belonging to Edward Price had been restored by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC), piqued the interest of our self-confessed ‘nosy researcher’, Eileen Lavelle, enough for her to look into it.

Eileen has been with us for over 16 years, first as a Case Manager and later as Regional Head. Before that, she worked as a complex caseworker for the Department for Work and Pensions and for many years in the local studies department of Manchester Central Library. After reading the BBC article, Eileen began researching the case on her lunch break!

Photo courtesy of COMMONWEALTH WAR GRAVES COMMISSION

BBC’s Paul Burnell reported that although the CWGC had completed replacing the entire gravestone (which had fallen into disrepair), none of his relatives were present at its unveiling because, despite their efforts, they had been unable to locate any.

Established in 1917 during World War I, the CWGC was created by the British government and Commonwealth nations to oversee the graves of soldiers who died in the conflict. The objective was to guarantee that every soldier received a dignified burial and memorial and that all graves were honoured equally, irrespective of rank or wealth. The CWGC operates under the principle of ‘equality in death’. Their responsibilities include grave maintenance of over 1.7 million graves worldwide, commemoration/war memorial management, record keeping and collaboration with international governments, military organisations, and local communities.

Despite an effort to find Pte Price’s family via records and an appeal by CWGC, none had been located.

Pte Price served in the Manchester Regiment, 11^th Battalion, the ‘Wigan Pals Battalion’, and was buried at Leigh Cemetery in Lancashire. This was known, as well as that he had a wife, Martha, and four children.

This case was local and important to Eileen, so she began digging.

I thought this was so sad that no family knew about this for a war hero. I resolved to use my genealogical skills to see if I could trace anyone.

I traced the WW1 military service record, medical record and pension record, which told me that he had married Martha at Leigh Register Office in 1906 and the names and dates of birth of their four children, a boy and three girls -Tom, Nellie, Maggie and Ada.”

Eileen Lavelle

Armed with this knowledge and after further research, Eileen uncovered 18 living descendants, most still living in the Atherton area. She contacted the ones she could, informing them about their Great-Great-Grandfather (or Great-Grandfather in some cases). Many had never heard of Pte Price, or knew of him but not his story.

With the consent of Pte Price’s family, we contacted Paul Burnell at the BBC. Paul followed up on the story with the new information we had gathered. It was published on Boxing Day 2024, the anniversary of Edward Price’s death.

The family now has a place to honour their war hero ancestor, and they are very moved by his story.

His great-granddaughter, Bethaney Lord, said, “I never had any idea of him—nobody in the family had ever talked about it. Boxing Day will always have a special meaning from now on and Remembrance Day is going to be a lot more significant in our lives.”

If you found this article interesting, you might enjoy reading these:

https://www.angliaresearch.co.uk/a-christmas-letter-from-the-western-front/

https://www.angliaresearch.co.uk/finding-next-of-kin-for-sas-men-of-ww2/