55429 Private Edward Bishop, Machine Gun Corps

Twenty year old Edward Bishop appears on the 1901 census of England and Wales as a carter on a farm [Leylands Farm] and living at Leylands Cottage with his widowed 59 year old mother Mary Ann [sic] Bishop and his eighteen year old brother William Bishop (a market gardener). 

Ten years earlier, when the census was taken in 1891 he was living at Leylands Farm, Chailey, the household comprising his father, Peter Bishop (head, aged 48 and working as an agricultural labourer) and his wife Mary Anne Bishop (aged 49).  The couple had four children with them at the time: Peter Bishop (aged 14, also working as an agricultural labourer), Edward (aged ten), William Bishop (aged eight) and Barbara Bishop (aged six). 

Chailey Parish Magazine first mentions Pte E Bishop in January 1918, simply noting MGC next to his name.  This scant information is repeated up to and including the final entry in July 1919. Edward Bishop was 55429 Private Edward Bishop of the Machine Gun Corps.  Nothing further is known of this man. His brother, Peter Bishop, also served his King and Country during the First World War.