A Great War Australian Battle of the Somme Casualty group awarded to Private E. Burke, 24th Battalion, Australian Imperial Forces, who saw service in Egypt and then on the Western Front from March 1916, and was mortally wounded in action on the night of the 22nd to 23rd August, dying on the 23rd August 1916 whilst being treated at the 3rd Casualty Clearing Station.
Group of 3: 1914-1915 Star; (2269 PTE E. BURKE. 24/BN. A.I.F.); British War Medal and Victory Medal - the latter being disc only and brooch mounted for wear by his next of kin; (2269 PTE. E. BURKE. 24-BN. A.I.F.)
Condition: as mentioned the Victory Medal is a disc only and has been brooch mounted for wear by his next of kin, hence Fine, otherwise Good Very Fine.
Edwin Burke was born in Bardsley, near Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancashire, but then emigrated to Australia where he found work as an iron turner in Victoria. With the outbreak of the Great War, Burke enlisted for service with the Australian Imperial Force at Melbourne on 30th October 1915, and then served as a Private (No.2269) with the 24th Battalion, forming part of the 4th Reinforcements and being taken on strength at Tel-el-Kebir in Egypt on 10th January 1916.
Having embarked at Alexandria, he landed at Marseilles on 26th March 1916, and was then present during the Battle of the Somme, and died of wounds whilst being treated at the 3rd Casualty Clearing Station on 23rd August 1916, he having been mortally wounded in action on the night of the 22nd to 23rd August. Burke is buried in Puchevilliers British Cemetery. Aged 24 at the time of his death, he was the son of Annie and William Burke, of Bardsley, Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancashire.
