Jack was born in Chester in 1893 and descended from the Malpas branch of the Edwardson family. He was a cousin of William Bertrude Edwardson. By 1901 he had moved a few miles South-West to Gresford, a village just outside Wrexham, North Wales. Leaving the village school at 14, he worked locally as a labourer. In 1911, aged 17, he joined the Territorial Army, perhaps seeking a little more adventure from life. He became a Private in the 4th Battalion, Royal Welch Fusiliers, the reservist battalion of that famous Welsh infantry regiment. Records show that in the next three years he gained 5 inches in height, from 5ft 3 to 5ft 8 - a taste of the military life clearly agreed with him!

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On the outbreak of war in August 1914, Jack's battalion was mobilized and embarked upon a period of intense training to make them 'battle ready' - though nobody anticipated the type of horrific battle that would ultimately take shape. That November, they deployed to France and the newly dug trenches of the Western Front. Jack was now fighting a brutal war in the fields of France, just as his likely distant ancestors had 450 years earlier.

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Throughout 1915, Jack endured the grim realities of trench warfare on the Western Front as the conflict settled into a bloody stalemate. With his battalion he participated in the Battle of Loos, Sept - Oct 1915. This battle would see the British Army's first use of poison gas - in which Jack was caught, along with many others, when it blew back into the British soldiers' own lines. Unlike some, Jack survived this brush with the nightmare of chemical warfare - though it no doubt left its mark on him, physical or otherwise. Then, on 5th January 1916, he was wounded in action by a gunshot wound to the head. Following recuperation in Le Havre, he was sent back to England where, in March, he was discharged on completion of his 5 year term of enlistment with the Territorial Army. 

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Jack returned to Gresford - only 22 years old, he was likley a much different man to the boy who had left less than two years earlier. But life had to go on. Jack commenced work at the newly established colliery (coal mine) adjacent to the village, and in 1917 he married a local girl, Jenny Duckworth, and their son was born the same year.

 

We can never truly know what Jack thought of his war service. He did bring back a German helmet and bugle, which he'd found discarded in no man's land - but he did not rejoin the territorial army, nor did he move away from Gresford. It is likely that his 15 months in France had been enough soldiering to last a lifetime, and that a quiet life at home now held great appeal. It was said that in his spare time he enjoyed taking a book to the river and spent hours fishing quietly by himself - perhaps this helped to subdue dark memories.

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​By 1934, Jack and Jenny had built a family, raising his son and two daughters. He continued working at Gresford Colliery as a beltman, responsible for maintaining the conveyors that transported coal to the surface. It was a tough job, long hours and night shifts amidst the darkness and coal dust, but there was little other work to be had. It was dangerous, of course - but not so dangerous as the trenches had been. And yet, in the early hours of 22 September 1934, disaster struck. Just after 2am, a violent explosion ripped through the mine. Ignited by a build up of gas, the blast killed many men outright, and trapped others below the earth to suffocate. There was a heroic rescue effort, but the underground fires proved insurmountable - three rescuers died trying to fight their way through. 266 men lost their lives in the disaster - Jack among them. ​

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Many of the victims were war veterans like Jack, men who had survived a global apocalypse, only to lose their lives in peacetime, leaving young families behind (Jack's youngest daughter was only 2 years old)—a cruel fate. A national outpouring of charitable donations would help provide for them, but this can never have filled the void of their loss. The ruined sections of the mine were closed off without any bodies being recovered, denying the families even the closure of a true funeral. Despite clear evidence of malpractice, no one was ever truly held accountable for the disaster.

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Jack's name is listed on the main disaster memorial (the colliery winding wheel) just outside Wrexham, as well as on a memorial plaque in All Saints Church, Gresford, erected specifically to the 15 men from the village who were killed. 

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