Captain Edward Emil Simeons, 8th Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment, died on February 17th, 1916, from shell wounds sustained in action near Ypres the previous day. He was aged 22.

Although the second son of Carl and Edith Simeons, of Blyth Road, Bromley, Kent, he had since 1910 lived with his uncle, Thomas Arthur Cawley, principal of the British Gelatine Works in New Bedford Road, Luton, and lived at Lea Dale, New Bedford Road. Edward was an apprentice at the Gelatine Works and there seems to have been a a further family link in that his father was a gelatine merchant.

Edward Simeons was a Subaltern in the 5th Beds Regiment (Territorials) before the war, and on the outbreak of hostilities joined the 8th (Service) Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment as a Second-Lieutenant, being afterwards promoted Lieutenant.

After having been in training at Brighton and Aldershot, he left for France in August 1915 and, prior to the battle of Loos, was promoted to Captain. He was recommended for the Distinguished Service Order, and his Colonel wrote: "He was a splendid Company Commander, keen, bold and self-reliant."

Capt Simeons had intended to settle down in Luton, being associated with the British Gelatine Works. Two of his brothers were in the Honourable Artillery Company, the youngest having been in action in the Persian Gulf but was then in hospital at Cardiff recovering from enteric fever.