Gunner RMA12399 Edmund Charles Dexter was killed or died as a direct result of enemy action while serving with the Royal Marines Artillery on the battlecruiser HMS Invincible, which was sunk during the Battle of Jutland on May 31st, 1916. His body was not found.

He was the eldest son of old soldier and sailor Mr Edmund E. Dexter and Mrs Sarah Dexter, of 5 Warwick Road, Luton. The son had been in the navy for seven years, was 26 years old, had been married for three years and had a wife and three-month-old baby living in Southsea.

He was a first class gun-layer in the Marine Artillery, and had been on the Invincible since Christmas. He had previously served on the Duncan and the Antrim and had seen a good deal of fighting. Edmund was on leave at the time his wife Clara went into hospital to give birth and rejoined his vessel the day after her release from hospital.

With no confirmed information about her husband's fate, Clara wrote to his parents: "I have had no news of Ted...I am sure if he was alive he would have moved heaven and earth to let us know he was safe.

"I am trying to face the future for baby's sake. It is a bitter loss for us both, but I am proud to think that I am his wife and the mother of his son, and I hope and pray to God that he will give me strength to bring him up as daddy would have me do. I am also proud that your boy and mine died fighting. I say died because I know he would never drown, and that he would fight to the bitter end."

Mr Dexter Snr was employed by George Kent Ltd as a charge hand in the brass foundry. His own experiences of six years in the Navy included being on a ship that was burned to the water's edge, being thrown over board while dressed in oilskins and jack-boots, and was on a vessel which was dismasted at sea. Then during six years in the Army he was given up for dead on three occasions while serving in India.