Killed in action aged 19
Buried at Villers Station Cemetery, Villers-au-Bois, Chamblain, S.W. of Lens. Plot XII. B. 16.


Edmund Nicholas was born at The Grange, Welwyn, Hertfordshire, the youngest of the three sons of Lieutenant-Colonel C.R. Prideaux-Brune and his wife, formerly the Hon Katharine Cecilia Knatchbull-Hugessen, daughter of the 1st Lord Brabourne.

They moved, later, to Prideaux Place, Padstow, Cornwall which has been in the family since 1582. It combines traditional Elizabethan architecture with the 18th-century exuberance of Strawberry Hill Gothic.

Edmund was educated at St. Aubyns School, Rottingdean, Gresham's School Holt, and the R.M.C. Sandhurst. He was possessed of considerable musical talent and his compositions, which commenced at an early age, showed remarkable promise. He wrote several compositions which were published, including a Prelude in B flat minor, for the Pianoforte. He was Page of Honour to the Earl of Liverpool who was Comptroller of the Royal Household, at the Coronation of H.M. King George V and received the Coronation Medal.

He was gazetted to The Prince Consort’s Own [Rifle Brigade], the Regiment in which his father had served, on 21 September 1917 and proceeded to France on 19 April 1918 where he joined the 3rd Battalion.

He was killed in action at Maisnil Bouche, near Arras.

He is commemorated on the War Memorial at Padstow.

His commanding officer wrote “He had not been with us long, but in him I knew we had lost a valuable officer.”

The chaplain wrote “We are all very distressed at your son’s death, for although he had been with the battalion but a few weeks, he had made himself very popular with all.”

His eldest brother, Fulke, was severely injured in March 1918, and taken prisoner. He was released in October and lived, quietly, until his death in 1939.