Died of wounds received in action aged 25
Buried in Corbie Communal Cemetery Extension Plot 2. Row B. Grave 72.

Edward Melland was born at Cheadle near Manchester, the eldest and only surviving son of Charles Henry and Millicent Schill.  His grandparents had moved to England from Wurtemberg, and his father was the Chairman of Messrs Schill Brothers, an export merchant company.

Melland was educated at Bilton Grange and at Charterhouse was in Gownboys House from Oration Quarter (autumn term) 1904 to Summer Quarter 1908, coming up to Christ Church as a Scholar the same year.  He obtained a First Class Degree in the History Honours School.  After Oxford, he joined the family company and was in Valparaiso when war broke out.

He returned to England and commenced service, being gazetted as Second Lieutenant in the 17th Lancashire Fusiliers on 14 December 1914.  Initially, because of health reasons he remained in England training recruits in musketry.  He was promoted Lieutenant in April 1916 and went to France and Flanders in the following June.  He was wounded on 24 August, at Trones Wood and died later the same day in No. 5 Casualty Clearing Station.

He is commemorated on the War Memorial at St. Philip’s Church, Alderley Edge, Cheshire where his parents lived at Croston Towers.

Probate was granted to Charles Henry Schill and Paul Herman Schill on 25 October 1916. He left £1,302-10s-8d.

His commanding officer wrote, “I heard this morning that he has died of wounds received whilst leading his men forward in a very gallant advance. It may, perhaps, help just a little to know that the advance in which he played such worthy a part was completely successful. We – myself as his commanding officer, his fellow officers and his men – can only express to you our deepest sympathy. During the time your son has been with us, he had made himself a favourite with all ranks with his charming disposition and his soldierly qualities. I saw him as he was being carried out, he was splendidly brave and smiled at me and apologised for being hit. That is the sort of man he was.”

Manchester University Press has a small but focussed and growing list in the area of international law. At the core of this list is the Melland Schill Studies in International Law series, under the editorship of Dominic McGoldrick. Each volume in this series addresses a major international law issue, such as human rights, the law of the sea, or the contemporary law of armed conflict, and looks at the current developments in the area. The books are accessible and interdisciplinary, being of use to students, scholars and practitioners of international law, international relations, politics, economics and development studies.