Next of kin: Frances Kathleen Cornish (mother), 90 March Street, Orange
Date of enlistment: 24 August 1914
Place of enlistment: Sydney
Age at enlistment: 21
Fate: Embarked HMAT A8 "Argyllshire" Sydney 18 October 1914 as a gunner with the 1st Field Artillery Brigade. Joined Mediterranean Expeditionary Force 4 April 1915. Suffered a gunshot wound to the back at Gallipoli 8 August 1915 Admitted to No 1 General Hospital in Cairo 14 August 1915. Joined Dtls Zaheriah from Zeitoun 20 October 1915. Transferred to 4th Division Artillery Tel-el-Kebir 2 February 1916 Transferred to 38th Battery Serapeum 8 April 1916. Promoted to Bombardier 15 April 1916. Proceeded to join British Expeditionary Force Alexandria 5 June 1916. Proceeded to France 13 June 1916. Promoted to Corporal 1 December 1916. Hospitalised 10 April 1917. Transferred to 10th Field Artillery Brigade Etaples 1 June 1917. Rejoined unit 29 June 1917. Transferred to Reserve Brigade Australia Artillery England 3 August 1917. Proceeded to France 31 May 1918. Killed in action, Amiens, France
Date of death: 8 August 1918
Buried: Cerisy-Gailly Military Cemetery, France, Plot I, Row B, Grave No. 15
Edmund Thomas Cornish was born in London, the first of three boys born to Phillip and Frances Cornish. The family emigrated to Australia when Edmund was 16.
21-year-old Edmund was one of the first men to enlist in Orange. He was living at 90 March Street and working as a labourer at Dalton Brothers' mill at the time. He embarked from Sydney in October 1914 aboard HMAT A8 "Argyllshire".
Edmund joined the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force in April 1915, and proceeded to Gallipoli, where he survived a gunshot wound to his back. He received several promotions during his war service, from Gunner to Bombardier, then Corporal and later Sergeant.
In June 1917 Edmund was transferred to the 10th Field Artillery Brigade in Etaples, France, and in August to the Reserve Brigade Australia Artillery in England. Edmund returned to France in May 1918, only to be killed in action during the Battle of the Somme in August.
Edmund was well-liked by his comrades; one of them declared: "He was a very good fellow."
Edmund's name appears on the St Joseph's Church Orange Honour Roll, alongside those of his brothers Walter and Thomas. Walter and Edmund's names appear on the memorial plaque in Newman Park, along with 14 others who had 16 pin oak trees planted in their honour in August 1919 by East Orange Public School principal Mr AT Caldwell.
Edmund's name also appears on the World War I Roll of Honour on the southern face of the Orange Cenotaph.
In 1923 the Anzac Memorial Avenue of trees was planted along Bathurst Road to commemorate fallen WWI soldiers. A tree was planted in honour of "Pte E Cornish"; it was donated by WJ Eadey. Very few of the trees are still standing today.
Edmund's brothers, Walter Thomas Cornish and Thomas Charles Cornish also served in WWI; Walter died of wounds in Belgium in September 1917.
