A.A. EDNEY

Arthur Alfred Edney was born at Gosport in June 1906, the youngest of three children of Arthur John & Laura Edney. His two sisters were Ruth & Louisa Mabel. He was baptised rather late in life being 18 years old.

At some time his parents moved to Leavesden, Binkham Hill, Yelverton. Arthur’s father had been a warrant writer in the Royal Navy so it seemed only natural that Arthur should also join. Between 1930-1932 he served on board HMS Dauntless.

It is unknown when and where Arthur Alfred married. His wife was Lilian Alice Edney who does not appear to have lived in Yelverton.

In 1936 Arthur was awarded the DSM whilst serving on HMS Wild Swan. By 1940 he was Electrical Artificer 1st Class on the T class submarine HMS Triad.

Launched in May 1939, HMS Triad had a relatively short career, serving in the North Sea and the Mediterranean. In April 1940 she sank the German troop transport Ionia and attacked, but failed to sink’ the German depot ship Tsingtau.

Shortly after, she was assigned to the Mediterranean. On 9 October 1940 she sailed from Malta to operate in the Gulf of Taranto, with orders to reach Alexandria on completion of her patrol. She failed to make port and by 20 October the submarine was declared overdue. She was believed to have been lost in a minefield or sunk by Italian anti-submarine aircraft. New evidence suggests that Triad was engaged and sunk on the night of 14/15 October by the Italian submarine Enrico Toti.

There were no survivors. Arthur, aged 34, and the rest of the crew are remembered on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial, Panel 43, Column 1. He is also named on the Buckland Memorial at Crapstone and in St Paul’s Church Yelverton.