Edward John Eve was the older of two brothers commemorated on the plaque to returning soldiers, both of whom began their military service as Privates in the 14^th Battalion of the London Regiment and both of whom became officers.

Edward was born in 1888 or 1889, the second son of Thomas Eve, a hardware stock keeper, and his wife Kate. In 1901 Edward was living with his parents, older brother William and younger brother Victor at 97 Woodstock Road, Finsbury Park, and by 1911 they had moved to 2 Dagmar Road, not far away, though his brother William had died by then. Edward worked as a clerk with the Railway Benevolent Institution.

Edward joined the 14^th (County of London) Battalion of the London Regiment (London Scottish) as a Private in June 1916 and served on the Western Front until February 1917. On 31 July 1917 he was discharged from the London Regiment on commission as a 2^nd Lieutenant in the 4^th Battalion of the Lincolnshire Regiment.

In January 1918, after training, Edward’s new battalion, which had already seen action in France and in Egypt, returned to the front line at Bullecourt in northern France. Edward was wounded in March, seriously enough for him to be discharged that year on account of the injury. As a result, he was awarded the Silver War Badge. This was instituted in 1916 as an award of ‘King’s silver’ for having been wounded in the course of duty. The round silver badge bears the royal cipher ‘GRI’ (Georgius Rex Imperator: George, King and Emperor) and around the rim ‘For King and Empire – Services Rendered’. Each badge was uniquely numbered on the reverse; Edward’s badge was Number 291487.

In 1918 when the Silver War Badge was awarded, Edward was living at 38a Tollington Park, just round the corner from his pre-war family home, and in the 1920s he lived in Crouch End.