Meyer, Edward Stirling, son of William Charles Bernhard Meyer MD FRCS and Alice Elizabeth Stirling, writer, d. of Col. Alexander Surlmg, Black Watch, of Perth; b. 8 Dec. 1920; adm. Sept. 1933 (KS); Capt. of the school 1938-9; left July 1939; Ch. Ch. Oxf., matric. 1939; Black Watch 1941-4 (Capt.), wounded, despatches (Middle East) Jan. 1944; killed in action (NW Europe) 1944.
Edward Stirling Meyer was born at Marylebone, London on the 8th of December 1920 the elder son of Dr William Charles Bernard Meyer BA MB Ch.B FRCS, a surgeon, and Alice Elizabeth (nee Stirling) Meyer MA, a writer, of 215, North End Road, West Kensington in London. He was educated at the Froebel Institute, Westminster and at Westminster School where he was admitted as a King’s Scholar from September 1933 to July 1939. He was awarded the Science VI Form Prize in 1936. He was a member of the Cricket XI in 1938 and 1939 and was a member of the Rowing VIII in 1939. He was a member of the Eton Fives team from 1937 and was a member of the First Pair in 1938 and 1939 and served on the Committee of the Debating Society in 1938. He was elected as Captain of Gym in 1938 and was a member of the Squash team in the same year. He was a member of the Officer Training Corps and was promoted to Lance Corporal in September 1937. He was Captain of School from 1938 to 1939. He won the Westminster Scholarship to Christ Church, Oxford and matriculated in 1939. He did not complete his degree as he left the College for military service.
He was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Black Watch (Royal Highlanders) on the 12th of March 1941 and was promoted to temporary Captain on the 13th of January 1944. He was wounded in the Middle East in 1943 and was Mentioned in Despatches for: -“Gallant and distinguished services in the Middle East”, which was announced by the War Office on the 13th of January 1944.
At 8am on the morning of the 10th of June 1944, the 7th Battalion, Black Watch arrived off the Normandy beaches at Courseulles-sur-Mer and began unloading at 6am the following morning. On the 20th of June 1944, the Battalion relieved the 3rd/7th Gordon Highlanders at the Bois de Bavent. They occupied the positions in the thick woodland where they were under sniper fire and they came under shell fire during the afternoon. The following day enemy patrols probed their positions and they were subjected to further shelling. On the 22nd of June, they came under heavy shell and mortar fire throughout the day and suffered casualties of two men killed and six wounded. On the 23rd of June, B Company was approached by an enemy tank which was repelled and later, the Regimental Aid Post received a direct hit from an enemy shell which killed three men. That afternoon Edward Meyer lead a patrol out towards the German lines to a position known as “Timber Post”, to the east of the Battalion’s positions, where he heard an enemy working party, but did not engage them before returning to the woods.
On the 26th of June 1944, the Battalion was relieved by the 7th Battalion, Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders and was to move to Escoville. At noon, during the relief, heavy shelling and mortar fire fell on their positions and Edward Meyer was killed by the explosion of a mortar shell. Two other men were killed and four more were wounded.
The Westminster School magazine, The Elizabethan, wrote of him: - “He was a boy of all-round ability, and conspicuous among his qualities was the indomitable courage and determination by which he triumphed over an almost excessive natural shyness and over disappointments resulting from ailments and accidents. He was training for the medical profession, but threw it up to join the fighting services.”
He is buried at La Delivrande War Cemetery Plot V, Row A, Grave 6.
