Edith GILES [482]

  General Notes:

Stayed at Grey Friars Colchester 1899. ref Mabel Giles.

Dr E L Fenn in a letter 18 Jul 1906 refers to Robert Reed as: "I hear that Edith Giles is engaged to a Mr Bobby Reid, whom Van rather thinks he knew at Tiverton. She is staying with Val in the Punjab, where she met Mr Reid, an army man. I hope he is worthy of her for she is as you know, a very sweet girl of a gentle disposition and deserves the best of husbands"

Edith died having triplets in Lansdowne, a Hill Station in India.
An Army friend of the Reed family Capt E. R. P. (Ted) Berryman in a letter to his mother in England, 22 August 1917, wrote:
"Such sad news from Lansdowne, Mrs Bobby Reed died the other day, having given birth to triplets, all girls, & all doing well I believe. They arrived 7 weeks before they were due it seems, so her death I suppose is not surprising. Poor Bobby, he's awfully cut up of course, & the regiment has lost one of the best & brightest women members. She was one of the best, & as you know a great friend of mine & her loss will be felt by us all. Personally I can hardly realise it: one gets used somehow to hearing of the death of one's men friends nowadays; but it does'nt seem right that people like Mrs Bobby Reed should die."
This letter and many others from Ted and his four brothers are published on the splendid website www.familyletters.co.uk they constitute an indepth often amusing collection, interlaced with pictures, maps & sketches, on this dark time in history.
Ref: Courtesy of B. Makin & C. Miller. 2014

  Other Records

1. Edith Giles: Her Confession to Dolly Cotes [486] & other images, Cir 1895.
Edith 1893, Edith completed a Confessions in Dolly Cotes book, at Selwyn Gardens c1900 with Edith on left, Mabel on right.

EDITH'S CONFESSIONS c1895
MY FAVOURITE VIRTUE: Truthfulness
MY IDEA OF HAPPINESS: Going to the theatre
MY IDEA OF MISERY: Darning
MY FAVOURITE OCCUPATION: Riding
MY FAVOURITE COLOUR: Pink
MY FAVOURITE FLOWER: Roses
MY FAVOURITE POETS: Milton - especially
MY FAVOURITE PROSE AUTHORS: L I Meade
MY FAVOURITE PAINTER: Don't know any
MY FAVOURITE FOOD: Pillau chicken rice raisins bacon
MY FAVOURITE NAMES: Dulcie Raymond
MY PET AVERSION: Clir. (forgotten)
MY FAVOURITE MOTTO: All's well that ends well
Sarah Edith ? Bella Lovey Giles

2. Census: England, 31 Mar 1901, Selwyn Gardens Cambridge. Edith is recorded as a daughter single aged 20 born China British Subject

Edith married Capt Henry Robert Baynes "Bobby" REED CIE DSC MC [483] [MRIN: 137] in 1907 in Lansdowne, Uttaranchal, India. (Capt Henry Robert Baynes "Bobby" REED CIE DSC MC [483] was born on 3 Jan 1880 in Lahore W Bengal India and died on 1 Jan 1939 in Southbrook Budleigh Salterton DEV.)