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	Gallantry		Gallantry

	Robert John Kirkham
	Edward Medal, Second Class
	Date:	06 Feb 1917
	Colliery:	Watford
	Occupation:	Examiner, Fourth Class

 

Whitehall, 20th June, 1917.

His Majesty the King has been graciously pleased to award the Edward Medal ...

Also the Edward Medal of the 2nd Class to Robert John Kirkham, Fourth Class Examiner in the Department of Munitions Inspection.

On the 6th February, 1917, Kirkham, who was working in a filling shed at Watford, noticed smoke issuing from a filled 4-inch Stokes bomb. With most commendable presence of mind and courage he picked up the bomb, threw it out of the shed and shut the door. The bomb exploded in the open with sufficient violence to project the steel head, weighing 20 ounces, a distance of 120 yards. The steel propellant container flew 50 yards in the opposite direction. But for Kirkham's action the explosion would have occurred inside the filling shed, in which about 50 persons were working and a quantity of explosive was stored, and it is probable that loss of life would have resulted. Kirkham was well aware of the nature of the bomb and of the destructive qualities of the explosives with which it was filled.

Source: London Gazette (22 Jun 1917)

Email	Researcher	Date	Interest
	Rex S. Kirkham	25 Sep 2013	My Uncle was Robert John Kirkham who enlisted in the Australian army in 1916. He was deployed to the 3rd Tunnelling Co. and served in France. He did not return to Australia after the war and was classifed as a deserter. The family had contact at this time but we have no further information on his whereabouts. He would have been trained in handling explosives as he was a former miner. The family have been trying to trace him for many years with no result.
	paul street	11 Oct 2022	edward medalists who could have been alive after 1972 but did not come forward. please give me a postal address

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