915 Driver Edward Lever (Hoyles) - 1st Division Train & Royal Field Artillery (8703)
Edward Lever (Hoyles) was born in Bolton England circa 1876 to Robert and Racheal Lever and they lived in Sharples Lancashire in his early years. He was educated locally and took up training to work as a blacksmith. He had an apprenticeship with James Broughton in Bolton Lancashire.
He then joined the British Army, served in Royal Field Artillery in South Africa in the Boer War as well as in India.
In 1907 he married Ann Frances Cormick and in 1908 Kitty was born in East London. They lived in East Ham till 1912 when they moved to Western Australia. Upon arriving in Fremantle they took up residence at 19 Tuckfield Street (later renumbered) and Ed found work locally as a blacksmith.
On the 15th September 1914 Edward enlisted into the Australian Imperial Force. He was found to be fit for enlistment, with the medical examiner recording his physical attributes as;
Height - 5 feet 7 inches tall;
Weight - 150lbs;
Chest Measurement - 36-38 inches;
Complexion - Dark;
Eyes - Blue;
Hair - Brown.
Upon his successful enlistment, Ed was sent to Blackboy Hill Camp. When Edward signed up with the Australian Imperial Force he appears not to have been aware that he had been called up as an Imperial Reservist to return to his British Unit, the Royal Field Artillery. On the 26th October 1914 he then took discharge from the AIF and joined the camp of Imperial Reservists at Fremantle Park.
They were soon sent to Albany where they boarded the transport ship Miltiades. This ship then took them to England, arriving there in December 1914.
Edward served from 1915 to 1919 in the Royal Field Artillery before transferring to the Royal Ordnance Corps (30877). He returned to WA in July 1919.
They continued to live in Fremantle after the war, residing for a few years in James Street. They then were at Rottnest Island for a few years in the 1920's and 30's when they ran the Rottnest Store.
They then moved to Maddington and then Swan before returning to Fremantle in 1949. They resided at 77 Fraser Street East Fremantle.
Ann Hoyles/Lever died in 1950; and Edward died in 1956 in York WA. He was cremated at Karrakatta Cemetery.
