Lieutenant Colonel Edward Montagu RUTTER Croce di Guerra, Order of St Maurice and St Lazaru
No 2 Company, 5th Divisional Train Army Service Corps and, 5th Division Staff

Date of birth: 1st April 1888
Date of death: 5th October 1963

Died aged 75
Unknown
Edward Montagu Rutter was born at Shepperton in Middlesex on the 1st of April 1888 the son of Edward Rutter, a gentleman, and Beatrice Mary (nee Mayler) Rutter of Lower Halliford, Shepperton in Middlesex. He was christened at St Nicholas' Church, Shepperton on the 9th of May 1888.

He was educated at Hazelwood School until December 1901 where he was a member of the Choir and was a member of the Cricket XI in 1901. The school magazine wrote the following on his 1901 cricket season: - "When he plays with a light bat and gets it up in time is quite one of the best, hitting hard all round. A very capable wicket keeper and good outfield."

On leaving he school the school magazine wrote of him: - "....goes to Eton. he has been a useful member of the Cricket XI and would have been in the Football XI last term if there had been one."

He went on to Eton College where he was in Mr F. Tarver’s House from January 1902 to July 1907. On leaving school he went to work as a railway clerk for the North Eastern Railway Company and lived at 2 Lorne Terrace, Sunderland.

Following the outbreak of war he applied for a commission in the Army Service Corps on the 5th of September 1914 in an application which was supported by Mr A.A. Somerville, an assistant master and house tutor at Eton College. He was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Army Service Corps on the 26th of September 1914 and was posted to the Heavy Transport Depot at Deptford on the same day. He embarked for France on the 4th of November 1914 where he reported to the Heavy Transport Depot at Le Havre and joined the 5th Divisional Train the following day. He was attached to No. 2 Company on the 9th of January 1915 and was promoted to Lieutenant on the 20th of January 1915.

He was invalided to England with German measles on the 27th of May 1915 and was declared as fit for general service by a Medical Board which sat at the Military Hospital, Exeter on the 22nd of June 1915. He was posted to the 41st Divisional Train at Frensham on the 29th of June and later to No. 3 Company of the Train at Pangbourne. He was promoted to Captain on the 21st of September 1915 and returned to France on the 4th of May 1916.

He was appointed as a Deputy Assistant Quartermaster General of 2nd Army on the 11th of August 1917 and he was posted to General Headquarters of the British Expeditionary Force in Italy on the 27th of November 1917. He was promoted to the rank of Brevet Major in recognition of "distinguished service in connection with Military Operations in Italy" in the King's Birthday Honours List of the 3rd of June 1918. He was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel on his promotion to Assistant Quartermaster General of 5th Division on the 9th of October 1918 and relinquished that rank on completion of his secondment on the 28th of January 1919 when he was promoted to Major.

He was awarded the Croce di Guerra by the Italian government on the 17th of May 1919 and the Italian Order of St Maurice and St Lazarus (Officer), which was announced in the London Gazette of the 2nd of March 1923.

After the war he worked as a Dock Agent.

He was married at Christ Church, Lancaster Gate to Alice Rachel Franck (nee Newbolt) on the 28th of June 1920, the ceremony being conducted by the Bishop of Oxford; they had two sons, one of which was Alan Daniel, born on the 21st of August 1925. They lived at "Eversley", Kennedy Road, Shrewsbury. He worked as a passenger manager for the London and North Eastern Railways.

On his retirement in 1955 he became a member of the Cardon and Severn Valley Field Club and was a founder member and first Chairman of the Shropshire Ornithological Society. He was co-author of "A Handlist of the Birds of Shropshire" which was published after his death in 1964.

Went on to Eton College

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