Edward Pickard

Medals are shown left to right, as per the bullet point list above.

A man who, it would seem, liked to start things and see them through to the very end! Known affectionately as ‘Pick’, Edward Pickard enlisted into the Green Howards as a Private in 1891; retiring as Lieutenant-Colonel 36 years later.

He served in South Africa where he was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal (DCM) for his actions at the battle of Paardeberg.

He was credited with being the first member of the Green Howards to engage the enemy in the First World War. In October 1914 he wounded two soldiers from a German reconnaissance patrol near Ypres.

Mentioned in Despatches three times for gallant and distinguished service in the field – indicated by the oak leaf on the medal ribbon – he served continuously from the beginning of the First World War to the Armistice. He served in Ireland after the war and ended his formal military career at the Depot in Richmond. Not a man to sit idle, he was the District Recruiting Officer based at Nottingham; a post he was holding at the the time of his death on 17th July 1928.

This is an assessment of Pickard by Major ML Ferrar from the Green Howards Gazette, February 1928:

Major Pickard came out to France with the 2nd Battalion and was one of the few of any rank who served continuously with it from the beginning of the war to the Armistice….staff of the Battalion changed times without number, but Major Pickard remained a tower of strength to the many newcomers and a very pleasant help in time of trouble to his older comrades.