Edward Rowland Litchford - date unknown
This is a difficult man to find - "R R nor E.R Ditchford" do not exist in Gazette, and "Hitchman Hall" does not exist. However "Hitcham Hall" does exist close to Ipswich. The Problem is that the people there in 1911 census are not his family. Though Frank Grant is a University Coach. Thier address is given as 17 Chesterton Hall Crescent, The Hall, Hitcham, Ipswich, Cambridge.
Eventually I got a couple of references to him Ireland, but all said "E R Ditchford", perservering I then got his original statement showing him to be in fact "Litchford" and that was correct, as I could then get his commissioning, and the right man at last.
1899 Aug 1. Born St Helena, his father was an Army Officer. His father had been assigned a role in overseeing the imprisonment of up to 6,000 Boer captives on the island. Following a number of years in St. Lucia in the West Indies, his mother Ethel returned to England, eventually moving to Hitcham Hall in January 1917. Hitcham Hall, dating from at least the 1600’s, was described as standing in well timbered grounds, well back from the junction of local roads.
1901 census at Derby Road, Alfreton, Derbys
1911 census at 2 Alexandra Terrace Clarence Rd Bognor
1917 Edward Rowland Litchford joined the army later that year and after officer training in Sandhurst Military College was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Lincolnshire Regiment in August 1918, too late to play any role in the Great War.i In fact, he was at home on leave on the day the war ended with his mother writing in her diary entry for 11 November 1918; News came about 1pm of Germany’s surrender which seemed to be true, so we ran up Sonny’s (her pet name for Edward Rowland) Union Jack and jolly it looked
1918 Sep 11 Commissioned 2nd Lt in Lincs Regt
1918 Sep 27 His second letter to his mother was addressed from Thoresby Camp in Nottinghamshire on 27 September 1918. He described the poor facilities in the camp. He informed his mother that The C.O. says it may be 3 weeks or it may be 3 or 4 months before we leave for France. Personally I hope it will be the former.
1919 Feb 28. The next two letters were sent from Catterick camp in Yorkshire. The first is dated 28 February 1919 and disparages the nearby town of Darlington and its inhabitants
1919 April , we find that Litchford had been attached to the army of occupation of the Rhine, in Cologne (Koln).
1919 Jul . Litchford was now based in the Barracks in Tipperary Town, a member of the 1st Battalion of the 3rd Lincolnshire Regiment. He wrote to his mother on 3rd July describing his journey to Tipperary
1920 Aug 2. NLI has Letter from Edward Rowland Litchford to his mother, Mrs. E.V. Litchford of Roseleigh, Billdeston, Suffolk. From The Barracks, Tipperary. On notepaper with letterhead of Lincolnshire Regiment. Refers to escape of captured General and to raids on the mail.
1920 IRA Witness Statement At this time (probably about the autumn of 1920) I was 'on the run' and spent practically all my time with Donovan and some others who were also 'on the run' in the 7th Battalion area. I remember Donovan telling us that he had orders from G.H.Q. to shoot a Lieutenant Litchfield of the British Army who was then stationed in Killenaule, and Donovan in turn gave us orders that if the opportunity ever came our way we were to shoot Litchfield at sight. On a few occasions we went into Killenaule at night and patrolled the streets there but failed to see Lieutenant Litchfield
1920 Sep 7 Involved in a raid
1920 Sep 23. As you will notice by the address, I have shifted from Tipperary. I am running a detachment here in the Glen of Aherlow
1920 Nov 19 From Witness Statement 430. We also found some sacks of mail in the lorry which we loaded on to an old Ford car which Tom Malone had. In the search of the mails afterwards we found three silver medals - one which I possess now. It is inscribed, "To Lieutenant E.R. Litchford, Lincolnshire Regiment, for gallant conduct in Ireland, 19th November, 1920". Donnchadh Hannigan also got one belonging to a Sergeant; a lad named Paddy Buckley got another - a Corporal's. This was the first time I became aware they were awarded decorations for gallant conduct in Ireland.
1st Battalion Lincolnshire Regiment Regimental Medal for Gallantry in Ireland 1920-1921, silver, the obverse bearing the regimental badge, motto and battle honours of the 10th Regiment - the Lincolnshire Regiment, the reverse engraved with recipients name. Research by London Medal Co. suggests that there were only 12 awarded, and of these only 2 were to officers ( Lt L.B. Shepperd Folker and 2nd Lt L. Morley-Turner , with no mention of Litchford"
. Full report and more here
1920 Nov19. Litchford had shot and killed Shay's granduncle, Pat Clancy, in November 1920 just outside the village of Drangan. Pat and other members of his family were activists in the 7th (Drangan) Battalion of the Third Tipperary Brigade
1921 Jun 19. army census return he is residing in the barracks in Tipperary
1921 Dec 23 . He was withdrawn from Ireland
1922 Apr 4. , Litchford wrote to his mother from the ‘Main’ Barracks, in Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh.i The first letter gave a detailed account of a rowing trip on Loch Erne with fishing and picnics. There was no reference to Irish affairs but the image portrayed was more of a holiday camp that the situation he had been describing in Tipperary a year earlier.
1923 Oct 7. Letter from wife to him at Ballykinlar Camp in County Down. Ballykinlar had been an important prison camp for republican prisoners during the war of independence but had been returned to a more routine military role by 1923.
1924 Apr 15, Litchford was at the Royal Tank Corps in Bovington Camp, Dorset, eventually moving to Bulford Fields Camp in Salisbury. Peggy’s letters mention their engagement in early 1923, plans for their wedding, which took place in London in August 1924, and the likelihood that they would go out to India.
1914 Married Margaret Fryer
Litchford continued his military career, serving in India
1931 Jan 24. Lt ER Litchford , R Tank Corps, appointed an assistant instructor at Tank Driving School
1934 Sep 20 Capt ER Litchford Tank Corps, is restored to the establishment
1939 Register A Major in R Tank Regt with wife Margaret at 73 Grove Pk Rd, Chislehurst , Kent
1946 Jan 23. Arrives UK from New York. An Army officer with Min of Supply
Becoming a Lieutenant Colonel during the Second World War. He ended his military career as Deputy Chief Inspector in the Inspectorate of Fighting vehicles.
1954 May 28. Place on half pay list with hon rank of Colonel.
1984 Died Bury St Edmonds, Suffolk and is buried in Hitcham. His probate estae was for £191.000
In November 2025 a collection of stamped and addressed letters was offered for sale on eBay. The seller was a stamp dealer from the south of England. They were bought by Shay Cody , whose granduncle Pat Clancy, was shot by Litchford in Nov 1920. The set comprised of 18 letters and a card from Litchford to his mother, mostly to her address at Hitcham Hall near Ipswich in Suffolk.