Ernest Irving Edwards was born in Churchill, Oxfordshire, England on 10 November 1892 to Ernest Edwards (1859 -1901) and Maude Gertrude Edwards (d. 1939).  He was the second child and first of 4 sons born to the couple.  Their other children were Dorothy (b. 1890), Gertrude (b. 1894), Frank (b. 1895) twins Charles and Lilian (b. 1896) and Percy (b. 1898). 

The family was fractured, possibly by the death in 1901 of their father.  In the 1901 English Census, Ernest, who was 8 years old, was living with relatives and his mother Maude and some of the children were living with her parents. 

By the 1911 English Census, Ernest was a farm assistant living in Kings Langley, Hertfordshire, but left for Australia later that year on the Belgic arriving in Melbourne 22 November 1911.

He had moved to Far North Queensland at some time as he was one of the members of the Mulgrave Rifle Club who enlisted in the Kennedy Regiment and sailed on the Kanowna for New Guinea.The ship only reached Thursday Island and due to a mutiny by the crew, returned to Townsville.  The men on board became known as the “Dirty 500” because of the lack of fresh water and changes of clothes. 

When the Kanowna returned to Townsville, Ernest enlisted in the A.I.F. on 17 September 1914. 

Ernest was 21 years of age, 5 feet 7 inches tall and weighed 130 pounds.  He had a medium complexion, brown hair and eyes and was Church of England.  He named his mother, Mrs Maude Edwards of Oxford, England as his next of kin.

He embarked from Melbourne on 22 December 1914 on HMAT Ceramic.