Edward Andrèe  Wylde  (1858-1925)

Born at 4 Bellwood Terrace, Stretford Road, Hulme, Manchester on 20th April 1858 but when he was young the family lived at in 3 James Terrace, Railway Street, Gillingham Kent, near Chatham where his father was a Captain in the Royal Marines. His father was also called Edward Andrèe Wylde. The Andrèe comes from his Dutch grandmother's surname

He joined the Royal Marines and was promoted to Lieutenant in 1876. 

In 1882 whilst serving aboard HMS Wolverene in Sydney Australia he met and married Theresa Mitchell, daughter of one of Australia's richest men James Sutherland Mitchell of the Tooth Brewery. 

They had three daughters Helen (1883) Maud (1885) and Mary (1890).

In 1909 when Edward was Colonel Commandant at Royal Marines Deal, Chatham Division, his daughter Mary married Captain Harold Ozanne. 

Edward went on to be promoted to Major General in 1910, Lt General in 1912

In 1914 he was in Rabaul, German New Guinea in the Pacific Islands visiting his daughter Helen who was married to Carl Moeller, Captain of the German Governor's yacht Komet. When WW1 broke out he was put under temporary house arrest by the local German authorities. 

He was promoted to Full General in 1922 and died on 11 October 1925 aged 67 at 11 Evelyn Mansions, Carlisle Place, London SW1

General Wylde’s Experiences in New Guinea - 1914

The following extract from the Townsville Daily Bulletin of the 26th October 1914, which has been forwarded to us from Sydney, will be read with interest by the many friends of Lieut.General E. A. Wylde, formerly in command of the Depot R.M.

Amongst the through passengers by the Wyreema, which arrived from Cairns on Sunday, were Lieut.-General E. A. Wylde, accompanied by Mrs. Wylde, who are on their way to Sydney, en route for the Old Country. They arrived at Cairns last week by a steamer from New Britain, and joined the Wryeema for South. Being at New Britain at the outbreak of the war Lieut.-General Wylde, who is attached to the Royal Marine Light Infantry met with some interesting experiences before he was enabled by the capture of the German colony by the Australians, to get away.

Speaking of his experiences in conversation with a Townsville Daily Bulletin representative, Lieut.-General Wylde said: ‘We were on a visit to our daughter, who is the wife of a German officer at Rabaul, when the war broke out. On the landing of the (Australian) party from the destroyers on their first visit, I endeavoured to communicate with them, and though I got within 200 yards of the party, I was not successful, and was arrested, and was kept at my daughter’s house for a couple of days.

I was then sent, with a party of seven Australians, to a planter’s place about 40 miles in the bush. I may state that the name of the planter was Batze, who has been up in New Britain some ten years but who I believe was formerly a resident in this Townsville district. Our being sent up country to this place was done without the knowledge of the Governor of German New Guinea, and was on the authority of the Bezirkstamtmann, or representative of the deputy of the Governor. Before I went up country, I asked him to communicate with the Governor, who was at Toma, but he refused to do so. I told him he would be held personally responsible for the discourteous way in which he was treating a British officer, but he laughed in my face. He was also extremely insulting to my daughter and threatened to imprison her.

The party was escorted by a couple of German officers, and some native police, to this place, 40 miles from Rabaul, and guarded there. “My daughter, in the meantime, got a letter away to the Governor, by a native runner,” continued the General, “and the Governor immediately sent a very sharp letter to the Bezirkstamtmann, telling him that he must be very careful in his behaviour to any officers of foreign powers that the nation was at war with, and directing him to at once release me on parole, and appoint my daughter’s house as my place of residence. After taking a day to consider, I gave my parole. As soon as I got back, I sent a letter to the Governor, detailing the miserable conditions under which my companions were living, and the Governor then released all these other gentlemen on their giving a written undertaking to do nothing inimical to the German interests. They all gave the undertaking except Mr. Jolly, the ex-British Consul in German New Guinea. He declined to give any undertaking whatever, and was subsequently removed to another place - it is believed, New Ireland - and up to the time of our leaving, on the 17th October, he had not been found.

When I got back to Rabaul, I was not allowed outside the grounds of my daughter’s residence, and this order was also applied by the Bezirkstamtmann to my wife. As soon as the ships arrived, on 11th September, a double sentry was immediately placed on the house, with orders to allow none of us to go outside. We knew nothing of the actual landing and occupation until 5.30 on the morning of the 13th, when the advance party passed the house, and the first noncommissioned officer I saw was Sergeant Hayes, an old Royal Marine man I had known years ago.

“The orders for our sentries were afterwards found in the guard-room not far away. These were in German and in pigeon-English, which is used in communicating with the natives. The orders to the men read ‘Suppose big fight he come, you shoot him Master; you no shoot Missis belonging him; you no shoot piccaninny belonging him; you shoot him Master!’ Continuing his narrative, Lieut.-General Wylde said, “I have since seen the ex-Governor of the colony and he made me a handsome apology for the way in which I was treated, stating that such a thing would never have happened if he had been at Rabaul at the time, and he knew nothing of it till afterwards.”

Lieut.-General Wylde, who is on a year’s leave, stated that in coming out from the Old Country, he travelled on a steamer with a number of German naval officers coming out to warships in the Pacific, some of them to join the Emden, and there were some very fine men  amongst them.

This by the way is not the first time the General has visited Townsville, he having passed through in HMS Wolverene in 1881 and before the present harbor existed.

PS - In August 1880 Edward commanded a Royal Marines detachment which destroyed  five native villages on the New Hebrides, and in 1881 he led a detachment which restored order after a massacre at Kolo in New Guinea.