Edward was educated at Cheltenham College, where he was stroke of the college boat in 1901; at Caius College, Cambridge, where he gained his blue, rowing against Oxford in 1905 and graduated B.A. in 1906; and at St Bartholomew’s Hospital, London, entering as a student in 1908, he took the diplomas M.R.C.S., L.R.C.P in 1911. He then served as a house-surgeon at the West London Hospital, as extern midwifery assistant at St Bartholomew’s Hospital, and house-physician to the East London Hospital for Children, Shadwell. On the outbreak of war Edward was already serving in the East Yeomanry, and went to the front in November 1914 in a combatant capacity. Later he transferred to the R.A.M.C., and gaining the rank of temporary Captain on 21st July 1917. He was awarded the Military Cross for “conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty in traversing shell-swept roads and searching trenches under heavy fire till he found and tended the many wounded.” Edward was the elder son of Edward Arthur and Katherine Wedd, of Whitehall, Great Wakering, Essex.