Edwin Leslie Flexman was born in 1889 at Fulham and was the first child, of six, of William James and Matilda, formerly Croucher.  

Census records for 1871 to 1891 show William James (Snr) as being born in Chelsea about 1861 and Matilda in Strood Kent about 1869 although different places & spellings are given for them both.  Edwin appears on the 1901 census together with his mother but not his father.  By 1911 his father is resident in Sussex but Edwin and his mother are still in London.

Edwin Leslie Flexman of Mill Cottage, Felpham Bognor in the County of Sussex, a Serjeant in the 2nd/1st West Kent Yeomanry stationed at Woodbridge in the County of Suffolk left in his will, dated 10th December 1916, all his personal estate to his wife Mary Deane formerly Sharp(e) and to any children that they might have.  The value of his estate was £1,286 1s which is currently estimated to be about £120,000. Mill Cottage is now Mill House and is on the corner of Sea Road and Canning Road.

He had married Mary in 1916 at Brentford. Their son John D. was born in 1918.

At some time he was transferred from the Yeomanry, which stayed in the U.K. for the duration of the war, into the Infantry probably in 1917 when there was a reorganisation of the Yeomanry. There are no details about his service on his record cards from The National Archives with any other units than the 7th Battalion West Kents except "TF" (Teritorial Force) against his award of the Victory and British War medals.

205341 Serjeant Edwin Leslie Flexman died on 24th April 1918 whilst serving with the 7th (Service Battalion) Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment.  He was 28. He is buried in Crucifix Corner Cemetery, Villers-Bretonneux, Somme, France, grave I.C.3.

By 1919 William James (Sr) was Clerk of Works to a local Felpham builder who developed much of the area around Sea Road. 

His youngest brother William James (Jr) died in on 14th December 1941 at the battle of El Alamein whilst serving as Trooper 7925277 with the 8th Army, Royal Armoured Corps.  His name is on the Alamein memorial, column 14.  He was 35. One family death in each of the two World Wars of the 20th century.

William James (Snr) died in 1937 aged 76 and Matilda died in 1954 aged 89.  Both are buried in St. Mary's churchyard at G140. There is a cross on a rough hewn plinth with rectangular kerbstone. There are inscriptions to two of their sons who died in war.