Edward Higgins was born on 5 December 1924, the son of Edward and Dorothy Mines Higgins (née Usher) of Hackney Wick, London.

He joined the Royal Navy and trained as a Stoker 1^st Class. Having volunteered for ‘Special Service’ he was drafted to HMS VARBEL where he was trained as an X-Craft Crewman.  HMS XE11 was lost on the morning of 6 March 1945. Edward Higgins was onboard XE11 for a training run and calibration of instruments in Loch Striven. When changing depth and coming shallow XE11 accidentally came into collision with a Boom Defence Vessel which was laying buoys. The hull was holed by the ship’s propellor, the submarine flooded up and sank to the bottom. Of the five crew members onboard at the time two managed to escape but Aubrey Staples (the Commanding Officer) and two ratings were lost.

Edward Higgins, who was lost, was the husband of Rose Higgins of Homerton, London. He is buried in the Rothesay Cemetery in Section L Grave No. 2090 and is commemorated on the 12th Submarine Flotilla memorials at Rothesay on the Isle of Bute and at Kylesku.