Edward Kearon was born on 30 December 1920, the son of Edward Kearon, a Master Mariner from Ferry Bridge, and Isabella Kearon (née Smyth) of Sandy Cove, County Dublin, Republic of Ireland. After the outbreak of WWII he joined the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve and was appointed Temporary Sub Lieutenant on 21st May 1942.

He was appointed to HMS DOLPHIN (5th Submarine Flotilla) ‘for miscellaneous duties’ on 14 September 1942. He was then appointed to HMS VARBEL at Port Bannatyne on 25 September 1942. After training he was appointed to HMS X9 as Commanding Officer of the Passage Crew for Operation SOURCE.

Overnight 15/16 September 1943, X9 was being towed by HMS SYRTIS enroute to the Kaafjord in Norway to attack the German Pocket Battleship SCHARNHORST. On being ordered to surface on the morning of 16 September, X9 failed to surface and was presumed lost on tow. It was later determined that the manilla towing cable had parted and the additional weight of the waterlogged cable had dragged X9 below safe depth.

Edward Kearon is commemorated on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial on Panel 80, Column 1, on the 12th Submarine Flotilla Memorials in the Kaafjord Cemetery, Finmark Fylke, Norway, at Kylesku and at Rothesay on the Isle of Bute.