W Charles Warwickshire Regiment

[rosewlsg]

I have searched for W Charles and gone down the wrong path several times. All the information I have for certain is in a small piece from the newspapers here in Singapore. Unfortunately I haven't been able to access the Penang papers yet but I expect that the piece below was simply lifted from the Straits Echo or Penang Gazette anyway.

Straits Times of 10 April 1915

Mrs. W. Charles, of Penang, has received intimation that her husband has been killed in action. Mr. Charles, who was a member of the Penang Volunteers, was formerly in the Warwickshire Regiment, and joined his old regiment on proceeding to England several months ago. Private Charles served in the strenuous Sudan campaign under Lord Kitchener and was in India with his regiment when the present War Secretary was Commander-in-Chief there.

He is listed on our cenotaph as W Charles but there's nothing else to go on. He doesn't appear on any of the lists of contingents for 1914 or 1915 or any of the early rolls of honour. I have found that the newspapers were not always accurate so the regiment or the rank may be wrong. I've also found errors in the initials both on the cenotaph and in the newspapers.

I'd appreciate suggestions, even roughly what age he would have been in 1915 if he'd served with Kitchener in Sudan.

Any help gratefully accepted.

[woollamc]

William Charles, born 1877 and resident in Penang, and husband of Julia Charles served in the Royal Warwickshire Regiment under the number 3/4079 and has some service papers on ancestry.

He went to France on 4 January 1915 and came back on 22 October 1915, presumably after being wounded and then served at home under the number 43491 in the Royal Defence Corps, discharged in 1917.

The record is slightly confusing and the records are quite difficult to read but there is an entry along the lines that he was "killed in action after nervous shock" on 25th/ 26th April 1915 - but there are also dates for his later transfer to the RDC and eventual discharge. Some of the pages are interleaved with another William Charles' records, who was from Glasgow, but a careful study of these records should reveal the full story.

If you have access to ancestry, I can post the link to his records. If not, I will try to write up a quick summary later on (if no-one beats me to it in the meantime).

C

[woollamc]

The record is slightly confusing and the records are quite difficult to read but there is an entry along the lines that he was "killed in action after nervous shock" on 25th/ 26th April 1915 - but there are also dates for his later transfer to the RDC and eventual discharge. Some of the pages are interleaved with another William Charles' records, who was from Glasgow, but a careful study of these records should reveal the full story.

Correction - the record says wounded in action, not killed.

[woollamc]

Some more details from his service records.

He was with 1st Battalion, Royal Warwicks when he arrived in France on 4 January 1915. Wounded in action on 25-26th April 1915 but then gets 7days Field Punishment No. 1 for drunkenness on 15 June 1915 and was posted back to England on 22 October 1915, transferred to Royal Defence Corps on 26 November 1915 (261st Protection Coy) and discharged on 28 March 1917 as being no longer physically fit.

C

[rosewlsg]

Thanks C. I am on Ancestry so would appreciate the link, having failed to find him even with the regimental number! I don't know what I'm doing wrong with the Ancestry search.

[woollamc]

No problem.

Here is the link to his service records and here is his Medal Index Card.

Regards

C

[woollamc]

Also, I think these entries on the rolls for the Sudan may confirm that he served in that campaign with bars for action at the Atbara and Khartoum.

C

[rosewlsg]

Terrific! Thanks.