Charles Frederick Hampton

[tbirduk]

This chap died as a POW 24 Aug 1918 and buried in the German cemetery at Combles, his grave was apparently lost and he is commemorated by a headstone and Kipling Memorial in the Guard Cemetery, Combles 
 Then it gets confusing as he is remembered as a Private 326107 in 9th Essex.the CWGC site says his hadstone is a Kipling type memorial, however this has now been replaced (?) by a standard headstone.
 The anomaly is that 10 days before he died a Son was born, but his wife indentifies him as being a Private in "8/5th Hants" 
Is there a way of Identifying when he was taken Prisoner? I assume he would have been posted to the 9th Essex before being taken Prisoner?

  

Edited 9 June , 2020 by tbirduk

[mancpal]

Have you checked the ICRC database of POW? It's not the easiest site to search but may well give you more information, I found date of capture through this site of my grandad. It may reveal other bits also .

 

Simon

[mancpal]

His ICRC record gives more detail about cause of death, location and his military details at time of death.

 

Simon

[clk]

Hi,

 

From this link, if you put the 'PA' number shown on the index cards below in the search box, it should take you through to the PoW record page. 

 

Images sourced from the ICRC

 

For 22.8.1918, the Bn war diary shows:

Image sourced from Ancestry

 

The Brigade HQ and Division HQ (General Staff) diaries will probably give more context/detail to the actions on that day. You should be able to download all of the diaries from the National Archives (currently free of charge). The search page is here.

 

The 9/Essex were a 'New Army' Bn. However, his 326107 number is associated with the number block allocated to Territorial Force line units of the 8/Essex under the general renumbering of the TF in 1917. My guess would be that he was a TF man that served at home with one of the line units of the TF 5/Hants, and who was subsequently transferred/posted, and ended up with the 9/Essex. His Soldiers' Effects record (link) shows the amount of War Gratuity paid following his death. As the amount paid largely related to rank and length of war service, it can be used to back calculate approximately when his war service counted from - in his case circa October 1916.

 

Image sourced from the original calculator that forum Pal Craig (ss002d6252) developed

 

What might be useful to do is some 'near number' sampling of his Essex Regiment number - i.e. look for surviving papers of Essex men that had numbers near to his 326107 number. That may then allow you, by inference, to establish when his service with the Essex Regiment was likely to have started.

 

I don't think that there was a 8/5 (8th line, 5th Battalion) Hampshire Regiment, but I may be wrong.

 

Regards

Chris

Edited 9 June , 2020 by clk