Military History

Charles is listed as being killed in action on 7 Nov 1914 during the First Battle of Ypres. The 2nd Battalion war diary records for the period 28 Oct to 9 Nov 1914 were lost or destroyed during a Battle and so we have extracted a passage from the book The Story of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment by C.L. Kingsford. The book is on the Internet Archive and can be read here.

The Story of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment by C.L. Kingsford

After one day’s rest the battalion moved out [from Zonnebeke] on October 26, under the command of Major P. J. Foster, to Zandvoorde, where they were joined by the first reinforcement of 190 men. There next day they held the trenches under heavy fire, being forced in the afternoon to withdraw a of their line. At night they were relieved and bivouacked near Klein Zillebeke, remaining close to that village on the following day.

On October 29, when the battle was at its height, the Royal Warwickshire was ordered to counter-attack; but was held up by machine-gun fire and forced to dig in, two companies having a narrow escape from being surrounded. All next day they held their trenches under a heavy bombardment.

When on the morning of October 31 many of the trenches were blown in and their occupants buried, the battalion on the left under the strain gave way. The Royal Warwickshire had in consequence to swing back their own left to a fresh line, which they were ordered to hold at all costs. A small party under Major Foster, with five other officers, did not receive the necessary orders, and remaining in their advanced position were finally surrounded and taken prisoners. The day’s fighting had been long and fluctuating, and it was only at evening that the 22nd Brigade beat off the enemy and re-established the line. After this the battalion, now numbering little over a hundred men, remained three days in brigade-reserve in the woods.

All this time, for nine consecutive days and nights, officers and men had little more sleep than what they might snatch in the trenches. Day after day in the face of an appalling artillery fire they had held the trenches, which they had dug in haste during the previous night, and had never lost a trench until it had been actually blown in by the enemy’s shells. At one critical time, Lieut. and Quartermaster Hyde collected all the servants and cooks, the Sergeant-Drummer, the SergeantMaster-Shoemaker, the Armourer-Sergeant and the OrderlyRoom Corporal * and hurried them forward to help to restore the fight. General Rawlinson specially commended the battalion for its steadiness and good discipline on October 19, and for its courageous conduct on October 20, 21 and 24.