Category Archives: Services

Charles Edward Wilson

Army, Commemorated name/s, Other Regiments, Western Front

Charles Edward Wilson
Captain 1st Battalion
Queens Royal West Surrey Regiment

Division 60

Wilson Charles Edward

Charles Edward Wilson is commemorated on his wife’s grave in the old Reading Cemetery. He was the first soldier commemorated in the cemetery to die during the Great War.

Charles Wilson was born in Cork, Ireland, on 2 June 1871, the son of Major General Francis E Wilson; Charles was also to be a career soldier. His association with Reading began on 31 December 1896 when at the age of 25, he married Mabel Carr, the daughter of Colonel George Sydney Carr, at St Mary’s Church.

Their first child Edward Sydney Wilson was born in Reading on 1 October 1897. Records show that he was baptised the following day and the headstone on his mother’s grave shows that he had died ten days later. A second son, Hugh Edward Wilson was born in October 1904. Sadly, Mable died at some time before the 1911 census; her headstone does not record the date of her death and it has not been possible to establish a date or cause of death for Mable by other means. The 1911 census records Charles as widowed and living at the Stoughton Barracks, Guilford. He was then 39 and holding the rank of Captain in his regiment. 1911 census record show that Hugh, then aged 6 was living with his widowed maternal grandmother Rose Carr at 7. Maitland Road, Reading.  Rose was then age 61 and was assisted in the rearing of Hugh by a governess, a cook and a maid.

Captain Wilson served in South Africa during the Boer War and it is also thought that he served in India. During his career he was decorated several times and we are told that he received the ‘Légion d’Honneur’ after his death in 1914. A detailed article, posted by an ancestor, about Captain Wilson’s life as a career soldier and Rugby player can be found in Wikipedia.

As a soldier in the regular army Captain Wilson and member of the BEF, the British Expeditionary Force, he was quickly involved in the opening battles of the war. His battalion fought at Mons and various actions during the retreat to the Marne. A counter offensive was launched on the 5 September by both the French and British armies which allowed them to reach the River Aisne on 13 September. At that point the Allies progress was checked y the German Army and fierce fighting took place on the slopes of the Chemin De Dames. The first trenches of the war were dug here on the 14 September 1914. The Queens Royal West Surrey 1st Battalion War Diary indicates that there was heavy shelling by the Germans which resulted in a high casualty rate.  The 16 September saw intermittent sniping fire throughout the day and a heavy bombardment between 4.30 and 6.30 p.m.   On 17 September shelling was heavy throughout the day and it was during this action that Captain Wilson and the battalion Commanding Officer Lieutenant Colonel D. Warren were killed. Shelling continued throughout the following day with the men relying heavily on the protection of the trenches. The battalion was engaged in fighting throughout the remainder of September and early October before moving into Belgium where they were then engaged in the 1st Battle of Ypres on the 21 September. This history of the battalion records that by the end of the first week of November 1914, there were only thirty-two survivors out of the original 998 men who had left England with the 1st Battalion Queens Royal West Surrey Regiment at the onset of the war.  

Captain Charles Edward Wilson was killed in action on the 17th September 1914.  He is buried in Paissy Church Yard, Aisne. Grave 2.

 

William Marshall

Army, Old Contemptible, Royal Berkshire Regiment

William Marshall  M.M.
Lance Corporal
2nd Batt. Royal Berkshire Regt.
Old Contemptible

 Division 17

Marshall W photo CIMG2190

 

Lance Corporal William Marshall  was considered by his friends to lead a charmed life and had many narrow escapes whilst doing service at the front.  At the battle of Fromelles he was carrying two boxes of bullets when one of them was hit by a bullet.  Writing to his mother in July 1915 he simply talks about the weather.  “We are having very unsettled weather again, and we are in the trenches.  We got wet through going on, and there was another wet night last knight.  It makes everything a mess”.

 At the outbreak of war he was serving in India but went to France towards the end of 1914.  This earned him the right to be called an “Old Contemptible”.

Marshall W + brothers photo

 

He was one of four sons, all of whom served with the forces, of Mr. Joseph and Mrs Mary Marshall of 32. Pitcroft Avenue, Reading. His father and older brother Joseph worked in the biscuit factory and William worked as a butcher before join the regular army. His brother Sidney, aged 19 years, was a machine gunner who was killed in action on Easter Monday  24/4/1916. 

William Marshall was awarded the Military Medal in 1916 for rescuing a machine gun.  He served at the front for most of his time in France although eventually due to a problem  with his foot he was given work behind the lines in Havre. 

In 1917 he married Christobel and they had six daughters and one son. In WWII  son Ted served in the Army and William worked as an ARP warden. His daughter Marion said that her dad never spoke about his war service. When William  died in 1963 aged 72 years he was given a military style funeral by the Old Contemptibles Association. He is buried with his wife and two daughters in the Reading Cemetery.  His grave is unmarked except for the marker of the  “Old Contemptibles”.

Ernest Edward Woods

Army, Arras, Commemorated name/s, Other Regiments, Reading University College

Ernest Edward Woods
Staff Sergeant SS/5255
attached to 37th Division H.Q. Army Service Corps.

 Division 80

Woods EE photo Woods EE grave

Ernest Edward Woods was the son of Thomas and Susannah Woods, of  185, Oxford Road at the time of their son’s death; and 23, Coley Hill, Reading at the time of  CWGC registration.  His name is commemorated on the headstone of  grave number 16890.  He died on 22nd May 1916 and is buried in Doullens Communal Cemetery Extension II.C.18.

 The Standard 29th July 1916 gives details of his career and the details of the illness which killed him.

“ Sergt. Woods enlisted directly the war broke out, prior to which time he was a journalist on the ‘West London Free Press,’ which makes the following comment on his death:- “Woods was a capable and strenuous journalist.  His qualities of sprightly energy, alertness and loyalty won him the sincere regard of our staff.  His death appears all the more tragic because it was so unexpected.  Shortly before he was taken ill he wrote to his mother saying he was quite well and ever so happy.  Further information showed, however, that the preliminary cause of death was a tumour on the brain.  He was an extremely bright and joyous fellow, and had he lived would have had an honourable career in the Army.  Already he had won the confidence of the officers’ and men, and at headquarters it was known that he was marked out for rapid promotion.  For his mother and other relatives the sympathy of all who knew Staff Sergt. Woods goes out.”

          The C.O. wrote: “Woods had been in my confidential clerk for over a year – ever since the formation of the division.  It may be of some satisfaction to you to know that your son did his duty both willingly and well.  He died practically in the front line.”

 Doullens was the H.Q. of the French General Foch in the early part of the war.  From Summer 1915 to March 1916, the town was the junction between the French 10th Army and the British Third Army on the Somme.  The Citadelle, overlooking the town from the south, was a French military hospital, and the railhead was used by both Armies.  In March 1916, the Arras front became British, and the town became home to various Casualty Clearing Stations.  Medical units buried their dead firstly in the French Extension of the Communal Cemetery and later Extension No.2 when casualties form both the Arras and Somme fronts increased.