Name
Charles Tomlin
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
20/02/1915
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
4/7321
Bedfordshire Regiment
1st Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 (Mons) Star, British War and Victory Medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
R.E. FARM CEMETERY
I. A. 5.
Belgium
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Hitchin Town Memorial,
St Mary's Church Roll of Honour (Book), Hitchin
Pre War
Charles was born in Hitchin and enlisted there in September 1914. His home was at 54, Sunnyside, Hitchin and his father was Charles Tomlin of the ‘Orange Tree’, Sunnyside, Hitchin.
Wartime Service
He was allocated the Regimental Number 4/7321. He was sent to the Western Front in the 1st Battalion of the Bedfords in November 1914 and killed in action near Ypres. The short period of training suggests that he was a Reservist as the Battalion was already in France. The Battalion was in the 15th Brigade of the 5th Division.
The 1st Battalion had gone to Wulverghem in the Ypres Sector on the 8th February 1915 and was in a forward area at the time of his death. Conditions over the winter period had been horrendous with most of the men suffering from trench foot. Trenches were half full of water, were shallow due to the high-water table and subjected to continuous bombardment.
Charles is buried in Plot I, Row A, Grave 5 in the R.E. Farm Cemetery, Wytschaete, Belgium.
Acknowledgments
Adrian Dunne, David C Baines, Jonty Wild
