Name
Charles Stevens
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
12/03/1915
21
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
7209
East Surrey Regiment
2nd Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 /15 Star, British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
YPRES (MENIN GATE) MEMORIAL
Panel 34.
Belgium
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Hitchin Town Memorial, St Mary's Church Roll of Honour (Book), Hitchin, St Ippolyts Village Memorial, St Ippolyts Church Roll of Honour
Pre War
Charles was born in 1893, in St Ippolyts, Herts. The son of William and Sarah Ann Stevens. He was Baptised on the 14th May 1893, in the Parish Church of St Ippolyts, Herts.
The 1901 Census records Charles aged 8, living with his parents William and Sarah and his elder brother Arthur 13, in Gosmore, St Ippolyts, Herts. The 1911 Census records Charles aged 18, still living at home with his parents, and his elder sister Bertha 19, in Newlands Cottages, Collison Lane, Hitchin, Herts. His occupation is given as a Gardener. Grandson Charles R. P. White was visiting them at the time of the census. The census records his parents had been married for 26 years, and they had 6 children 1 of which died.
Charles had enlisted in Hitchin by September 1914
Wartime Service
He was posted to the 4th Battalion East Surrey Regiment with the service number 7209. He landed in France on the 23rd February 1915. He was Killed in Action a few weeks later on the 12th March 1915.
One reference and the date of his death indicate that he was killed at Neuve Chapelle. Heavy fighting was taking place at Neuve Chapelle at the time and he may have been in the area with another unit. The 28th Division, of which the 2nd Battalion East Surreys formed part, was in the Ypres Salient further north. This and the fact that he is remembered on the Menin Gate suggests that he was a casualty of the incessant sniping and shelling that went on in the Salient.
Charles has no known grave and is remembered on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial to the Missing.
Additional Information
In 1915, The 2nd Battalion East Surrey Regiment, formed part of the 85th Brigade of the 28th Division.
There is a more complete biography for Charles "here"
Acknowledgments
Adrian Dunne, David C Baines, Stuart Osborne, Jonty Wild.
