Name
Charles Herbert Hunt
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
21/03/1918
25
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
90378
Machine Gun Corps (Infantry)
25th Bn. Company
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
ARRAS MEMORIAL
Bay 10
France
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Hitchin Town Memorial,
St Mary's Church Roll of Honour, Hitchin
Pre War
His parents were Mr and Mrs Walter Hunt and their home was at 13, Bearton Rd, Hitchin and he was their eldest son. He was married and his wife lived in Offley and she remarried a few years later.
Before joining up he was a member of the Wesleyan Church in Brand Street Hitchin and sang in the choir. He was born in Hitchin and enlisted there in February 1916.
Wartime Service
Charles was sent to the Western Front in 1917. At first he was in the Royal West Surrey Regiment with the Regimental Number 39470, but later was transferred to the Machine Gun Corps and given the Corps Number 90378. He was at the Third Battle of Ypres and was killed in action at Cambrai during the March 1918 retreat whilst serving with the 25th Company, Machine Gun Corps (Infantry).
A letter from a friend said that he had been wounded in the shoulder and leg but, because the enemy were advancing, he had to be left behind. His identity disks were found by the Germans and sent to Berlin.
Additional Information
His younger brother was Stanley William Hunt aged 21 years who was in the Royal Field Artillery and who died in hospital on the 16th December 1916. Stan had worked for Cash & Company in Hitchin and had joined the army in June 1915 and went to France in November 1916. He was alive on the 11th December 1916, as he acknowledged a parcel sent by the Committee of the Wesleyan Church which he used to attend. Why his name was not included on the Hitchin War Memorial is not known. Stan's name is not in ‘Soldiers died’ database which adds to the mystery. There was a Sydney Hunt, a wheeler in ‘T’ Battery, 13th Brigade, Royal Horse Artillery who died on the 17th December 1916 and was buried in Plot II, Row D, Grave 13 in Mailly Wood Cemetery, Somme in France but no association with Hitchin has been established for him.
Acknowledgments
Adrian Dunne, David C Baines, Jonty Wild
