Name
Charles Arnott
5 September 1892
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
20/09/1917
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
18932
Bedfordshire Regiment
2nd Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 /15 Star, British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
TYNE COT MEMORIAL
Panel 48 to 50 and 162A.
Belgium
Headstone Inscription
N/A
UK & Other Memorials
Hemel Hempstead Town Memorial, St Mary's Church Memorial, Hemel Hempstead, John Dickinson & Co Memorial, Apsley Mills (incorrectly recorded as E Arnott)
Pre War
Charles Arnott was born in Hemel Hempstead on 5 September 1892, the son of Charles and Annie Arnott, and one of five children. He was baptised at St Mary's Church, Hemel Hempstead on 19 October the same year.
On the 1901 Census the family were living at 17 Bury Hill, Hemel Hempstead where his father was working as a Labourer at the Gas Works. They had moved to No. 28 Bury Hill by 1911.
Upon leaving school, Charles was employed as an Envelope Maker at John Dickinson & Co. at Apsley Mills.
Wartime Service
He enlisted at Hertford and joined the 2nd Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment. After basic training at Felixstowe, Essex he arrived at Le Havre, France on 2 October 1915, and was one of 250 new soldiers who joined the Battalion two days later at billets in le Quesnoy.
He was in action during the Battle of the Somme at Trones Wood in July 1916 and the Battle of Transloy in October, both of which resulted in heavy casualties. After the Second Battle of the Scarpe in April 1917, the Battalion moved to Belgium, taking part in the Battles of Messines Ridge and Pilckem Ridge. They were also subjected to gas attacks in September.
He was killed in action on 20 September 1917 when he was a member of a raiding party "for the purpose of collecting information, capturing prisoners, machine guns and damaging dug-outs", and was hit by a German sniper. The fire was intense and the barbed wire was uncut. The party, several of whom were wounded, remained in shell-holes during the whole day, eventually returning to their own line at about 9 pm.
He has no known grave and his name is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial, Belgium.
Additional Information
His father received a war gratuity of £12 10s and pay owing of £5 19s 11d. His mother received a pension of 5 shillings a week.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Jonty Wild, www.hemelheroes.com., www.dacorumheritage.org.uk., www.hemelatwar.org.,
