Name
Charles Blackwell
1882
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
20/07/1915
32
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Second Lieutenant
London Regiment (Royal Fusiliers)
4th (City of London) Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 /15 Star, British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
RIDGE WOOD MILITARY CEMETERY
II. G. 2.
Belgium
Headstone Inscription
He has no family inscription on his Headstone
UK & Other Memorials
Bengeo School Memorial – Location to be confirmed, Chipperfield Village Memorial, St Paul's Church Memorial, Chipperfield, St Matthew’s Church Memorial, Oxhey, Oxhey Baptist Chapel Memorial, Harrow Weald Memorial, Greater London, All Saints Church, Harrow Weald, Greater London, 2lt C Blackwell And Lt G Blackwell Harrow Weald Greater London
Pre War
Charles Blackwell was born 1883 in Harrow Weald, Middx., to parents Samuel John and Elizabeth Blackwell (nee Howard) of the Crosse & Blackwell family. He was one of eleven.
In both the 1891 and 1901 census he was living at Brookshill House, Harrow Weald along with some of his family. He attended Bengeo School at Danesbury, Bengeo, Herts. The 1911 census shows him as a visitor at Foxburrow, Caterham Valley, (home of the Crosse Family) and he was employed as a solicitor’s articled clerk.
Wartime Service
Together with his younger brother William Gordon, he enlisted as a Private (954) in Honourable Artillery Company on the outbreak of war, was sent to France on 26 Dec 1914 in 1st Battalion.
He was commissioned on 11 May 1915 and transferred to the Royal Fusiliers. His unit was part of the 9th Brigade in the 3rd Division, one of the first to be sent to France. They fought throughout the winter of 1914/15 at Bellewaarde and then at Hooge on 19/20th July 1915 where Charles was killed.
Biography
Charles Blackwell was born in Harrow Weald, Middlesex in 1883, the son of Samuel John Blackwell and his wife, Elizabeth Chrisp Blackwell, of the Crosse and Blackwell family.
Baptised on 5th May 1883 in the Parish of Harrow Weald in Middlesex.
Samuel Blackwell and his wife, Elizabeth, of the Crosse and Blackwell family, brought up their 11 children at Brookshill House, Harrow Weald.
1911 Census records Charles as a visitor in Caterham, Surrey and his Occupation is a Solicitor Articled Clerk.
Charles and his younger brother William enlisted together in The Honourable Artillery Company with the Service No. 954 (William 953). He landed in France on 29th December 1914, with the HAC. He was sent for officer training and commissioned Second Lieutenant and posted to the 4th Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment) on 11th June 1915. Charles was killed in action the following month, 20 July 1915. He was buried at Ridge Wood Military Cemetery in Belgium. Grave Ref: II. G. 2.
In 1910, at the age of 69, his father Samuel inherited the Manor House at Chipperfield and became a great benefactor to the village. In 1915 Samuel and Elizabeth celebrated their Golden Wedding, but it was not a happy year for them as news came that their son, Charles, serving as Second Lieutenant in the 4th Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers, had been killed in action on 20 July 1915, aged 32.
The following year, a second son, William Gordon, known as ‘Don’, was also killed in Flanders on 5th October 1916. After the war in 1922, Samuel and Elizabeth had the Chipperfield Social Club built in their memory. Samuel never got over his loss. His health deteriorated and he died in January 1923. Today ‘Blackwell’s’, which stands next to the Common, is a social club and café.
Charles and his brother, William Gordon Blackwell, are commemorated on the St Matthew’s Church Memorial, Oxhey, near ‘Oxhey Place’, a family home of the Blackwell’s.
Additional Information
After his death he was recorded as the son of Mr. and Mrs. S. J. Blackwell, of the Manor House, Chipperfield, King's Langley, Herts. A war gratuity of £51.17s.6d was paid to his father.
His brother William Gordon, Lieutenant of the 8th battalion, Royal Fusiliers, was killed the following year on 5 Oct 1916. A clubhouse was built in Chipperfield in 1922 by Mr and Mrs Blackwell in memory of their two sons. Information provided with kind permission of Bushey First World War Commemoration Project – Please visit www.busheyworldwarone.org.uk. The Blackwells were part of the Crosse & Blackwell Company.
Acknowledgments
Stuart Osborne, Neil Cooper
Dianne Payne - www.busheyworldwarone.org.uk, Jonty Wild,Ann Hacke,Terry & Glenis Collins, Paul Johnson
