Name
Charles Elam
17th January 1895
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
01/07/1916
21
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Lieutenant
York and Lancaster Regiment
12th Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
A.I.F. BURIAL GROUND, FLERS
XII. M. 2.
France
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Aldenham School Memorial, Aldenham, St, Augustines, Endcliffe, S. Yorks
Pre War
Charles Elam was born on 17th January 1895 at 96 Manor Road, Stoke Newington, the son of George and Ethel Elam. Charles' father - a physician and surgeon - had been born in Sheffield and the family returned to his native town at some point over the next few years. In September 1914, 19-year old Charles Elam was a Sheffield steelworker living with his parents.
Within a month of the declaration of war on 4th August 1914, Charles had applied for a commission in the Territorials.
Wartime Service
A matter of days later, recruiting began for a Sheffield City Battalion and - without waiting for his application to be processed,He formally joined the 12th Bn. York & Lancaster Regt. as a Private (12/1423) on 10th September. 8 days later he was appointed 2nd Lieutenant. Promotion to full Lieutenant followed on 5th December 1915.
The attack on Serre by the Sheffield City Battalion on 1st July 1916 began at 7.20a.m, under the cover of an intense artillery and mortar bombardment, the first waves of "A" and "C" Companies clambered out of their trench and moved 100 yards into No Man's Land where the men lay down to wait for the bombardment to lift from the German front line. Minutes later, the second wave followed. At 7.30am, both waves - separated by some 30yds - advanced slowly in line towards the German wire. Despite a week-long bombardment, long stretches of barbed wire entanglements were still intact and many men were cut down by enemy fire as they desperately sought a way through. Charles Elam found one of the few gaps and led a party through the wire into the German front line where they fought in vain to hold on to the hard-won ground. Charles Elam never returned.
Almost 5 months later, 12/1172 Pte. S. Ardern related the eyewitness account of 12/119 Pte. H. Glossop (No. 4 Platoon, "A" Company) to an interviewer at 1st Northern General Hospital, Newcastle. Glossop had described how two bombing parties were working their way up communication trenches from the German front line. Glossop was ferrying supplies of grenades to the two parties, and at one point found Elam wounded in the neck. When he next returned, Elam had disappeared.
It seems likely that Lt. Elam, fatally wounded, died in German hands, providing some explanation for his eventual burial several miles away from Serre in A.I.F. Burial Ground, Flers.
Biography
Additional Information
Information from www.pals.org.uk, please visit their website.
Acknowledgments
Neil Cooper
