Name
Charles William Trott
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
01/07/1916
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Corporal
12942
Duke of Cambridge’s Own (Middlesex Regiment)
2nd Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 (Mons) Star, British War and Victory Medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
THIEPVAL MEMORIAL
Pier and Face 12D and 13B.
France
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
St James’ Church Memorial, Bushey
Pre War
Born in Hendon on 22 August 1889 and baptised on 25 September 1889 at St Mary’s Church in Hendon, Charles William [see note below] was the son of Charles (Snr.) James and Harriet (nee Perry) Trott. Charles (Snr.) was employed as a labourer and the family were living in Fuller Street, Hendon. His parents were married in 1885 in Hendon.
[Note: the CWGC site incorrectly records his name as Charles James Trott, which was the name of his father. His pension record correctly records him as Chas. Wm. Trott. and he is recorded as C Trott on the Bushey Memorial]
At the 1891 census, Charles William was two years old and living with his parents and two siblings, six-year-old Annie E and four-year-old Mary E, at Suttons Yard, Parsons Street in Hendon. Charles (Snr.) and Harriet were 24 and 23 years old respectively and Charles (Snr.) was working as a driver/groom. The birthplaces were given as Bushey in Hertfordshire for Charles (Snr.), Edgware in Middlesex for Harriet, Annie and Mary and Hendon for Charles.
By the time of the 1901 census, Charles was 11 years old and the family had moved to 35 Herkomer Road in Bushey. Charles (Snr.) was working as a general labourer. Annie was no longer living at home, but Mary and Charles had four additional siblings. Their names were Sarah Esther, Lilian Violet, Herbert Ernest and Dorothy Ethel, their ages were 7, 5, 3 and 1 year old respectively and they had all been born in Bushey.
Charles enlisted with the Middlesex Regiment on 21 February 1910 at Mill Hill. He was 5ft 4½in tall and his medical record stated he had four Molars decayed and absent, was re-vaccinated on 1 March 1910, and was examined on 1 August 1911 and found fit for service in India, but it is not known if he was posted there.
He was posted to Guernsey on 24 March 1910 and later listed on the 1911 census as Private Charles William Trott, aged 21, with the 2nd Battalion of the Middlesex Regiment, based at Guadaloupe, Bordon Camp near Headley, Hampshire. He was posted to Malta on 22 December 1913.
Wartime Service
Charles William Trott served as Private 12942 with the 2nd Battalion of the Duke of Cambridge’s Own (Middlesex) Regiment. He was promoted to Lance Corporal in December 1914 and again to Corporal on 27 June 1915. He was killed in action on 1 July 1916, the first day of the Somme.
He is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme, which bears the names of more than 72,000 officers and men of the United Kingdom and South African forces who died in the Somme sector before 20 March 1918 and have no known grave. He is also commemorated as C Trott on the memorial in St James’ Church in Bushey.
Charles was entitled to the British, Victory and 1914 Star medals. His father signed for receipt of the Victory medal and his mother for receipt of the British medal.
Charles pension card named Harriet Trott of 27 Herkomer Road, Bushey as his dependant. Her name is later crossed through, annotated died 29/9/26 and replaced with Charles James Trott, father. It also included the name of Charles younger brother, Private 7191 Herbert Trott, who also died in the war.
The Army Registers of Soldiers’ Effects named Joseph Goadby as his legatee and included payments of £37 6s. 3d. and £11 10s.
Additional Information
Dianne Payne - www.busheyworldwarone.org.uk, Jonty Wild
Acknowledgments
Andrew Palmer
Dianne Payne - www.busheyworldwarone.org.uk, Jonty Wild
