Name
Charles William Curle
18/02/1887
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
30/11/1917
21
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Lance Corporal
321806
London Regiment (City of London Rifles) *1
1st/6th (City of London) Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
CAMBRAI MEMORIAL, LOUVERVAL
Panel 11.
France
Headstone Inscription
He has no Headstone. He is commemorated on the Cambrai Memorial to the missing in France,
UK & Other Memorials
Kings Langley Village Memorial, All Saints Church Memorial, Kings Langley
Pre War
Charles William Curle was born on 18th February 1897, in Bermondsey, London/Surrey, son of Arthur John Curle (1865 – 1929) and Eliza Curle (1864 – 1939) (nee Grover), and one of six children, Maggie E. (1888), Edith M. (1890), Richard H. (1893), Edwin J. (1894) and Dorothy E. (1901).
Charles was baptised with his brother Richard on 28th April 1899, at St. Bartholomew’s Church, Camberwell, London/Surrey.
On the 1901 Census the family were living at 80 Credon Road, Camberwell, London where his father was working as an Engineer's Labourer.
Charles' father moved to a new job as a Furnace Stoker at Leavesden Asylum in 1906 and the family moved to King's Langley, Herts. By 1911 the family had moved to Primrose Hill, King Langley, Herts, and Charles, aged 14 had left school and was working as a “Brush Driller”. He was living with his parents and three siblings and his grandmother Jane Curle.
Wartime Service
Charles enlisted at London and was posted to the 6th Battalion, The London Regiment (City of London Rifles) with the Service Number 4313. This service number indicates he enlisted between May and June 1915.
He arrived in France in December 1916 and served on the Western Front and at some point was promoted to Lance Corporal. When the Territorial Force Infantry was renumbered in 1917 Charles was issued with the new number 321806.
He was killed in action on 30th November 1917 during the Battle of Cambrai, aged 21. He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Cambrai Memorial to the Missing in France.
Additional Information
His elder brother Lance Corporal 204244 Edwin John Curle of the Bedfordshire Regiment was Killed in Action by a Gas Shell attack on his front-line trench on 22nd May 1917. His brother Richard also served in France but survived the war. His mother received a Dependents Pension of 8 shillings a week from the 18th June 1918, for life and his father received a war gratuity of £11 and pay owing of £6 2s 0d.
*1 More correctly London Regiment (Rifles).
Acknowledgments
Stuart Osborne, Brenda Palmer
Jonty Wild, Paul Johnson
