Name
Charles Hart
Abt. 1890
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
27/11/1917
27
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
22681
Bedfordshire Regiment
8th Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
ROCQUIGNY-EQUANCOURT ROAD BRITISH CEMETERY, MANANCOURT
V. A. 14.
France
Headstone Inscription
"IN THE MIDST OF LIFE WE ARE IN DEATH NEVER WILL HIS MEMORY FADE"
UK & Other Memorials
St Mark’s Church Plaque, Colney Heath, London Colney Village Memorial, We are not aware of any memorial in Tyttenhanger Green
Pre War
Charles HART was born Abt. 1890, in Tyttenhanger Green,
Hertfordshire, the son of Emma Field.
1881 Census records Emma Field aged 18, living with her
parents, William and Rebecca Hart, at The Camp, St Albans, Herts.
1891 Census records Charles Hart aged 1, as living with his father
William Hart, a Butcher and Cattle dealer, brothers William (10), Frederick
(8), Walter (5), and George (4), in Tyttenhanger Green, Herts. Emma Field (28)
is recorded as Housekeeper.
Charles’s father, William, died on 26th January 1893,
aged 53 years and is buried in the Old Churchyard, St Mark’s Church, Colney
Heath, Herts.
Emma Field married George Atkins on 14th February
1895, in St Albans, Herts, they went on to have five children, John, Mable,
Edward, Florence, and Edith.
1901 Census records Charles aged 11, living with his mother
Emma, stepfather George Atkins, Half-sister Mable Atkins, half-brother Edward
Atkins, Brothers Walter and George Hart, at 2 Edgware Ballast Path, Edgware,
Middx.
Charles’ brother, Walter, passed away on 16th April
1901, aged 16 years and is buried in the same plot as his father (William).
By 1911 the family, all ten of them plus brother George’s
wife Beatrice, were now living back in Tyttenhanger Green, Herts, in an
eight-room house. Charles’s occupation is recorded as a Labourer on Farm.
Wartime Service
Charles enlisted at Ampthill, Beds, in 1915, posted to the Bedfordshire
Regiment, and issued with the service number 22681. On completion of his
training, Charles was sent to France, seeing action on the Western Front, he
died on 27th November 1917, of wounds he received in action, prior
to his death he had been in France for about a year and eight months. He is
buried in Rocquighy-Equancourt Road British Cemetery, Mannancourt, France.
Grave Ref: V. A. 14.
Additional Information
His effect of £6-13s-05d, pay owing and his war gratuity of
£9, went to his mother Emma Atkins. There is a note in the Effects Register by
his name (Alias Field ).
The records show that the Hart’s next, but one neighbours
were the Reynolds family and their son William – William was also killed in the
war. Charles’ older brother, George, lived to the age of 86 and died on 10th
October 1973. He is buried in the New Churchyard at St Mark’s Church, Colney
Heath, Herts. Charles also had two other brothers William and Frederick, along
with five other step brothers and sisters. William, who was in the Northampton
Regiment, served throughout the South African War and was wounded in France
during the early part of the Great War. Upon his recovery he was sent to Egypt
and from there went to Palestine, where he served out the rest of the war.
Frederick served with the Bedfordshire Regiment and was awarded the Military
Medal. Charles’s two half brothers, John and Edward Atkins, also served: John
in Italy and Edward in France. Edward was discharged from the Army in September
1916, due to having his left hand shattered during an engagement on the Somme.
Acknowledgments
Stuart Osborne
Graham Clark – World War One – The Fallen of London Colney, Grace Clark, Jonty Wild
