Name
Alfred Charles Strugnell
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
01/07/1916
27
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Second Lieutenant
Yorkshire 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 3 A and 3 D.
France
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Croxley Green Village Memorial, Croxley Green, All Saints' Church Shrine, Croxley Green, Rickmansworth Urban District Memorial, Watford Grammar School Memorial, Watford, Watford Grammar School Book of Remembrance
Pre War
Charles Strugnell had been a member of the Church Lads' Brigade. He was unusual because he was a professional soldier and came from a family with a history of military service in the Yorkshires. His grandfather served in the regiment. His father, Charles senior, joined the regimental band as soon as he was old enough, attended the Royal Military School of Music at Kneller Hall, and became bandmaster to the Yorkshires. When he retired from the army as a Warrant Officer, Charles senior came to work for Dickinson’s and became bandmaster of the Dickinson Institute band. The family lived at 245 New Road.
Charles junior was the only son of Alfred Charles and Dora (nee Goode) Strugnell. His parents married 1886 in the Farnham, Surrey district and Alfred’s birth was registered there in the second quarter of 1889. He attended Watford Grammar School for Boys from January 1903 to July 1906, unlike most of his peers in Croxley who ended their education at the Boys’ School in Watford Road. He decided early on to follow in his father’s footsteps. Charles originally attested on 23 June 1906 in Colchester, Essex: aged 17, 5’7″ tall, C of E; his next-of-kin his mother of Croxley Green, Herts. He was promoted Trumpeter 1 October 1907, and extended his service to 12 years with the Colours on 4 July 1911. Aged 22, was already a Lance-Corporal musician in the 16th Lancers.
He was promoted Sergeant on 17 August 1913
His death must have been a severe blow to the family, probably not helped much by the letter from his Colonel expressing deep regret at the loss of so gallant and promising an officer. He is recorded as enlisting in Colchester, Essex.
Wartime Service
He gained his commission on 14 June 1916 in the field. He was entitled to the 1914 Star medal, his qualifying date being 17 August 1914. As Second Lieutenant Charles Strugnell he died on 1 July 1916, the first day of the Somme attacks. He had only just been promoted from Trumpet-Major (number 5568) in the 16th (Queen’s) Lancers into the 2nd Battalion, (Princess of Wales’) Yorkshire Regiment.
The 2nd Yorkshires were regular soldiers, part of the 21st Brigade and 30th Division. They attacked towards Montauban but were soon halted by machine gun fire and suffered 200 casualties. According to his commanding officer, Strugnell was killed while bravely leading his men.
He is remembered on the memorial to the missing of the Somme at Thiepval.
Additional Information
The published Watford Grammar School Book of Remembrance entry reads:
“STRUGNELL, ALFRED CHARLES. School period: January, 1903, to July, 1906. Lieutenant, 2nd Yorkshire Regiment; had previously served for ten years in 16th Lancers. Killed in action in France, 1st July, 1916.”
Acknowledgments
Malcolm Lennox, Brian Thomson, Croxley Green in the First World War Rickmansworth Historical Society 2014
