Name
Charles Herbert Johnson
1892
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
05/10/1916
24
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Lance Corporal
43500
Norfolk Regiment
8th Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
THIEPVAL MEMORIAL
Pier and Face 1 C and 1 D.
France
Headstone Inscription
N/A
UK & Other Memorials
Not on the Hemel Hempstead Memorials, Norwich War Memorial, Norfolk
Pre War
Charles Herbert Johnson was born in 1892 in Hemel Hempstead, Herts, the only son of Thomas and Amelia Johnson. and one of 4 children, although one had died in early childhood.
On the 1891 Census his parents were living in Hammerfield, Hemel Hempstead, where his father was a 'Boot Manager' (manager of a boot making business). They had married in 1887 at Thorpe-Next-Norwich, Norfolk.
By 1901 Census his mother was listed as head of the household and was working as a dressmaker and they were living at 93 Calvert Street, Norwich.
His father died in 1902 in Thorpe, Norfolk and on the 1911 Census he was living with his widowed mother and sisters Gertrude and Elsie and a boarder, Gertrude Fisher, at 127 Aylsham Road, Norwich and was working as a shop assistant.
His mother later lived at 34 Prince of Wales Road, Norwich. and 4 Golden Dog Lane, Norwich.
Wartime Service
Charles enlisted in Norwich and served with the 8th Battalion, Norfolk Regiment. It is not known when he was sent to France, but it was probably in early 1916. He would have seen action on the Somme at the Battles of Albert, Bazentin Ridge and Delville Wood in July 1916, followed by Thiepval Ridge and Ancre Heights in September and October.
At some point during 1916 he was promoted to Lance Corporal but was killed at action on 5 October 1916, aged 24, during the capture of the Schwaben Redoubt at Thiepval.
He has no known grave and his name is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial, Somme, France.
Additional Information
His mother received a war gratuity of £5 10s and pay owing of £1 10s. Pension records suggest she also received a pension, although the amount is unclear.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Jonty Wild, www.hemelatwar.org., www.norwichrollofhonour.org.uk.,
