Name
Charlie (Charles) Payne
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
07/01/1916
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Rifleman
S/13021
Rifle Brigade (The Prince Consort’s Own)
9th Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 /15 Star, British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
YPRES (MENIN GATE) MEMORIAL
Panel 46 - 48 and 50.
Belgium
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Bushey Town Memorial, St Peter’s Church Memorial, Bushey Heath
Pre War
Born in Stanmore on 5 January 1897, Charlie Payne was the second child born to Thomas Charles and Annie (nee Brooks) Payne. His parents were married in 1891 in the registration district of Hendon.
At the 1901 Census, Charlie was 4 years old and living with his parents and three siblings at Melham Cottages in Great Stanmore, Middlesex. His father was 33 years old and working as a sewage farm labourer and his mother was 35 years old. His siblings Ethel, Albert and Gladys were aged 6, 3 and 10 months respectively. Apart from Annie, who was born in Harrow Weald, the birthplace for all family members is given as Stanmore in Middlesex. Charlie attended Wilmot Street School from 30 April 1906.
By the time of the 1911 Census, the family had moved to 7 Reveley Cottages, a 4-room property in Elstree Road, Bushey Heath. Charlie is now working as an assistant grocer and his father is a general labourer. Ethel is no longer living with the family, but there are now three additional children, Stanley, Eva Helen and Edward Jess. They were 8, 6 and 8 months old respectively and their birthplaces are given as Edgware in Middlesex for the Stanley and Eva and Bushey for Edward.
Wartime Service
Based on his service records which are partially burnt due to WW2 bombing, Charlie enlisted, aged 19, on 11 June 1915 for Short Service (For the Duration of the War) giving his address as Elstree Road, Bushey Heath, Herts. He was working as a gardener, 5 feet 2¾ inches tall and with a chest girth of 33½ inches. As a distinguishing mark, he had a mole outside his right nipple.
He served as Rifleman S/13021 in the 9th Battalion of The Rifle Brigade and was killed in action in the field on 1 July 1916. He was entitled to the Victory, British and 1915 Star medals, his qualifying date being 17 September 1915. He is remembered with honour at the Menin Gate in Ypres and also commemorated on the Bushey Memorial and at St Peter’s Church, Bushey Heath.
The service record for his death gave details of his six siblings, including Private 65853 Albert Payne, who appears to be a POW in Germany.
The 1939 Register for England and Wales includes three members of the Payne family at 7 Reveley Cottages. Thomas C Payne is aged 68 and employed on unpaid domestic duties, Annie is aged 65 and recorded as incapacitated and Margaret is aged 13 and a dairy worker.
Additional Information
Dianne Payne - www.busheyworldwarone.org.uk, Jonty Wild
Acknowledgments
Andrew Palmer
Dianne Payne - www.busheyworldwarone.org.uk, Jonty Wild
