Name
Charles Philby/Philbey
1883
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
07/11/1914
31
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
7788
Bedfordshire Regiment
1st Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 (Mons) Star (with Clasp & Roses), British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
LE TOURET MEMORIAL
Panel 10 and 11.
France
Headstone Inscription
N/A
UK & Other Memorials
Memorial Plaque, St Lawrence Church, Bovingdon, Memorial Plaque, Memorial Hall, Bovingdon
Pre War
Charles Philbey (or Charley Philby as he was registered) was born in 1883 in Hawridge, Chesham, Buckinghamshire, the son of Edwin and Charlotte Elizabeth Philby, and one of eight children.
On the 1891 Census the family were living at Hawridge, near Aylesbury, Bucks where his father was working as a tailor. Charley (as he was then called) was a 7 year old scholar.
By 1901 he had moved out of the family home and was boarding with Alfred and Rose Robinson in High Street, Bovingdon next to the Wheatsheaf Inn. He was working as an agricultural labourer possibly with Alfred Robinson who gave his occupation as a Carter on a Farm. His brother was boarding a few houses away also in the High Street.
His mother had died in 1896 aged 43, and his father married again in 1900 to Elizabeth Mead. Although she is not listed with him on the 1911 Census, his father stated that he was married and his stepson David Mead was living with him at 17 Vale Road, Chesham, Bucks.
Charles' regimental number of 7758 indicates that he enlisted between January 1903 and February 1904, and joined the Bedfordshire Regiment as a regular soldier.
(Pension records give Charles' next of kin as Mr Edward (Edwin) Philbey of 14 Nashleigh Road, Chesham, Bucks, although there appears to have been no pension paid. His father died in late 1917 aged 67.)
Wartime Service
It is not clear if Charles was a regular soldier with the Bedfordshire Regiment at the outbreak of war, or had served his time and was recalled as a reservist, but the 1st Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment were stationed at Mullingar (Ireland). They left Belfast on SS Oronsa at 2.00 pm on 15 August and disembarked in Le Havre on 16 August 1914 and marched to a very muddy rest camp on a hill. It is known that Charles arrived in France on the same day.
The following day they marched to the station, arriving about midnight and left on the train, arriving at Le Cateau at midnight on 18 August.
They were billeted at Pommereuil and started the advance by marching to Mons on 20 August. On 23 August the Battle of Mons began. Although no immediate fighting was expected and the digging of trenches had started, the men were shelled and the enemy attacked in the afternoon. Having been under constant attack they were forced to retreat and were again driven back at the Battle of Le Cateau on 26 August and by the following day the war diary commented "men absolutely tired out & hungry. "
In the following months the 1st Battalion fought in the First Battle of the Marne, the First Battle of the Aisne and the Battle of La Basse.
Charles was killed in action on 7 November 1914, aged 31, during the First Battle of Ypres. They had been in trenches to the south of the Menin Road and moved up to the front near Bailleul when the enemy broke through the line. They were driven back and a German trench was captured, however 7 officers and 140 other ranks were killed or wounded with 7 missing.
Charles has no known grave and his name is commemorated on the Le Touret Memorial, France.
Additional Information
His stepmother received a war gratuity of £5 and his father received his pay owing of £7 16s 5d. Brother of Lance Corporal Henry Richard Philbey who was killed in action on 26 Jul 1917 and is also commemorated Bovingdon memorials. N.B. Surname of Philby without the 'e' was the original spelling on birth registration, however most soldier records appear to be Philbey with the 'e'. On the medal index card there is a comment that "Oi/c Rees states correct name Philbey authty ce/2/2713.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Malcolm Lennox, Dick West, www.bedfordregiment.org.uk
