Name
Charles Henry Biggs
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
21/08/1917
33
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
611112
London Regiment *1
1st/19th (County of London) Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 /15 Star, British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
YPRES (MENIN GATE) MEMORIAL
Panels 52 to 54.
Belgium
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Benskin's Brewery Memorial, Watford, WW1 Plaque in College Lane, London, NW5
Pre War
Son of James and the late Matilda (nee IVAY) BIGGS; husband of Elizabeth Jane (nee HOLT) BIGGS of Highgate, London.
His parents married 5 March 1882 at St Thomas’, Bethnal Green, London. Matilda died 1916 in the Shoreditch, London, district aged 53; James died 1936 in the Hackney, London, district aged 75.
Charles was born 28 September 1885 in Shoreditch, and baptised 18 October 1885 at St James the Great, Bethnal Green. He married 10 October 1909 at St John the Baptist, Kentish Town, London; they had two children. Elizabeth remarried 31 August 1919 at St John the Baptist, Kentish Town, to Arthur E BOWERS, she died 1931 in the London City district, and was buried 8 June in St Pancras Cemetery, London.
On the 1891 Census, a scholar aged 5 he lived in Shoreditch, with his grandparents and one sibling. On the 1901 Census, a picture-frame maker aged 15, he still lived in Shoreditch, with his parents and one sibling. On the 1911 Census, a brewer’s drayman aged 27, he lived in Highgate, with his wife and one child.
Wartime Service
He enlisted in Camden Town, London; was entitled to the Victory, British War and 1914-15 Star medals, his qualifying date being 28 October 1915, and was killed in action.
Additional Information
Unfortunately, Charles’ Service Record appears to be one that did not survive the World War Two bombing.
Charles is possibly the C BIGGS commemorated by Benskin's Brewery.
*1 Believed more correctly, (County of London)
Bn. London Regiment (St Pancras).
Acknowledgments
Sue Carter (Research) and Watford Museum (ROH on line via www.ourwatfordhistory.org.uk)
