Name
Charles Edward Chapman
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
24/11/1916
35
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
18817
The Queen's (Royal West Surrey Regiment)
7th Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Not Yet Researched
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
ST. SEVER CEMETERY EXTENSION, ROUEN
O. II. N. 9.
France
Headstone Inscription
Rest in Peace
UK & Other Memorials
Hitchin Town Memorial
Pre War
He had been born in King's Cross in London, was resident in Willesden Green in Middlesex and enlisted in Harlesden in Middlesex.
He was the husband of Mary A.M. Chapman of 68, Lancaster Road, Hitchin (probably a later address).
Wartime Service
Initially he served in the Middlesex Regiment with the Regimental Number 4928 but later be transferred to the 7th Battalion of the Royal West Kent Regiment with the Number G/18817. At the time of his death, which was shortly after the Battle of the Ancre, this Battalion was part of the 55th Brigade of the 18th' Division of II Corps in the 5th Army.
On the 18th November 1916, the 7th Battalion of the Regiment was in Regina Trench and assembled at 8.10am in No Man's Land in the snow. The conditions were very muddy, temperature 54°F and 8mm of rain fell on that day. The men were knee deep in cold clinging mud. They advanced to Desire Trench next to the Canadians, sustaining very heavy casualties from strong opposition. He was almost certainly badly wounded in this engagement and then sent by rail to one of the military hospitals at Rouen.
He was buried in Section 0, Plot 2, Row N, Grave 9 in the St. Sever Cemetery Extension in Rouen in France. His headstone has the personal inscription “Rest in Peace” as requested by his wife.
Additional Information
The initial ‘S’ which appears on the Town memorial is a mystery.
Acknowledgments
David C Baines, Jonty Wild
