Name
Walter Charter
1884
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
31/07/1917
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
269162
Hertfordshire Regiment
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
YPRES (MENIN GATE) MEMORIAL
Panel 54 and 56.
Belgium
Headstone Inscription
N/A
UK & Other Memorials
Baldock Town Memorial, St Mary the Virgin Church Memorial, Baldock, Hertfordshire Regimental Memorial, All Saints Church, Hertford
Pre War
Walter Charter was born in Cambridge, Cambridgeshire in 1884, the son of Albert and Susan Charter.
On the 1891 Census the family were living in Abbey Walk, in Cambridge where his father was working as a general labourer and his mother was a laundress. They remained in Abbey Walk in 1901 at which time Walter was also working as a general labourer.
His father died in 1903 and his mother remained in Abbey Walk in 1911, then working as a laundress and looking after three grandchildren. Walter had then moved to Baldock, and was one of three boarders living at the home of William and Mary Head in Clarke's Lane and was working as a builder's labourer.
He married Louisa Casey on 2 July 1911 at St Matthew's Church, Cambridge. Louisa's daughter Mabel was born in 1906, followed by Elsie (1914) and Phyllis (1916). They lived at Clarke's Lane, Baldock. His wife had already lost a brother in June 1917. He was a well known footballer at Baldock Athletic Club,
Walter had been employed for six years as a scaffolder with the building firm Dean & Pierce of Letchworth when he enlisted.
Wartime Service
Walter enlisted in Hitchin in June 1916 and joined the Hertfordshire Regiment initially with the reg. no. 9085, arriving in France on 5 December 1916. He was killed in action at the Battle for St. Julien during the 3rd Battle of Ypres (Passchendaele).
His death was reported in the Hertfordshire Express of Letchworth Citizen 24th August 1917 and the 25th August 1917 sent by Walter's officer on the 12th. "Dear Mrs Charter, It is my sad task to inform you of the death of the death of your husband, who was killed int the advance of 31st July last. He will be sadly missed by his many comrades, for he was a most willing and gallant man, and I can only offer you my deepest sympathies in your very great loss. Believe me your very sincerely, R N Tanwell, O.C. No 13 Platoon, Herts Regt.
He has no known grave and his name is commemorated on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, Belgium.
Additional Information
His widow received a war gratuity of £3 and pay owing of £2 4s. She also received a pension of £1 6s 3d a week for herself and her three children. Her address on pension records was recorded as 4 Clarke's Lane, Baldock. (N.B. it was 7 Clarke's Lane on enlistment).
N.B. There is a memorial near the village of St Julien, which marks where the Hertfordshire Regiment suffered heavy losses and was almost wiped out on 31 July 1917, the first day of the Third Battle of Ypres. Approximately 620 Hertfordshire men and officers took part in the attack but within two hours, all the officers and 75 per cent of the other ranks had been either killed, wounded or captured.
Acknowledgments
Derry Warners, Brenda Palmer
Adrian Pitts, Paul Johnson, Jonty Wild
