Name
Charles Henry John Balcombe
14/06/1891
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
18/02/1915
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
9519
East Yorkshire Regiment
2nd Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 /15 Star, British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
YPRES (MENIN GATE) MEMORIAL
Panel 21.
Belgium
Headstone Inscription
He has no Headstone. He is commemorated on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial in Belgium to the missing.
UK & Other Memorials
Cheshunt Town Memorial, Church of St Mary the Virgin Memorial, Cheshunt
Pre War
Charles Henry John Balcombe was born in St. Giles, Bloomsbury, Lon/Middx, on 14 June 1891, son of Charles William Balcombe a, Metropolitan Police Constable and Elizabeth Balcombe (nee White). The eldest of five children although two died in childhood.
1901 Census records Charles aged 9, living with his parents, sister Florence (7) (B 1894-1901) and brother William (3) at, Block “A” Peabody Buildings, 13, Herbrand Street, St Giles in the Fields and St George Bloomsbury, St Giles, Lon/Middx.
In late 1910 Charles travelled to the County Town of Hertford and enlisted, joining the East Yorkshire Regiment (Duke of Yorks Own) with the service number 9519.
1911 Census records Charles aged 19, Single, and a Private in the East Yorkshire Regiment, stationed at McGregor Barracks Aldershot, Hampshire.
Wartime Service
Charles was serving with the 2nd Battalion, East Yorkshire Regiment, stationed at Kamptee, India when War broke out, they returned home in December 1914, to Hursley Park, near Winchester, joining the newly formed 83rd Brigade of the 28th Division.
Mobilized for War in January 1915, they sailed from Southampton for Le Havre, France, arriving on the 16 January 1915, they were stationed in the area between Bailleul and Hazebrouck. Charles was killed in action the following month, on 18 February 1915, aged 24, he has no known grave and is commemorated on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, Ypres, Belgium, to the missing.
Additional Information
His effects of £8-4s-4d, Pay Owing and a War Gratuity of £5, went jointly to his parents, Charles & Elizabeth Balcombe.
Acknowledgments
Stuart Osborne
Jonty Wild
