Name
Harold Arthur Charge
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
499334
Labour Corps
693rd Agricultural Company
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Not Yet Researched
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Biography
Harold Charge was born on 22 May 1890 at Hemel Hempstead. He was one of five children in the family of Arthur Charge and Lavinia Smith. Arthur had married in the autumn of 1887, and Harold was his first child. After his wife’s death Harold re-married in the summer of 1892, this time to Lavinia Smith, who had one son from her previous marriage. Arthur and Lavinia had a further three children, and in the 1901 Census the family lived at High Wood Hall, Pimlico near Abbots Langley. At the time Arthur worked as a Shepherd on a Farm.
The family was living at Pimilco at the time of the 1911 Census. By then Arthur worked as a Farm Labourer, and Harold worked as a Ploughman.
It is not known when Harold enlisted, however his Medal Roll noted that he was sent to France with the Bedfordshire’s on 30th July 1915. At some point before the end of the War Harold transferred to the 693rd Agricultural Company of the Labour Corps. Normally the Labour Corps comprised officers and men who had been returned wounded from the theatres of war, or who had not met the required levels of physical fitness when recruited. So it was possible that Harold had been wounded before this transfer.
Harold was listed in the Absent Voter Records for Abbots Langley in Autumn 1918 and Spring 1919. In fact he was initially identified from the Absent Voter Records and was not recorded elsewhere in the Abbots Langley Parish records. In the Autumn 1918 Record Harold was listed serving with the 693rd Agricultural Company, and his address was given at Pimlico, Abbots Langley. In the Spring 1919 Absent Voter Record he was listed serving with the 6th Battalion of the Bedfordshire Regiment.
Harold Charge survived the War.
Additional Information
Formerly 12913, 6th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment
Acknowledgments
Roger Yapp - www.backtothefront.org
