Name
Charles William Carter
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Staff Sergeant
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Pirton School Memorial
Biography
Charles William Carter was a witness to the marriage of George Alfred Flack of Camberwell to Elizabeth Ann Carter of Pirton in 1895 and this could be the same man who served.
The Charles Carter who served appears on the School War Memorial, confirming that he attended the school. A search of the parish and census records does not identify any obvious man. However, a report about William Edward Carter (another survivor) in the North Herts Mail reveals that Walter Edward was his brother and also identifies another brother, Alfred. This enabled their parents to be identified as Charles and Eliza Carter. Charles (senior) had been the village policeman and then the school attendance officer. In all it would appear that four brothers served and survived - refer to Alfred Carter for more family details.
By 1897 Charles had married Eliza Bailey - Eliza was also his mother’s name.
His father died on May 18th 1914 and his sister, Florence Rachel, married William Thomas Hill on September 16th 1914. William was later killed in the war and appears on the Village War Memorial.
The North Herts Mail of February 4th 1915 confirmed that Charles (junior) had previously completed twenty-one years service in the 3rd Dragoon Guards and had reached the rank of Serjeant Major, before retiring with a pension - this would have been before the war. When war came, he and his wife were living in Kent at 11 Rock Road, Borough Green. Charles was then forty-four and working as a farrier. Like many ‘old soldiers’, he felt the urge to do his bit for King and Country, so on October 12th 1914, then aged forty-five, he went to Maidstone and enlisted for home service.
He was posted to Canterbury as a Private 11148 and then, presumably because of his previous service and rank, was promoted almost immediately to Staff Serjeant Farrier in the Corps of Dragoons, Special Reserve. Quite how fit for service he was is unclear, because he was discharged from service on July 16th 1915, less than a year later ‘His services no longer required’ and rather unkindly, especially for an old soldier, they add the note, ‘This NCO re-enlisted as a Staff Serjeant Farrier, and is quite incapable of carrying out the duties of his rank, and is useless in any other capacity.’
Acknowledgments
Text from the book ‘The Pride of Pirton’ by Jonty Wild, Tony French & Chris Ryan used with author's permission
