| Description | Work completed by volunteer includes the following information:
Charles Thomas Sherston was born in Brent Knoll in Somerset in the late summer of 1878. He was one of five children born to William Sherston (1844-1914) and his wife Caroline (1843-1931). William was a gardener. The family later moved to the Bridgwater area, to Westonzoyland and then Wembdon. Nothing is known of Charles’ upbringing until he moved to Beverley in 1900 when he became a footman at Lairgate Hall, home of Admiral Walker and his family. In the 1911 census Charles was recorded as being his butler. Charles was a noted cricketer and a prominent member of the Beverley Rifle Range and the Beverley Conservative Club. Charles was unmarried and lived at the Hall.
Charles volunteered for service in the 5th Battalion of the Yorkshire Regiment, nicknamed the Beverley Terriers since so many locals were members, his age seemingly no barrier to service. Charles served on the Western Front with the 5th and later switched to the 4th Battalion. He reached the rank of lance-sergeant.
In January 1918 Charles and many other senior NCOs from a variety of regiments were sent to East Africa to undertake the training of new troops for the East African Front where British and Indian troops were in conflict with the Germans and their locally-raised soldiers in their colony of Tanganyika. The inability of the British to defeat their German opponent led to the recruitment of more of local men and thus Charles was attached to the 4th Battalion of the King’s African Rifles in Uganda, a British colony. Nothing is known of his time in Uganda but on September 27th 1919, at the age of 41, he was found dead of unknown causes in his tent at Cape Town in South Africa. It is presumed that he was on his way home from East Africa; indeed the Beverley Guardian of June 14th 1919 noted that “he was expecting to return shortly to resume duties” at the Hall. The paper also said that “in him Admiral Walker had a capable, faithful and valued servant”.
Charles was buried at Plumstead Cemetery, Wynburg, Cape Town. He was awarded the War and Victory Medals. He is commemorated on the Hengate Memorial and in the Beverley Minster on the East Riding Memorial (erroneously under the heading of “South African Forces”).
Includes information taken from census, military records, newspapers |