| Description | Work completed by volunteer includes the following information:
Charles was born at Thornhill-Lees, Dewsbury, on September 26th 1881 and baptised on January 29th 1882. He was one of six children born to William Uncles (1855-1911) and his wife, Sarah (1858-1936). William was from County Durham and a marine engineer. The family later lived in South Shields and Goole before moving to Beverley. The family lived at 6 St John St and then at 55 Wood Lane. They were a religious family and Charles’ brother, William (1890-1965) was to become a reverend in the Wesleyan Methodist church. Nothing is known of Charles’ upbringing but by the time of WW1 he was working in the East Riding County Council accounts department at County Hall. His brother Thomas Hartley Uncles (WW1 Lives WL/21/1) also worked there as a surveyor. Charles was unmarried.
2nd Lieutenant Charles Uncles of the 1/4th King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry (KOYLI), aged 36, was killed in action on October 9th 1917 in the Battle of Poelcapelle, part of the Battle of Passchendaele, 3rd Battle of Ypres. An early morning attack on German lines was met by heavy machine gunfire. Charles’ body was not recovered and he is commemorated on the Tynecot Memorial in Belgium. His widowed mother asked for information on his fate in the Yorkshire Post of November 17th 1917, noting that he was last seen wounded, heading for a dressing station. Little information exists on Charles’ military career: he had served in the KOYLI territorials after 1901, rejoined them in the war and before being commissioned as an officer in 1917 had reached the rank of Company Sergeant Major. He was awarded the War and Victory Medals.
Charles is remembered on the Hengate Memorial and on the East Riding Memorial in the Beverley Minster. He is also commemorated on the East Riding County Council Roll of Honour in County Hall. His name was also added to his father’s headstone in St Martin’s cemetery. Charles’ brothers served in WW1; Thomas in the Royal Army Medical Corp, William in the RAF and Royal Navy and younger brother Howard in the Royal Navy. Younger brother, George, joined the Merchant Navy and was lost at sea in WW2 on June 23rd 1941.
Includes photograph, information taken from census, military records, Commonwealth War Graves, newspapers |