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Charles enlisted on 9 Aug 1915, joining the 3/5th Battalion of the Yorkshire Regiment (TA) and after relatively short period of training arrived in France on 6 Nov 1915 as a Lance-Corporal. He was to only spend 17 days there before being sent home. His papers say that he had had repeated operations for appendicitis and that they had left “sensitive scars” which made the wearing of military equipment very painful. “Of very good character” he was discharged on 29 Jan 1916; his papers say that he was a “recruit with no more than three months service” who was “considered medically unfit for further military service”. He was awarded the 1914-15 Star and the War and Victory medals. He went back to his skilled job at the Beverley shipyard as a plater and boilermaker and was not called up when conscription was introduced in 1916.
Charles was born in Beverley the 8 Nov 1895, the son of Alfred Charles Walker and Sarah Esther. Charles was brought up in Weel where his father worked as a brickyard labourer. Charles attended Minster Boys’ School, leaving in 1909 and worked as a labourer at the shipyard. He was also a trade union member.
Charles married Alice Phoebe Aves in 1917. They lived at 8 George Street, moving to 50 Walkergate, Beverley. By 1939 they were living in St Andrew’s Street. They had two children, Phylis born 1917 and Donald born 1919. Charles died in Apr 1983 aged 88. He was buried at the Queensgate Cemetery on 28 Apr 1983.
Includes photograph, information taken from census, military records, Commonwealth War Graves, newspapers |