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Charles was one of the first WW1 casualties from Beverley. He died days before Albert Haldenby who was killed in action in France on 28 Sep 1914.
Charles was born in Downham Market, Norfolk, the 26 Jun 1888, the son of Charles Grommet and Sarah (nee Walsh). Charles' father was a boilermaker but then became a fish merchant and shop owner. Charles joined the regular army in 1907 as a Private in the 1st Battalion of the East Yorkshire Regiment and was stationed at Victoria Barracks. On 1 Dec 1913 he married Edith Ann Cobb at St Marys' church, Beverley.They lived at 2 Victoria Villas, Queensgate, Beverley.
Charles was mobilised at the outbreak of war and arrived in France on 8 Sep 1914. He was promoted Sergeant on 20 Aug 1914 and was described as "a most promising soldier" and "very popular" at the barracks. In the Hull Daily Mail of 17 Oct 1914 it was noted that "he was a sturdily-built fellow, and ambitious"...with a "general fitness for service". Charles was seriously wounded in the thighs by German shrapnel and transferred to No.10 General Hospital in St Nazaire. Local papers say this occurred on 25 Aug 1914 but it may have happened on 25 Sep during the Battle of the Aisne, near the village of Troyon. On this date the 1st lost 4 officers and 73 Other Ranks killed or missing in trying to repulse a German attack. Tetanus set in and Charles died in hospital of his wounds on either the 26 or 27 Sep 1914, hi service documents have differing dates. He was awarded the 1914 Star and the War and Victory Medals. He is commemorated on the Hengate War Memorial (as "G Gromett") and in Beverley Minster on the East Riding Memorial.
Edith married Albert Powell in 1917 in Beverley, she died in Hull in 1977.
Charles' brothers, Walter, born 1894, served with the ASC and the Suffolk Regiment, and Ernest, born 1885, served with the Canadian Army as a sapper, was killed in action in France on 22 May 1918.
Includes photograph, information taken from census, military records, Commonwealth War Graves, newspapers |