Charles William WHITAKER

241300, Lance Corporal. b. 1878 d. Mon. 8th October 1917 (aged 39).

The third casualty of four houses on Bright Street Charles lived with his wife Sarah Ann at number 10 (Ernest Briggs lived at 4 and William Hudson at 8). Charles had enlisted as part of the territorial force in 1914 having been a territorial before the war – like James Thacker he was part of the 1st/6th West Yorkshire’s. He was sent out to France in April 1915 but in February 1916 was wounded and sent to a hospital in Britain.

He was pronounced fit for duty after a couple of months and sent back to join his original unit. As he appears to have remained uninjured between then and the time of his death it is most likely that he survived the 1st/6th’s attack on the German trenches on the 1st July 1916, a rare feat given that so many other men lost their lives.

The 1st/6th’s attack cost them dearly with a high proportion of the men becoming casualties, although not quite reaching the heights of the Pals battalions. After this, they struggled on for several months before reinforcements arrived and by the spring of 1917 were up to a (nearly) full compliment in order that the battles of Cambrai and Ypres could begin. Charles lost his life towards the end of the 3rd Battle of Ypres and died of the wounds he received in one of the final advances. He was taken to the 44th Casualty Clearing Station but died there shortly after, and was buried in Nine Elms British Cemetery, just west of Poperinge. His headstone is inscribed “Rest in the Lord”.