Pte Charles Henry Gilder

Charles was born in Springfield in 1891. His family moved to Brentwood in about 1900, presumably due to his father's work as a police constable, and had a house on St James Place - a now redeveloped area of St James Road. After leaving school, Charles worked as a green grocer.

In May 1915 he was called up to fight in the first world war and reported to Warley barracks on 31st May 1915. A week later he was posted to the 10th Suffolks and spent six months training before being sent to France on 16th December 1915, posted to the 9th Suffolks on the front line on Boxing Day.

Charles had a particularly rough time, he was ill several times in February and March the following year and admitted to hospital several times for it. Back on the front line, he was shot in the thigh on 22nd May 1916. After a few weeks in field hospitals, he returned to England to recover and returned to France on 13th September 1916. Fortunately due to this wound, he had missed the more dangerous engagements of his battalion in the Battle of the Somme.

He saw further action in 1917, taking part in The Battle of Vimy Ridge, The Battle of Messines, as well as Pilkem Ridge and Langemarck as part of the Third Battles of Ypres. On 20th September 1917 the German army launched a counter offensive known as the Battle of Cambrai, and on the first day of this battle Charles was again wounded by a bullet to the thigh and a week later again returned to England to recover. He left England again at the end of March 1918, first posted to the 2nd Suffolks then on 2nd April he was posted to the 11th Suffolks, preparing for the Battle of Arras, which would begin on 9th April 1917. At 5:30am on 9th April, Charles went over the top with about 620 fellow soldiers in his battalion as part of The First Battle of the Scarpe. This initial attack was very successful and they captured their objective - but Charles was wounded by a bullet in his left forearm and again, only two weeks after arriving in France, he returned to England on the HMHS Cambria to recover.

Charles returned to France again at the very end of the war, posted to the 15th Suffolks this time on 22nd September 1918. A month later, on 1st November, he was admitted to hospital with 'Influenza' - presumably Spanish Flu. He made a quick recovery and was back with his unit on 22nd November. One final calamity befell Charles, even though while he was in hospital the war had ended, and on 24th November in the dark he stepped in a shell hole by accident, dislocating his left knee. He was finally discharged in April 1919, but received compensation for ongoing problems caused by his war wounds; especially the wound in his forearm, which still gave him pain and meant he could not lift heavy objects.

He returned to his parents' house in St James Place. He later married a local girl called Elsie (Elizabeth) May Sayer in 1922 after which they moved to a house called Shendone on Hogarth Avenue, Brentwood, where they had three children. Charles died aged 88 in 1980 near Colchester.