GREGSON

		Sources
		CWGC	SDGW	Uttoxeter Advertiser	Other
Parents	Henry Simeon Gregson, and Elizabeth Gregson	Yes
Parents	Mr. & Mrs. Gregson			7f, 7g	6
Where born	Uttoxeter		Yes
When born	About 1880 or 1881				4
Address	Uttoxeter	Yes
Address	Dove Walk, Uttoxeter (parents)			7b, 7e, 7f, 7g	6
Spouse	No, but did he have a sweetheart called Nellie?			7i
Children
Employment Before Joining up	Fitting Shop, Leighton Ironworks, Uttoxeter				6
	Leighton Ironworks, Uttoxeter			7a
	Messrs. Bamford and Sons			7f
Where enlisted	Uttoxeter		Yes		6
Regiment	North Staffordshire (Prince of Wales’s)	Yes	Yes	7a, 7b, 7d, 7e, 7f, 7g, 7h, 7i	1, 6
Unit	1^st/6^th Bn.	Yes		7h, 7i	6
	1/6^th (T.F.) Bn				6
	‘B’ Company				1
Rank	Private	Yes	Yes	7b, 7d, 7e, 7f, 7g, 7h, 7i	1, 6
Service Number	Formerly 2666				1, 6
Service Number	240534	Yes	Yes		1, 6
Date of Death	17^th July 1918	Yes	Yes	7h, 7i	6
Age at time of death	37			7f
Age at time of death	38	Yes
Where Killed or died	France/Flanders		Yes	7g, 7h
Where Killed or died	Outreau, Pas de Calais - 1918		Yes
How he died	Died of Wounds		Yes
	Died of Wounds and Gas Poisoning			7f, 7g, 7h, 7i
	Died of Wounds - Gas				1
Location of Grave or Memorial	Terlincthun British Cemetery, Wimille Grave I. F. 14	Yes
Location of Grave or Memorial	Uttoxeter Town War Memorial				6
Awards

We do not know very much about Charles, and most of our knowledge about Charles has been gleaned from articles published at the time by the Uttoxeter Advertiser.

Before the war he worked in the fitting shop of the Leighton Ironworks in Uttoxeter⁶. This was the precursor of the modern JCB and he will have been engaged upon building agricultural machinery.

Charles enlisted soon after the outbreak of war^7f, and is known to have left Uttoxeter with the first contingent of men to join the North Staffordshire Regiment in August 1914^{6, 7a}.

The North Staffordshire Regimental History¹ shows that he was wounded on the 27^th September 1915, but no details are given. Shortly afterwards, he was reported to have been wounded in the hand during the charge on the Hohenzollern Redoubt at Loos on the 13^th of October 1915⁶. On this day, Uttoxeter lost many men, so one could say that he was fortunate to survive this engagement.

In July 1916 his battalion fought in the battle of the Somme. They attacked in the diversionary attack at Gommecourt Wood. By its nature, a diversionary attack is designed to draw fire, and many were killed. Again, Charles was fortunate to survive this action.

He had a period of leave at home in August 1917^{6, 8b} and another during the last week of February 1918^7d. Between these two periods of leave he will have served at Passchendaele.

The North Staffordshire Regimental History¹ shows that he was wounded by a cloud of gas or by gas shelling on the 22^nd of May 1918.

In the first week of July 1918 the Uttoxeter Advertiser^7e reported that he was in hospital in France seriously ill from wounds and gas poisoning^7f. He died about two weeks later, having served a total of three years at the Western Front^{7f, 7g}.

These memorial notices were posted in the Uttoxeter Advertiser^{7h, 7i} in July 1919 to mark the first anniversary of his death. Does the second notice indicate that he had a sweetheart called Nellie?