WOOD

		Source
		CWGC	SDGW	Uttoxeter Advertiser	Other
Parents	Harry and Agnes Wood	Yes
	Mr. & Mrs. H. Wood			1g	2
Position in the family	Brother of William Wood, who was also killed.			1e, 1g
Position in the family	Also had a brother John			1h
Where born	Uttoxeter		Yes		2
When born	About 1888
Address	1 New Street, Uttoxeter (parents)	Yes		1g	2
Address	Mount Pleasant			1e
Spouse
Children
Employment Before Joining up	Worked for the North Staffordshire Railway Company at Uttoxeter			1a, 1g
	Porter at Uttoxeter Station			1b	2
Where enlisted	Liverpool, Lancashire		Yes
Regiment	Royal Engineers	Yes		1g	2
	Corps of Royal Engineers		Yes
	Royal Field Artillery			1e
	Formerly 2463, Liverpool Regiment (40^th B.G.O. Company)		Yes	1g	2
	40^th B.G.O. CO. R.E. BN.				2
Unit	Railway Operating Division	Yes
Unit	Railways		Yes
Rank	Sapper	Yes	Yes	1f, 1g, 1h	2
Service Number	WR/176278		Yes		2
Service Number	176278	Yes
Date of Death	4 October 1918	Yes	Yes		2
Date of Death	5 October 1918			1h
Age at time of death	29			1g
Age at time of death	30	Yes
Where Killed or died	France/Flanders		Yes
	Western Front			1g
	Somme 1918 – Blargie Hadercourt
How he died	‘Died’ (this usually means illness or an accident)		Yes
How he died	Killed in Action			1g
Location of Grave or Memorial	Bagneux British Cemetery, Gezaincourt Grave V.G.13	Yes
	North Staffordshire Railway war Memorial, Stoke Station				2
	Uttoxeter Town War Memorial (Market Place)				2,
Awards

Charles was originally in the King’s Liverpool Regiment^[1g], but was later transferred to the Royal Engineers^{[CWGC, 1g]}.

During the first week of September 1914, the Uttoxeter Advertiser reported that Charles was one of several Uttoxeter railwaymen who had joined the new Liverpool regiment that was being raised by Lord Derby^{[1a, 2]}. The North Staffordshire Railway Station staff at Uttoxeter has been largely depleted through recruiting, with men leaving from both passenger and goods departments. It was thought that the decision to enlist had been helped by the ‘considerate way in which the Company are treating their employees who join the colours’.^[1a]

Only eight months after joining up, in early May 1915, the Uttoxeter Advertiser reported that Charles had been wounded in the back during the capture of Hill 60. By this time he had seen considerable fighting in France.^[1b]. He was still serving with the King’s Liverpool Regiment at this stage^[2].

In the middle of May 1915 the Uttoxeter Advertiser reported that he had now been wounded in the arm^[2]. A week later he was said to have been wounded by shrapnel in the back^[2]. It is not clear whether this means that he had been wounded in the arm, the back, or both.

On the 20^th of September 1916 the Uttoxeter Advertiser reported his brother William’s death^[1e]. At the same time, Charles was reported to be lying ill in hospital^{[1e, 2]}.

Charles came home on leave in early August 1917^{[1f, 2]}. By now he had been transferred to the Royal Engineers as a sapper^{[1f, 2]}.

We also know that he had another period of leave in August or September 1918, because his obituary in the Uttoxeter Advertiser^[1g] said that had been at home on leave only a few weeks before he met his death.

In a cruel stroke of fate, he died just five weeks before the end of the war.