Charles Henry Ormerod

 

Gunner 79785
1st Bty, 45th Bde, Royal Field Artillery

Charles Henry Ormerod was killed in action on 10 November 1916, and is commemorated on a special memorial in the Guards Cemetery, Lesboeufs, France. Lesboeufs is a village 16 kilometres north-east of Albert.

There are special memorials to 83 soldiers known or believed to be buried in the Cemetery, and other special memorials record the names of five casualties buried in Ginchy A.D.S. Cemetery, whose graves were destroyed by shell fire.

45th R.F.A. Brigade was attached to 8th Division of the British Army, and in November 1916 was involved in the closing stages of the Battle of the Somme.

The Brigade War Diary for 10 November 1916 records:

"GINCHY - LES BOEUFS

Nov 10th

Fine day

Quiet morning

Battery positions shelled all the afternoon, very heavily.

Casualties - 1st Bty - OC - Major Rich, wounded - left arm broken and piece in jaw

                   1 Sgt + 4 gunners killed - 1 gnr wounded

                   3rd Bty - 2 Lt Underwood killed - 1 gunner killed - 1 wounded

                   57th Bty - 2 gunners killed 3 wounded

    Five guns out of action

Rounds fired by Brigade 1244 rounds"

The Diary records that at this time 1 Battery was in position at Map Reference T9d73.

At the time of the 1911 Census, Charles was living with his mother, Mary Jane Ormerod, at 3 Webb Street, Hindley, Wigan, and employed as a colliery cart weigher.

The Army Register of Soldiers' Effects records that, following his death, Charles' effects were passed to his mother..

The Soldiers Died in the Great War Database records that Charles was born in Hindley, Lancashire, and enlisted in the Army in Wigan.

The Special Memorial to Charles, in the Guards Cemetery at Les Boeufs

The position of 1 Battery, 45th Brigade, on 10 November 1916 (from British Trench Map 20-57CSW-4A-071016)