Charles
Hall was born in Fletching, probably in 1891 (but after the census was taken that year).
He appears on the 1901 census as a nine year old living at Station Cottage, Chailey with his family. The household comprised Thomas Hall (head, aged 52, a railway plate layer), his wife Rhoda Hall (aged 47)
and their four children: Rosey Hall (aged 12), Charles, George Hall (aged seven) and Harry Hall(aged three). All three boys would later serve in the First World War.
Census
returns for 1891 and 1881 reveal other Hall children as well: Elizabeth, aged 15 in 1891, another daughter – the name
is difficult to decipher – aged 11 in 1891 and Annie Hall, aged four in 1891.
The 1881 census additionally notes John Hall, aged three.
The National Archives
records two numbers for Charles Hall: 31581 with The Gloucestershire Regiment and P12510 with the Military Police.
According to Chailey
Parish Magazine, as early as 1914 Charles Hall was serving his King and Country. In
October 1915 it records the fact that Pte C Hall is serving with the 1st Royal Sussex Regiment in India. On the outbreak of war the battalion was already garrisoned in India at Peshawar and would remain in India for the duration of the war.
At some point
however, Charles must have departed India and returned to England. In any event, in January 1917, Chailey Parish Magazine
notes that Charles Hall is now serving with the 7th Gloucestershire Regiment.
This battalion,
formed at Bristol in August 1914, had landed at Gallipoli
in July 1915 and would spend the rest of its war service in the east. By the
time Charles Hall joined, it formed part of the 39th Brigade in the 13th Division and was stationed at Mesopotamia.
In December 1917,
Charles transferred again, this time to the Military Foot Police as a corporal. His
final entry in Chailey’s Parish Magazine in July 1919 notes, Hall, Corporal C,
Military Foot Police.
Sources & Acknowledgements:
- Chailey Parish Magazine
- British Regiments, 1914-18 by Brigadier E A James, OBE TD (Samson Books 1978)
- England and Wales
Census 1881
- England and Wales
Census 1891
- England and Wales Census 1901
