Service Details
Name:
 WATSON
Given Name:
 CHARLES EDWARD STEPHENS
Initials:
 C E S
Rank:
 Second Lieutenant
Other Casualties of this Rank
Regiment:
 East Lancashire Regiment
Other Casualties from this Regiment
Unit:
 1st Bn.
Other Casualties from this Unit
Date of Death:
 1916-07-01
Other Casualties on this Date
Date of Birth:
 1895-09-19
Age:
 20
Cause of Death:
 Killed in action, near Beaumont Hamel in the initial assault on the German trenches
Additional
Information:
Son of William Stephens and Alice Maude Watson, of Cape Town. Born Cape Town. Educated at the High School, Rondebosch, Cape Province; Kent College, Canterbury, England; and R.M.C. Sandhurst. Gazetted July, 1915. Served with the Royal Naval Reserve in Simonstown, South Africa. Gentleman Cadet at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. Commissioned into the East Lancashire Regiment as a Second Lieutenant on 11 August 1915. Attached to the 3rd (Reserve) Battalion at the Laira Battery, Plymouth, Devon for additional training before joining the 1st Battalion in France in May/June 1916. The Battalion fought in the Battle of the Somme (1 July-18 November 1916) and were in action near Beaumont Hamel in the initial assault on the German trenches on 1 July 1916
Commemoration
Country:
 France
Other Casualties commemorated in France
Locality:
 Somme
Other Casualties commemorated in Somme
Cemetery:
 THIEPVAL MEMORIAL
Other Casualties commemorated in this Cemetery
Grave Reference:
 Pier and Face 6 C.

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