Charles was born on the 25th December 1891 in East Wickham, Kent and was the son of Thomas and Elsie Carpenter. His father had been born in Frome, Somerset and his Mother in Nunney also in Somerset. The family lived at East Wickham Farm, Welling and his Father was employed as a farm labourer. Charles had six younger siblings listed in the 1911 Census: Elizabeth 22, and not living at home, Edward also a farm labourer aged 15, Thomas 12, Alfred 9, Esther 7 and Louise 4. Charles and the other Carpenter children had all attended Fosters School, Welling.
Charles would appear to have been a regular soldier before the war, living away from home at the time of the 1911 Census. He served in the 1st Battalion of the Essex Regiment, part of the 88th Brigade, 29th Division. At the outbreak of the war half the battalion were serving in Mauritius and the other half in South Africa. Both battalions returned to the UK before being sent for active service. Thirty battalions were raised by the Essex Regiment during the course of the war.
Once formed, the battalion was sent to the Middle East as the British government had decided to capture the Turkish capital of Istanbul thus forcing Turkey to abandon its ally Germany and leave the war.
The first action that the Battalion saw was when it landed on the 24th April 1915 at ‘W’ Beach at Cape Helles as part of what turned out to be the disastrous Gallipoli campaign. Owing to the small area taken by the British and Commonwealth forces Charles and all of his comrades would have been within range of enemy fire at all times.
Between the 28th June and the 1st July, the Batallion fought at the Battle of Gully Ravine, west of a Turkish occupied village known as Krithia. In total the Battalion suffered 274 dead and probably 500 to 600 wounded before it was withdrawn from Gallipoli on the 11th July. Charles sustained wounds in the battle and died of them, aged 24, at Cape Helles on the 4th July 1915. He is buried at the Pieta Military Cemetery in Malta, Grave Ref.XXVI.3.
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission states his age on death as 20 but Charles was in fact 24 years old. It may be that he lied about his age when volunteering although this can only be supposition. His mother was informed of death, who was by then apparently a widow, living in Gibson’s Cottages, Wickham Street, Welling. News of his death was also reported in the local Observer on the 20th August 1915.
By the end of the war, his Battalion had suffered a total of 1896 dead and of the original Battalion only 49 were still serving on Armistice Day 11th November 1918.
Charles’ younger brothers Edward and Thomas also served in the army. Edward was in the army before the war and was called up in the reserves as a driver. Thomas was a trumpeter and joined up around 9 months before Charles dies. Both survived the war.
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