Pte 22598 Charles Howard Ainsworth

• Age: 29
• From: Liverpool
• Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 20th Btn
• K.I.A Sunday 30th July 1916
• Commemorated at: Thiepval Memorial
  Panel Ref: P&F1D8B &8 C.

Charles Howard Ainsworth was born in Bootle on 19th November 1886 the son of Thomas William Ainsworth and his wife Ellen (nee Howard) who were married on 24th May 1874 at St. Nicholas' Church, Liverpool. He was baptised on 14th December 1886 at St Peter's Church, Liverpool. The baptismal records show that the family were living on Scotland Road, Liverpool and his father was an iron monger. 

Charles was the sixth of seven children born to his parents. His siblings were Elizabeth (b. December 1876), Emily (b. July 1878), Ethel (b. December 1879), Mabel (b. May 1882), William Arthur (b. November 1883), and Louise (b. November 1888). Emily, who died in infancy on 17th July 1879, was buried in St. Mary’s, Merseyside, on 20th July 1879.

The 1891 Census shows the family living at Elm Street, Bootle. Charles is 4 years of age and is living with his parents and 5 siblings. His father, age 40, is listed as born in Manchester and is an iron monger's assistant, whilst his mother, age 41, is shown as born in Liverpool. All siblings are shown as born in Liverpool and are listed as; Elizabeth aged 14, Ethel aged 11, Mabel aged 9, Arthur 7 and Louise 2. The children, except Louise, are all listed as scholars. Also present is Elizabeth Ainsworth described as being 70 years of age and stated as mother in law and living on her own means. 

By the 1901 Census the family have moved to 11 Ludwig Road, Walton. Both parents are in the household, aged 50. Charles is now 14 and lives with his 4 siblings who remain in the household. They are listed as Ethel 21, Mabel 18, William 17 is listed as a joiner/carpenter and Louise 12. His oldest sister, Elizabeth, married in 1897. Charles’s father, Thomas, is listed as an iron monger’s assistant.

Charles’s mother, Ellen, died in 1902, aged 53. She was buried in Anfield Cemetery on 15th August 1902.

The Liverpool Electoral Registers from 1901-1902 through 1905-1906 show Charles’s father, Thomas, and presumably by extension, the remaining family, at 11 Ludwig Road. The 1907-1908 and 1908-1909 Registers show the address at 21 Downing Street. The 1909-1910 and 1910-1911 Registers show the address at 53 Barnes Street.

The 1911 Census shows Charles living with his widowed father at 53 Barnes Street, Everton. Charles is now 24 years of age and described as a house painter. His father, Thomas, is described as an Ironmonger. The only other member of the household listed is niece (i.e., Charles’s cousin) Hilda Shaw, 17. His sisters Ethel, Mabel, and Louise, were married in 1903, 1910, and 1910, respectively. His brother, William Arthur, emigrated to Canada. A passenger manifest from the Victorian (Allan Line Steamship Co.) shows William, aged 26, as having arrived in Halifax on 25th March 1910, having departed Liverpool on 18th March 1910. The record indicates he intended to go to Calgary to continue working as a joiner.    

The Liverpool Electoral Registers from 1912-1913 and 1913-1914 show Charles’s father, Thomas, and presumably by extension, Charles, at 36 Cupid Street.

Charles enlisted in Liverpool and joined the Kings Liverpool Regiment in November 1914, serving in the 20th (4th City) Battalion as Private 22598.

Formed in November 1914 the 20^th Battalion were originally billeted at Tournament Hall, Knotty Ash before on 29^th January 1915 they moved to the hutted accommodation purposely built at Lord Derby’s estate at Knowsley Hall. On 30th April 1915 the 20th Battalion alongside the other three Pals battalions left Liverpool via Prescot Station for further training at Belton Park, Grantham. They remained here until September 1915 when they reached Larkhill Camp on Salisbury Plain. He arrived in France on 7^th November 1915.

Charles married Elizabeth McKnight (b. 23rd March 1886) on the 28th August 1915 at St John the Evangelist Church. Elizabeth’s parents were Irish, and the family’s early records, such as Elizabeth’s birth record, show the anglicised surname Knight. The marriage certificate lists Charles as 28 years of age and a soldier with the rank of Private, whilst Elizabeth is shown as a 30 year old domestic servant. The marriage certificate also lists Charles’s address as 36 Cupid Street and Elizabeth’s as 42 Castlewood Road, Anfield. The couple had no children

The battalion landed in France on 7th and 8th November 1915, Charles Ainsworth being with them at this time. After spending the first night in camp at Boulogne, they entrained and moved south to the Pont Remy area. On the 17th, they undertook a two day march to Flesselles and on the night of the 18th, they billeted at Vaux.

Several days training followed then on the 28th the battalion once again moved, this time to Bernaville. However, the following day the battalion was on the march again, this time to Halloy, having received orders to be attached to the 37th Division for digging purposes.

There they remained until 17th December, when they marched to Berles-au-Bois, where they began trench training in earnest until Christmas Day, when they came out of the trenches and began to move back to their own brigade. They reached Halloy the same night and then the following morning left at 9 a.m. for Bernaville. The battalion suffered its first casualties around this time, having two men wounded in the trenches.

New Year's Day 1916 found the battalion out of the front line, being in billets at Bernaville. On the morning of the 2nd, the battalion marched to Naours for attachment to the 90th Brigade, then on the 3rd they marched to Pont Noyelles, on the 4th to Sailly and on the 5th to Suzanne.

The battalion remained in the trenches in this sector until the end of March, with a visit in the trenches by Lord Derby at the beginning of March. Throughout this period, they suffered a low but steady stream of casualties due to the usual attrition.

Charles’s father, Thomas, died, aged 65, on the 07th February 1916 whilst Charles was in France. Thomas was buried on 10th February 1916 in Anfield Cemetery, his address at the time of his death was 36 Cupid Street. 

By the end of June 1916 they were lined up in readiness for the forthcoming Somme offensive. The Battalion were part of the attack on Montauban on 1st July.

By 30th, they were at Guillemont, launching a new attack at 4:45 am that day. Thick fog, resulting in visibility being reduced to 10 yards in some places, caused great difficulty but the attack progressed. By late morning, the enemy had launched a machine gun attack causing some 30 casualties. All runners sent to Battalion HQ were either killed or missing but ultimately, the remnants of the attack occupied the objective, MALTZ HORN RIDGE, by the end of the day.

30th July 1916

The 20^th King’s Battalion Diary records:

“At 4.45am prompt the attack was launched. Unfortunately, a thick mist prevailed and it was impossible to see more than 10 yards ahead. This continued until about 6 o’clock when it lifted slightly, but it was still too hazy and impossible to see what was happening 100 yards ahead. This being so, it was not surprising to find that the attacking waves were experiencing great difficulty in maintaining connection.”

At 6am, Lt. RE Melly, No.1 Company, reported that his men had taken the German Maltz Horn trench.

At 6.30am, 2/Lt. CP Moore reported that he had 150 men, 4 Stokes Mortars and 2 Lewis Guns, but he was the only officer. He also said that due to the fog, both his “flanks were in the air” i.e. he was not in contact with neighbouring troops.

At 9.10am, Moore was still not in contact at his flanks, and now he had only 75 men, he had sent out 2 patrols and neither not returned. Later Moore established communication with the French on his right.

Around 10.00am, 2/Lt Musker reported that he had just over a company with him, but his left flank was suffering from German machine gun fire. Later he reported that he had over 30 casualties from the machine gun fire. His flanks were also “in the air”. No contact was made with this party until the remnants returned around 9.30pm, all runners sent were killed or missing. The War Diary states that this group had: ”held the ground won all day, and this permitted the consolidation of the ground won on the Maltz Horn ridge with little interference from the enemy”.

Relief for 20/Kings had been planned for 11.00pm, but it was 5.00am on the 31st July before it took place, ending a tragic day for the Liverpool Pals.

Casualties for 20^th Battalion were 16 Officers and 357 Other Ranks

When darkness fell on the battlefield the 30^th Division held a line from the railway on the eastern side of Trones Wood , southwards and including Arrow Head Copse, to east of Maltz Horn Farm. On this line the division was relieved by the 55^th Division during the early hours of the 31^st July. 

The events of 30^th July 1916 were regarded at the time as Liverpool’s blackest day. There follows an extract from The History of the 89^th Brigade written by Brigadier General Ferdinand Stanley which gives an indication of the events of the day.

Guillemont

Well the hour to advance came, and of all bad luck in the world it was a thick fog; so thick that you couldn’t see more than about ten yards. It was next to impossible to delay the attack – it was much too big an operation- so forward they had to go. It will give some idea when I say that on one flank we had to go 1,750 yards over big rolling country. Everyone knows what it is like to cross enclosed country which you know really well in a fog and how easy it is to lose your way. Therefore, imagine these rolling hills, with no landmarks and absolutely unknown to anyone. Is it surprising that people lost their way and lost touch with those next to them? As a matter of fact, it was wonderful the way in which many men found their way right to the place we wanted to get to. But as a connected attack it was impossible.

The fog was intense it was practically impossible to keep direction and parties got split up. Owing to the heavy shelling all the Bosches had left their main trenches and were lying out in the open with snipers and machine guns in shell holes, so of course our fellows were the most easy prey.

It is so awfully sad now going about and finding so many splendid fellows gone. 

The Battalion war diary reported 66 killed, 183 wounded and 124 missing. The final toll later turned out to be 155 men killed.

Charles was initially reported as missing. Various newspaper articles from the Liverpool Echo and Liverpool Daily Post from late August 1916 appealing for any information about him list his prior residence as 42 Castlewood Road, Anfield. The notices indicate his “mother” being the one appealing for information, although she died in 1902.

His death was announced in the Liverpool Echo on Friday 06 July 1917, nearly a year after the event; 

Soldiers’ Effects records listed his date of death as ‘on-or since 30th July 1916 death presumed’.

The fortunes of war denied Charles a marked grave and he is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial. 

The Thiepval Memorial, the Memorial to the Missing of the Somme, bears the names of more than 72,000 officers and men of the United Kingdom and South African forces who died in the Somme sector before 20 March 1918 and have no known grave. Over 90% of those commemorated died between July and November 1916. 

On 01^st August 1932 the Prince of Wales and the President of France inaugurated the Thiepval Memorial in Picardy. The inscription reads: “Here are recorded the names of officers and men of the British Armies who fell on the Somme battlefields between July 1915 and March 1918 but to whom the fortune of war denied the known and honoured burial given to their comrades in death.”      

Charles earned his three medals.

Records show that Charles’s brother, William Arthur, enlisted in the Canadian Overseas Expeditionary Forces according to Attestation Papers from 13th May 1915. He survived and remained settled in Calgary, Canada.

Elizabeth, Charles’s wife and next of kin, was initially awarded a pension of 10s, then increased to 13s-9d per week from April 1917. Her address was listed as 67 Schubert Street, Seaforth, Liverpool. His outstanding Army pay of £5-1s was also awarded to Elizabeth, as was a War Gratuity of £7-10s.

His wife posted a tribute in the Liverpool Echo on 01st August 1917 on the first anniversary of his death: 

LOST AT BATTLE OF GUILLEMONT.

“Ainsworth–In sad but loving memory of my dear husband, Private C. H. Ainsworth of the K.L.R. (Pals), who was killed in Action, somewhere in France, July 30, 1916.

Sleep on, dear husband, take your rest,

I miss you most who loved you best.

No loved one stood beside you To bid you a last farewell:

But though your grave I cannot see,

I know you like a soldier fell.

You are gone but not forgotten,

For often I do call your name;

But now there is nothing left to answer

But your picture in a frame.

(Never to be forgotten by his sorrowing Wife Lill).

His wife and sisters paid tribute to Charles on the second anniversary of his death in 1918: 

"In loving memory of my dear husband, Private C. H. Ainsworth, who was killed in action on July 30, 1916, somewhere in France.

  Oh, what I would give to see your face

  And touch thy loving hand,

  When days are dark and friends are few,

  Dear husband how I long for you.

- Sadly missed by his loving wife Lizzie, and his sisters at 67, Schubert Street, Seaforth."  

On 05th August 1917, a notice appeared in the Liverpool Echo, declaring him as “officially reported killed in action, in France, aged 29 years.” The article describes his as “the dearly-beloved husband of Lizzie C. Ainsworth, 67, Schubert-street, Seaforth, near Liverpool” and includes the following tribute:

“I cannot forget you, I loved you so dearly,

For your memory to fade from my heart like a dream.

Lips need not speak when the heart mourns sincerely;

My thoughts often dwell where they seldom are seen.”

Elizabeth did not remarry.

On the 1921 Census she is living with her sister Winifred McKnight at 67 Schubert Street, Seaforth.

On the 1939 England & Wales Register, she is named as Elizabeth Alice Ainsworth, listed as the first person in the household at 29 Selsdon Road. She is listed as a widow with personal occupation of paid daily help. Living with her in the household are her sister Winifred (b. 1895), single, a shop assistant, and a Herbert Adam (b. 1888), married, a crane driver. 

Elizabeth died, aged 69, and was buried on 18th June 1956 at Anfield Cemetery.

There are no records of Charles having been commemorated on any memorials or elsewhere besides the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme

We currently have no further information on Charles Howard Ainsworth, If you have or know someone who may be able to add to the history of this soldier, please contact us.