William Doughty Charles was born on 30th May 1877 in Sleaford, Lincolnshire the son of Thomas Charles and Jane (née Doughty). His parents were both from Lincolnshire, his father was born in Welby in 1838, and his mother in Boston in 1848.
His mother had a daughter, also called Jane Doughty, born in about 1870, who was raised with the surname Charles. William had older siblings Mary Ellen born in 1873 and John Thomas 1875, and younger brothers Joseph 1880 and Frederick Doughty 1882, all born in Lincolnshire.
At the time of the 1881 census the family is living at 1 Bristol Hotel Yard, New Sleaford. His father, 43, is an ostler, they have five children, William is 3 years of age.
His father appears to have died in 1884, after which the family moved to Lancashire.
In 1891 his widowed mother Jane, 43, is the head of household at 9 Diligent Street, Habergham Eaves. She has six children and an adopted daughter. The children are reorded as Jane, Mary, William, Joseph, and Fred; his half brother Henry (surname Charles but later known as Lowery); and “adopted” daughter recorded as Jessie E. Lowrie (Lowery). Also recorded is a visitor, Tom Coffee.
His mother remarried in 1897 in Sheffield to Henry Lowery, although they already had three children together: Henry Sidney Lowery Charles, born in Boston in 1887 to mother Charles, Jessie Edith Lowery born Sleaford 1888 to mother Doughty, Olive Nightingale Lowery born in Burnley in 1891, mother Charles.
The 1901 Census shows that his mother is living as the wife of Henry S. Lowery, born in Lincoln, at 21 Shaw Street, Burnley. His stepfather is 42, an upholsterer and French polisher, his mother is 50. His brother Frederick Charles, 18, and his half siblings Henry, Jessie, and Olive Lowery are in the household.
William and Joseph are living with their married sister Mary Ellen in Kendal Street, Burnley. William is 23, and a carter.
In October 1907 a local newspaper reported on the bankruptcy of Henry Sidney Lowery’s business in Vulcan Street, Newtown, Burnley, due to “bad trade, keen competition, and sickness”. He had started the business 16 years earlier, borrowing money from his father and his wife [Jane], the latter having saved money while in a hotel in Sleaford. He came to Burnley and sent for her and her children, who could get work in the mills. He had not paid back his wife or father.
Henry Sidney Lowery died in 1908 aged 49.
In 1911 William is living with his mother, 62, at 2 Clifton Street, and seven boarders. William is 28, employed as a car man.
Prior to the outbreak of war, William was employed by Haughton’s as a tripe dresser and was well known on the Burnley Market Ground.
He enlisted in Burnley and served in the 18th Battalion, The King’s Liverpool Regiment as Private No 49222. The amount of the War Gratuity suggests that he served for two years, enlisting in about May 1916.
He was wounded in the thigh on 21st March 1918, during the opening attack of Operation Michael, the German Spring Offensive. He was captured by the Germans and died from his wounds in the P.O.W. hospital at Avesnes one month later, on 21st April 1918, aged 40.
William was initially declared Missing. His mother contacted the International Red Cross in hopes that he had been taken prisoner, but it is not known what information she received. His name appeared on a German list of dead prisoners of war dated 30th May 1918 (on what would have been his 41st birthday).
He now rests at Avesnes-sur-Helpe Communal Cemetery Extension in France.
For some time, Avesnes was the Headquarters of the German Eighteenth Army. It was captured by the IX Corps on 8 November 1918. The communal cemetery was used and extended by the Germans during their occupation, and German soldiers, as well as French, Italian, Russian and British prisoners of war, were buried there. The German extension has now been removed. The cemetery now contains 82 Commonwealth burials and commemorations of the First World War. Four of the burials are unidentified and special memorials commemorate five casualties, buried in the German Extension, whose graves could not be found. There are 103 French and 5 Russian burials of the 1914-1918 war here. There are now a further 22 burials from the Second World War, most of them airmen.
Williams' death was reported in the Burnley Express on 28th September 1918:
“Died in hospital, April 21st, Pte. Wm. Charles 49222, King’s Liverpool Reg’t., aged 41 years.
He answered duty’s call,
His life he gave for one and all;
But the unknown grave is the bitterest blow,
None but an aching heart can known,
How little we thought when we said goodbye,
We parted for ever and you were to die;
The grief that we feel words cannot tell,
For we could not be with you to bid you farewell.
They will be done - From his mother, Mrs. Lowery, 77 Westgate, Burnley.”
It wasn’t until 05th November 1918 that his name appeared in the Weekly Casualty List: Died as Prisoner of War In German Hands, Charles, 49222 W. (Burnley).
It is not clear from the pension card (showing Missing 24th March 1918) in the name of his mother Jane at 77 Westgate, Burnley, what pension was awarded.
His mother Jane received William’s Army effects and a War Gratuity of £8-10.
His mother died in Burnley in 1932 at the age of 85.
His brother Private Joseph Charles serving in the Royal Flying Corps was also hospitalised and two further brothers discharged after being wounded.
Joseph had joined up on 12th December 1916. His medal and pension cards show five regimental numbers, but regiments unknown except for the Royal Flying Corps and R.A.F. The date 31st March 1918 is recorded, most likely when he transferred from the R.F.C. to the R.A.F. (created o1st April 1918) as a 2nd A.M. (Air Mechanic 2nd Class). After being wounded and hospitalised he was discharged on 17th January 1919 with a disability pension of 11/- a week. His card notes, “treatment 1922” but what this refers to is not known. Joseph died in 1927, aged 47, leaving a widow Catherine at 38 Garstang Street, Burnley.
Fred enlisted on 01st March 1915 and was discharged (wounds) from the Royal Field Artillery on 31st May 1917, with a Silver War Badge and a disability pension, address Pendle Street.
His half brother Henry Sidney Lowery joined the R.F.A. in 1909 and arrived in France on 20th August 1914. He fought at Mons and during the retreat, and was invalided home in February 1915, with rheumatic fever aggravated by service.
We currently have no further information on William Doughty Charles, If you have or know someone who may be able to add to the history of this soldier, please contact us.
Grateful thanks are extended to Burnley in the Great War website for their kind permission for us to use the photograph of William.
