WORLD WAR I
Bingham War Memorial
Service Record
| 65092 | Sapper Charles Robert Penson | Age 33 7th Field Company, Royal Engineers |
Born 1883 |
| 492 | He had previously served for four years as a territorial with the Lincolnshire Regiment. | ||
| Killed in action on 22/04/1917 Medal card copied. His medals and “Widows Plaque” are still displayed with pride in a descendant’s house. |
Buried in Wancourt Road cemetery later destroyed. Commemorated at London Cemetery, Neuville-Vitasse |
Memorial panel Wancourt Road Cem. No. 2 Mem., Panel 1. | |
| 1915 Penson’s Army records |
Enlisted on 19th January 1915 with the Royal Engineers having had previous service with the 4th Lincolnshire Territorials. His trade as a carpenter would have been appropriate to this corps. He was posted to France 19 January 1915. He received a shrapnel injury on 15.2.16 was admitted to a casualty clearing station and then hospital, returning to his unit on 25th June 1916. On 13th August he was raised to “skilled rate of 1 / 4d”. He took leave in the UK from 11th to 21st December 1916 and was killed on 22nd April 1917. | ||
| 1917 Field Company RE, War Diaries source: The National Archives see: www.shiny7.co.uk |
“50 Bde (after 19th) requested construction of Battalion
Battle HQs and 2 Regt Aid Posts about N. 23.d.10.5. for subsequent operations
( the Battalion HQ to be possibly used later by Bde HQ. (Bosch mining cases) had to be removed from W of Wancourt to Pt: N.c.0.9., thence by daylight to N.20.c.1.0, thence by night to site, in all 450 men loads requiring triple shift (it was not feasible to get large carrying parties to carry though Wancourt by night on account of shelling and to secure work getting done the triple shift was necessary) - The 4 Splinter Proofs completed by 4 am, 22nd (April), (steel arches on timber frames on sand bag walls) - Lt Chaplin (oi/c, 2nd Cpl Nunn, 7 Sappers killed and 8 wounded by shell at close to this work - The deep dug out (16' cover) was completed. (Continuous shifts of Sappers) by 10 pm night 22nd.- These occupied night of 22nd prior to attack on morning of 23rd.” |
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| 1917 Field Company RE, War Diaries source: The National Archives, Captain Glubb's Diary – see: www.shiny7.co.uk |
“22 April: Two days ago, news was received of a
big attack to be made tomorrow morning. Brigade asked us to finish a couple
of jobs before the attack. The long hillside east of Wancourt was as open
as a billiard table. Brigade wanted a mined dugout in the bank in front
of Wancourt to be used during the attack for a Battalion Headquarters and
then, when the battalion went forward, for Brigade Head Quarters. It
was essential to provide some cover where the directors of the attack could
work, whereas there was not so much as a sheet of corrugated iron on the
whole smooth hillside. In addition, they asked for two little splinter-proof
dugouts in the slope to provide dressing stations, for the wounded men coming
back as the attack proceeded. Baker and No 2 Section did the headquarters
mined dugout. Charlie Chaplin with No 1 Section did the dressing stations.
They could only work at night, as the place where they were working was
our existing front line. It would only become a dressing station, when
the line went forward. Just as dawn was breaking, the sappers were putting
the finishing touches to the dressng stations, and [Lieutenant] Chaplin
was standing beside the shelter superintending. As often happened at dawn,
the Boche put down a light artillery barrage and a shell fell right into
the little group of them. It burst close to Chaplin's head and killed him
instantly, together with eight sappers. One of them was Sapper Penson, who
had been wounded by the same shell as I was in Sanctuary Wood. I was up
there next morning with McQueen, in broad daylight, and in full view of
Guemappe, which was actually behind us and only a short distance away. But
nobody fired a shot. I sat drearily in the sunken lane all the afternoon,
having sent a signal to Connor, the padre with the 7th Durhams, asking him
to come and bury them. McQueen told me, if Connor did not come, to say the
Lord’s Prayer over them and bury them myself, as we should be too
busy next day when the attack began. At 6 p.m I ran up to Neuville-Vitasse
to look for a padre and after much enquiring, I found one, who came with
me and buried all our men. I felt miserable and could not keep back my tears
when he read: “For as much as it hath pleased Almighty God of His great mercy to take unto Himself the Souls of our dear brothers here departed, we therefore commit their bodies to the ground; earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust, in sure and certain hope of the Resurrection to Eternal Life.” Poor Chaplin! I could not help liking him. He seems now to have been so young and so helpless. I can hardly realize that he is dead. I slept the night in the sunken lane, so as to be handy in case I was required during the attack. It is to be a big one, said to be by two armies, the Third and the Fifth, and also part of the First to the north. Our job is to repair the bridge over the Cojeul River in front of Wancourt, and to construct a stronger one beside it. We have been told that the guns will want to cross the bridge between 8 am and 10 am to take up forward positions to cover the second advance, which is timed for 12 noon. We are to begin work as soon as Guemappe is taken. McQueen and I walked over to Brigade Headquarters just before zero hour, which was 4.45 am.” Click here for Penson’s service records |
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| Parish Magazine May 1917 | Canon Hutt wrote: “Most of us knew Sapper Penson. It was from a high sense of duty that he enlisted. He told me the last time he was home that he hated war, but that he hated the motives which prompted the Germans to begin it, still more, and that he felt it was his duty to do his bit for the protection of his country and his home. Those of us who knew him recognized in him a sound high-principled man, one who put his deep religious convictions into every-day practice; in short, one of those men who form the very salt of the earth. | ||
| CWGC | Son of Edward and Clara Penson; husband of Ethel Penson, of 126, Eltham Rd., West Bridgford, Nottingham. | ||
| Register of Effects | Charles’ back pay of £18.11s.8d. was paid to his widow Ethel on 11th August 1917. | His War Gratuity of £10.0.0. was paid to Ethel on 14th October 1919. | |
Photo of Charles Penson with his second wife Ethel and his daughter by his first marriage on his knee and his stepdaughter Hilda at the side of her. (courtesy of Anne Hughes)
Family history etc
| 65092 | Sapper Charles Robert Penson | ||
| 1883 | Born Lincoln | ||
| Census 1891 | Living in Sydney Street, Lincoln with: Father: Edward Mother: Clara Ann Siblings: Kate Agnes Lucy Albert H |
Wheelwright |
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| Census 1901 | Boarder with a farm foreman in Leake, Lincolnshire. Birthplace shown as Mavis Enderby, Lincs. | Second Waggoner |
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| 1904 | Charles married Annie Elizabeth Trafford | ||
| 1906 (family research) | Gladys Mabel Penson born 03/03/1906 |
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| 1909 | Married Ethel Mastin 20/10/1909 | ||
| Census 1911 D.o.b from family records |
Living at 20 Peel Street Lincoln with: Wife: Ethel b 1882 Lincoln Children: Gladys Mabel Penson, b 03/03/1906 Eric Charles Penson b 12/08/1910 Sep-daughter: Hilda Ruby Mastin b 27/09/1905 Islington, London. |
Erector for Thrashing Machine maker | Widowed mother, a grocer on own account, and brother Albert, carrier in
family business, lived at 11 Sydney Street, Lincoln. She made a hash of
census form and Ancestry transcribers ignored enumerator’s deletions
and so he is not on the Ancestry record at his correct address. Genes Reunited transcription OK. |
| 1916 | Living on Chapel Lane, Bingham with: Wife: Ethel |
Working as Carpenter | From T/A enlistment form |
| 1916 | Grantham Journal 23rd December reported the quarterly meeting of the Wesleyan Methodist Circuit. The meeting noted that two of its local preachers were on active service with the army – one was Mr C R Penson. | ||
| 1917 Service record | Ethel living at 145 Sneinton Boulevard, Nottingham. She was awarded
a pension of 20s 8d pw for herself and four children. |
From RE bereavement form | |
| Family records | His effects of £97 15s 6d were left to his widow Ethel who was then residing at 126 Eltham Road West Bridgford | ||