Charles Clifford Foster died of wounds on this day in 1918.
Charles Foster was born in Halifax, Yorkshire 21 June 1886, the second son of William Foster (who owned a brass foundry he had founded) and Emma (née Haig)
At the 1881 England Census the parents had four children and two domestic servants and lived at 63 Savile Park Road, Halifax
In March 1881 Charles’s mother died and his younger brother Harold died in June that year. At 2 years old Charles would have been too young to remember; he had another brother and two sisters. Three years later his father married Kate Foster (in 1891) and they had two sons: half-brothers Leslie, born in 1893 and Russell, born in 1894.
Charles was educated first at King William’s College, Douglas, a boarding school on the Isle of Man and then at Heath Grammar School, an independent day and boarding school in Halifax.
Like his older brother, Charles worked with his father at Edward Foster and Sons, Brassfounders, Engineers. By 1901 he was a commercial traveller. At the time of the 1901 census the family of 5, parents and three sons, with two live in servants, were living in the 16 roomed South Grove, Halifax.
Both Charles' younger half-brothers Leslie and Russel were working at the foundry as apprentices in their teens.
Charles volunteered for active service soon after the outbreak of war. He enlisted in the 2/5th Cheshire Regiment 17 September 1914. He received a commission and was gazetted 2nd Lieut. 5th Cheshire Regiment 5 March 1915 and was promoted to Lieutenant in 1916.
He served with the Egyptian Expeditionary Force in Palestine from November 1917 to June 1918.
He subsequently moved to France and served there and in Flanders from June 1918. He died at Grand Rozoy 29 July of wounds received in action the same day.
He was buried at Raperie British Cemetery, Villemontoire.
Lieut. Charles Clifford Foster 2/5th (Territorial) Bn The Cheshire Regiment.
29 July 1918
Sources: Du Ruvigny’s Vol. 5; 1891 and 1901 England Census; Foster Research Tree, Ancestry; Egyptian Expeditionary Force; Egypt and Palestine Campaign; Ten Incredible Paintings from the Hall of Remembrance Series, IWM; Grace's Guide to British Industry; King William's College, Douglas.