1st Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment
Charles Dean was born in 1881, in Elkstone, Gloucestershire, the fourth child of George and Martha Maria Dean (née Bedwell). His siblings were Lilian (1875), Frederick (1877), and Marian (1878).
In 1911, aged 30, he was single and living with his married sister in Elkstone and recorded as working as an agricultural labourer.
He was enlisted as a regular soldier, and served through the Boer War. In August 1914, Charles was recalled as a Reservist into the 1st Battalion of the Gloucestershire Regiment. Having been wounded in June 1915 at Aubers Ridge, Charles was brought home and died of his wounds at the Torbay Red Cross Hospital, Torquay on 2 July 1915, aged 34 years.
According to a report in the Western Times of 7 July 1915 he was wounded at the Front and died whilst being conveyed to the operating table.
He was buried on the east side of Elkstone Churchyard on 8 July 1915.
Charles is commemorated on a plaque within St John’s Church, to the memory of the six men in the parish who gave their lives in the Great War.
Researched by Baden Russell who stated: “In compiling this article I wish to thank and acknowledge, Sylvie Pierce, Patron of Elkstone Church.”