3rd Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment
Charles Langley King was born in Gloucester in 1894, the son of William Arthur and Caroline Martha Catherine King, who at the time of the 1901 Census lived at 31 Eastgate Street, Gloucester. According to the 1911 Census the couple had eight children, five of whom were surviving at that date: these were Florence Maud, Reginald A, Catherine Elizabeth, Amelia Grace and Charles Langley. The family lived at Victoria House, Stow-on-the-Wold. William King was shown as a brewer’s traveller and Charles as a printer’s apprentice.
Unfortunately no Army Service Record has survived for Charles King. He very likely attested for military service under ‘Lord Derby’s Scheme’ in late 1915 — this a ‘half way house between volunteering and full conscription — and being a single man of young age he was probably called up shortly after.
He was posted to the 3rd Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment and would have undergone training at Gravesend, Kent, where the battalion was based from May 1915 until May the following year.
A death notice was inserted into the Gloucester Journal of 8 April 1916, which stated that he died at Gravesend Hospital on 3 April 1916, age 21; address 15 Goodyere Street, Gloucester. The indications are that he died from illness soon into his military training.
Charles Langley King is buried in Gloucester Old Cemetery, where a standard CWGC headstone marks his grave.
Researched by Graham Adams 18 April 2017