10th Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment
Charles Richard Newman was born at Minchinhampton in the final quarter of 1895, the son of Richard and Eliza Frances Louisa (née Belt).
In the 1911 Census the couple reported having had seven children, of whom only five were surviving.
When Charles was baptised his father’s stated occupation was a baker but the 1911 Census states that he had become a plasterer and the family had relocated to Prospect Villa, Trinity Road, Southend-on-Sea. Charles was then aged 15 and his occupation is listed, unusually, as a ‘golf caddie’.
According to the Gloucestershire Echo of 23 February 1915, reporting his funeral on the previous day, Charles joined the 10th Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment on 31 December 1914 (Soldiers Died in the Great War indicates he enlisted at Southend-on-Sea).
He was then posted for training in Cheltenham but had been in service for only about two weeks when he was struck down with pneumonia and was admitted to Suffolk Hall Hospital in Cheltenham.
He was treated for five weeks before succumbing to his illness on 18 February 1915, aged 19.
He was afforded a military funeral with a detachment of about 80 men of C Company, 10th Glosters providing an escort to his funeral cortege, which formed up outside the Conservative Club in Russell Street, Stroud and proceeded to Bowbridge.
On his arrival his coffin was transferred to a motor vehicle and taken up the steep slope to the Holy Trinity Church at Minchinhampton. He was buried in the churchyard and a standard CWGC headstone now marks his grave.
Researched by Graham Adams 22 February 2017