The Wartime Memories Project - The Great War

Cpl. Charles Frederick Draper British Army 9th Btn Rifle Brigade


Great War>


This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this site you agree to accept cookies.


If you enjoy this site please consider making a donation.



    Site Home

    Great War Home

    Search

    Add Stories & Photos

    Library

    Help & FAQs

 Features

    Allied Army

    Day by Day

    RFC & RAF

    Prisoners of War

    War at Sea

    Training for War

    The Battles

    Those Who Served

    Hospitals

    Civilian Service

    Women at War

    The War Effort

    Central Powers Army

    Central Powers Navy

    Imperial Air Service

    Library

    World War Two

 Submissions

    Add Stories & Photos

    Time Capsule

 Information

    Help & FAQs



    Glossary

    Our Facebook Page

    Volunteering

    News

    Events

    Contact us

    Great War Books

    About


Advertisements

World War 1 One ww1 wwII greatwar great 1914 1918 first battalion regiment

1206135

Cpl. Charles Frederick Draper

British Army 9th Btn Rifle Brigade

from:Merstone, Isle of Wight

(d.1st July 1916)

Born at Arreton, Isle of Wight on 20th August 1889, Charles Frederick Draper was the youngest of the eight children of William and Emily Draper. His father was an agricultural labourer and later road foreman for the local District Council. Charley presumably excelled at school, because he left his agricultural roots and the Isle of Wight behind him and became a solicitor’s clerk. The 1911 census finds him as a law clerk in lodgings at Shepton Mallet.

Charley enlisted in the 9th Battalion, The Rifle Brigade at Winchester on 22nd May 1915, aged 25 years and 8 months. Like the rest of his family, he was short in stature, standing 5’ 5” tall and his enlistment papers state that he had scars on both groins from a previous hernia operation. Where he spent his early months in the army I do not know, but he embarked for France on 6th April 1916 and on 12th April he was transferred to a Machine Gun Depot and arrived at Étaples on 17th of the month.

He joined his battalion in the field on 20th May and was wounded in action on 27th June. According to the medical report he suffered shell wounds to his arm, leg, abdomen and chest. He died on 1st July 1916 and was interred in the Communal Cemetery at Habareq. He is also commemorated on his parents grave stone at Gore Cemetery, Arreton. Charley never married. He left a school atlas, published in 1913, in which he, or a member of the family, traced the progress of the war by underlining key locations. It remains a treasured family possession.









Related Content:







    Can you help us to add to our records?

    The names and stories on this website have been submitted by their relatives and friends. If your relations are not listed please add their names so that others can read about them


    Did your relative live through the Great War? Do you have any photos, newspaper clippings, postcards or letters from that period? Have you researched the names on your local or war memorial?

    If so please let us know.

    Do you know the location of a Great War "Roll of Honour?"

    We are very keen to track down these often forgotten documents and obtain photographs and transcriptions of the names recorded so that they will be available for all to remember.

    Help us to build a database of information on those who served both at home and abroad so that future generations may learn of their sacrifice.




    Celebrate your own Family History

    Celebrate by honouring members of your family who served in the Great War both in the forces and at home. We love to hear about the soldiers, but also remember the many who served in support roles, nurses, doctors, land army, muntions workers etc.

    Please use our Family History resources to find out more about your relatives. Then please send in a short article, with a photo if possible, so that they can be remembered on these pages.














    The free section of The Wartime Memories Project is run by volunteers.

    This website is paid for out of our own pockets, library subscriptions and from donations made by visitors. The popularity of the site means that it is far exceeding available resources and we currently have a huge backlog of submissions.

    If you are enjoying the site, please consider making a donation, however small to help with the costs of keeping the site running.


    Hosted by:

    The Wartime Memories Project Website

    is archived for preservation by the British Library





    Copyright MCMXCIX - MMXXIV
    - All Rights Reserved -

    We do not permit the use of any content from this website for the training of LLMs or for use in Generative AI, it also may not be scraped for the purpose of creating other websites.