257264 Pte Charles Hobson British Army 2nd Btn West Yorkshire Regiment from:Leeds, Yorkshire (d.4th February 1915) Charles Hobson was my great uncle, he was my grandfather's twin brother. They joined the Army together in 1907 after talking to their older brother who was in the Army and had served in the Boer War.
Charles served with the 2nd Battalion, West Yorkshire Regiment in WW1.
I had managed to retrieve service records of all three brothers but struggled for a long time and was so surprised to find out that my great uncle died within 3 months of landing in France. I have discovered that he is buried at Wimereuex, in France. I suspect that he received injuries at the Battle of Neuve Chapelle which was in December 1914 where there had been trouble with grenades and German snipers.
Nobody in my family spoke of him, only referencing my grandfather serving before 1914. I shall be travelling to the cemetery to pay my respects and I know I am the only one in my family to have done so.
Much of his military records are damaged and known as "burnt" records due to the Blitz in 1940 but I have been on various sites and although I have found no more on Charles I have since found my grandfather. He seems to have been a rogue! He has 3 full charge sheets with charges ranging from taking a mule, drunk in barracks, destroying barracks property and once when in Malta caused a disturbance in a shop. I wont say what else.
Unfortunately, for me he died when I was small. His older brother Henry who served in the Boer war was awarded the grand sum of £5.00 for serving in Africa. I wish I could have spoken to my ancestors. What stories they could tell. The Hobson family have kept their secrets well.
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