- See Charles Edward Penfold’s entry on the Board of Trade’s Ancestry public tree.
- This information updates the group’s previous research published on the former DTI website (now archived by the National Archives).
- Do you have any more information about Charles Edward Penfold? If so the War Memorial Research Group would love to hear from you.
Name recorded on Board of Trade Memorial: C. E. Penfold
Born: July 1876 in Adisham, Kent
Date of Death: 9 November 1915
Age at death: 39
Service, Regiment, Corps, etc: East Kent Regiment (the Buffs)
Unit, Ship, etc: 6th (or 2nd) Battalion
Enlisted: Ramsgate
Rank: Private (Service no: G/5489)
Decorations: WW1 Campaign medals (Victory Medal and British War Medal)
War (and theatre): WW1 (France and Flanders)
Manner of Death: Killed in action (KIA)
Family Details: Son of Edward and Caroline Penfold of Blooden Cottage, Adisham and wife of Amelia Britton (formerly Penfold) of 2 Terrace Cottages, Irchester Street, Ramsgate
Home Department: Board of Trade – Ramsgate Harbour
Civilian Rank: Labourer
Cemetery or Memorial: Loos Memorial (Panels 15-19) ; Board of Trade War Memorial (now located at 3 Whitehall Place, London); Adisham War Memorial, Kent
Biography:
Charles Edward Penfold was born in around June or July 1876 and baptised on 6 August 1876 in Adisham, Kent. His parents were Charles Penfold (1844-1931) and Caroline Penfold (nee Files) (1851 – 1930). His father was an agricultural labourer. Charles was the eldest son from his father’s second marriage. His younger siblings were Fanny Elizabeth Penfold (1877-1884), John Penfold (1879-1960), Thomas Frederick Penfold (1883-1950), Emily Hilda Penfold (1885-?), Ethel F Penfold (1888-1934) and Kate Lilian Penfold (1894-1972). He also had one older half-sibling, Jane Penfold (1867-1951) from his father’s first marriage to Ann Penfold (nee Birch) (1849-1871).
In the 1901 census, Charles is recorded as an ordinary seaman serving amongst the crew members on the ship “William Cundall”.
In April 1909, Charles married an Amelia Howes (1889-1974) and their son Charles William George Penfold was born a year later on 16 May 1910.
On the 1911 census, Charles and Amelia and their son are recorded living at 1 Alfred Cottages in Ramsgate. Charles also worked in the town as pier labourer working for the Board of Trade at Ramsgate Harbour.
Charles’ full war service record does not survive, but we know from his surviving WW1 medal roll card that he enlisted in the East Kent Regiment known as the Buffs (Service No: G5489).
The Buffs regiment has a proud military history as an infantry regiment dating back to the 1500s. It officially gained the name ‘The Buffs’ in 1744 which was derived from the name to distinguish between two’s regiments of foot both commanded by Lieutenant-General Thomas Howard. One regiment was referred to as the Green Howards and the other as Howard’s Buffs (known as The Buffs). The regiment’s name has entered language in the phrase “Steady, the Buffs!” which means “Keep calm!” or “Steady on, boys!”.
During WW1, the regiment raised 14 Battalions and was awarded 48 battle honours including 1 Victoria Cross. 6000 men from The Buffs regiment died during WW1.
Charles’s medal card indicates that he first arrived in France on 12 May 1915. At some point during fighting soon after in May, Charles was “wounded in the finger and leg while serving with the 2nd Buffs in May”.
He returned to the front with a draft of 6th (Service) Buffs on October 26th and sadly died around only a fortnight later on 9 November 1915. It is likely that Charles would therefore have seen action in the Third Battle of Artois, a Franco-British offensive which lasted from 25 September to 4 November 1915.
His death was reported in “The Thanet Advertiser” on 27 November 1915, which recalled his return to the front:
“His death, wrote Pte. A. Appleton, was instantaneous and he was laid to rest in a secluded spot. All his comrades expressed deepest sympathy with the relatives”.
Charles’s name is remembered on the Commonwealth War Graves Loos Memorial which commemorates 20,605 British officers and me who were killed from 25 September 1915 to the end of the war in November 1918 in the area of battle between the river Lys in Flanders (France) and the village of Grenay, near Lens, in Artois. Charles’s name is amongst the thousands with no known grave who are inscribed on 139 stone panels.
Charles is also remembered on the Board of Trade War Memorial in London and on the local Adisham War Memorial in Kent.
Charles was 39 years old when he died. His death all the more tragic due to the short time of less than a month that he served in France both in May and then when he returned to the front in October 1915.
In memory of Charles Edward Penfold we remember the words of the famous war poet, Julian Grenfell (1888-1915) whose name is recorded in Westminster Abbey and who also died in 1915 (at Ypres) during WW1.
“IN BATTLE”
The naked earth is warm with Spring,
And with green grass and bursting trees
Leans to the sun’s gaze glorying,
And quivers in the sunny breeze;
And life is Colour and Warmth and Light,
And a striving evermore for these;
And he is dead who will not fight,
And who dies fighting has increase.
The fighting man shall from the sun
Take warmth, and life from glowing earth;
Speed with the light-foot winds to run
And with the trees to newer birth;
And find, when fighting shall be done,
Great rest, and fulness after dearth.
All the bright company of Heaven
Hold him in their bright comradeship,
The Dog star, and the Sisters Seven,
Orion’s belt and sworded hip:
The woodland trees that stand together,
They stand to him each one a friend;
They gently speak in the windy weather;
They guide to valley and ridges end.
The kestrel hovering by day,
And the little owls that call by night,
Bid him be swift and keen as they,
As keen of ear, as swift of sight.
The blackbird sings to him: “Brother, brother,
If this be the last song you shall sing,
Sing well, for you may not sing another;
Brother, sing.”
In dreary doubtful waiting hours,
Before the brazen frenzy starts,
The horses show him nobler powers; —
O patient eyes, courageous hearts!
And when the burning moment breaks,
And all things else are out of mind,
And only joy of battle takes
Him by the throat and makes him blind,
Through joy and blindness he shall know,
Not caring much to know, that still
Nor lead nor steel shall reach him, so
That it be not the Destined Will.
The thundering line of battle stands,
And in the air Death moans and sings;
But Day shall clasp him with strong hands,
And Night shall fold him in soft wings.
Board of Trade War Memorial 
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