Joggins War Memorial, Nova Scotia, Canada

Jean Longstaff has submitted the following:-

Charles was the youngest child of William and Mary Ann Boldon (nee Hails), who had married in 1856, and he was born on 15th June 1873 whilst they were living in Shotton Colliery; their other four children, John, Robert, Isabella and Mary Jane. were all born in Gateshead, the oldest in 1858 and the youngest in 1867. By 1881 only Charles was still living with his parents and they were sharing a house with another family in Hetton whilst father William was working at a sawmill. Ten years later they had moved to Harton and John, Charles’ widowed eldest brother, had returned to the family home with his two sons and he and Charles were both working at the local coal mine.

In 1902 Charles married Mary Ann Lawson in Sunderland and by the time of the 1911 census they were living in Monkwearmouth with their two young sons, Charles and George. 13th April 1913 saw Charles and his brother-in-law George arriving in Halifax, Nova Scotia on the SS Canada making for Minto, a mining town in New Brunswick, with Mary Ann and the two boys following in August.

When Charles enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Force on 23rd August 1915 he was still working as a miner, but they now also had a young daughter, Nancy, at home in Joggins, Nova Scotia. Mentioning the 14 years he had spent in 5DLI territorials in England, plus the one year in the regular army, Charles became Private 469218 in the 64th Battalion, which embarked for England on 31st March 1916, arriving in Liverpool ten days later. Posted to Shorncliffe Camp on the south coast, Charles made out his military will leaving everything to his wife, Mary Ann, and two months later, having been transferred to the 25th Battalion found himself on the front line in France.

At the end of July Charles was in a field ambulance station suffering from deafness and a sprained ankle and he did not return to duty for two weeks. The Battalion war diary for 17th September 1916 reads “the battalion was subjected to the heaviest artillery fire that it has been anyone’s lot to see”, and it was on this day near Courcelette that Private 469218 was wounded in the arms and legs, and died from his wounds in #49 Casualty Clearing Station at Rouen.

Charles Boldon's name does not appear on any local War Memorial.

In Canada he is remembered on their Virtual War Memorial and in their Book of Remembrance, and on the War Memorial in Joggins, Nova Scotia.

Canadian Book of Remembrance
Canadian Virtual Memorial
The CWGC entry for Private Boldon