14th Battalion, Worcestershire Regiment
Charles Pinchin was born in early 1888 and was one of ten children born to William Henry Pinchin and his wife Louisa (née Redwood). Charles was born at Horton, near Chipping Sodbury (now South Gloucestershire). His father worked as a groom and moved to the town of Lydney around 1900 and in the 1901 Census are shown as living at 11 Queen Street.
It is not certain what occupation Charles pursued after leaving school but he may have been a tinsmith.
Unfortunately, no Army Service Record has survived for him (the majority of these records being lost or damaged due to enemy action in 1940) but when he married Annie Elizabeth Austin at St Mary’s Church, Lydney on 31 January 1916 he stated his occupation as ‘serving in the Army’. It is likely that he was recruited under ‘Lord Derby’s Scheme’, in late 1915 and was sent to Worcester to train, having been posted to the 14th Battalion, Worcestershire Regiment (Severn Valley Pioneers).
On 24 July he and Annie had a son, called William Ernest Pinchin and Annie lived at Aylburton, near Lydney.
The 14th Worcesters were sent to the Western Front on 21 June 1916, landing at Le Havre and became the Pioneer battalion for the 63rd Royal Naval Division – which was principally made up of surplus sailors trained as infantry. They were initially based at or near to Sains-en-Gohelle, a coal mining district about 20 kms north of Arras and 10 kms west of Lens. Here, as a Pioneer Battalion, they took part in building roads and railways and improving defences etc. They frequently came under shell fire and their losses in the period 1 July to 17 September 1916 amounted to four killed and eight wounded. One of the latter was undoubtedly Charles Pinchin. A report in the Western Mail of 14 September 1916 stated that he had been wounded on 28 August, by the explosion of a shell, where a fragment entered his brain. A death notice in the Gloucestershire Journal of 16 September states that he received his wound on 26 August. He was repatriated to the 2nd London Hospital, at Chelsea in London, where he died on 11 September, aged 28.
He was buried with military honours in St Mary’s Churchyard, Lydney, on 15 September 1916 and standard CWGC headstone now marks his grave. His is commemorated on the Lydney War Memorial.
His widow appears to have re-married in early 1918, at Cheltenham to a John J Smith.
Researched by Graham Adams 21 December 2017