1st Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment
Charles John Bruce was a former professional soldier who volunteered to serve his country once again, upon the outbreak of the Great War.
He was born in Chipping Campden in 1882, one of seven children born to Charles Bruce, a Scot (1853-1918), a labourer and his locally born wife, Rosa Ellen (née Freeman; 1852-1942).
At the time of the 1891 Census the family lived at Cider Mill Lane, Chipping Campden. In 1911 they still lived in the town, in Church Row and Charles (senior) worked as a labourer in the local stone quarry.
Charles (junior) volunteered for the Army on 27 October 1900 in Birmingham. He signed on for seven years ‘with the colours’ (ie active service) and five in the Reserve. He gave his age to be 18 years and five months and his occupation as a labourer. His posting was as a Private (number 7478) in the Royal Warwickshire Regiment.
His Army Service Record from his time with the Warwicks survived the bombing of the Army records office in 1940 but in a very damaged form, so we do have some details of his service.
It would appear that he took a while to adjust to military life as he went absent without leave on 31 January 1901 and was subjected to a Regimental Court Martial, charged with his absence and neglect of uniform. He was found guilty and put into detention for twenty-eight days. Upon release he joined the 4th Battalion, moving to the 3rd on 12 July 1901 and finally to the 2nd later that month. He went on to serve in Malta, Bermuda, Gibraltar and South Africa, completing eight years with the colours. He then entered the Reserve, went back to labouring and was discharged from the Reserve as ‘time expired’ on 26 October 1912.
When war broke out in August 1914, he quickly volunteered his services, at the age of 32 years and eight months. He attested on 12 August 1914 for service as a Special Reservist for a period of one year. The Special Reserve had originally been formed out of the old Militia and was similar to the Territorial Force and was designed to train men for service to replace casualties incurred by Regular Army units.
He was posted as a Private (number 2240) into the Gloucestershire Regiment, initially with the 3rd Battalion, before he joined the 1st Battalion, who had become part of 3rd Brigade, 1st Division, British Expeditionary Force (BEF) in France on 11 November 1914. He served on the Western Front until 22 January 1915.
Ancestry features an Army Pension Record for Charles, however, it is not complete and there are many papers relating to his previous service with the Warwicks. A Public Member Tree, set up on there by someone who has conducted some family history research, states that he suffered frostbite in December 1914 and was admitted to hospital on 21 January 1915, presumably in Belgium or France. In late 1914 the 1st Glosters were located at Outersteene, near to Bailleul. He was subsequently returned to the UK and underwent an operation at 1st Western General Hospital, Fazakerley, Liverpool on 1 March 1915. The operation involved amputation of three toes and ‘the terminal phalanx of the little toe on each foot’.
On 14 June 1915 Charles was discharged from the Army as ‘no longer fit for war service’. The source of the details of his injury and operation are unknown, although plausible but cannot be verified from the original records.
Upon discharge, Charles was awarded a Silver War Badge, to denote previous military service.
A single man, it is not known if Charles was able to return to any form of employment subsequent to his discharge and he is recorded as having died in Shipston on Stour on 3 April 1919, aged 37. The cause of death is unknown. A recently released Pension Record Card indicates that an application was made (by his mother?) for an Army pension, which was initially rejected and went to appeal: outcome unknown.
He was buried in the churchyard of St James, Chipping Campden, where a standard CWGC headstone marks his grave. The headstone also commemorates his brother, Oscar, who was killed in action in Italy on 17 July 1918, whilst serving as a Private (number 240043) with the 1/5th Battalion of the Glosters. He is buried at Dueville Communal Cemetery Extension, near Vicenza in the Veneto region.
The brothers are commemorated on the Chipping Campden War Memorial.
Researched by Graham Adams 9 September 2020