Charles Sidney Flinn was one of the few men named on the Ilford County High School memorial who was both old enough to be recorded on the 1891 census and get married before the war started. He was 11 months old when the 1891 census was completed, living in Percy Road, West Ham. He was born in Peckham and was the second son (of four) of Charles and Alice Flinn. As well as brothers William, Robert and Arthur, he had a sister named Margaret.
The eleven year old Charles joined Ilford County High School, along with his older brother, William in 1901. He was part of the school’s first ever cohort of students. Previously, he had attended Downshall Elementary School.
By 1901, his family had moved to Cambridge Road in Ilford and his father’s job as a fish salesman in the famous Billingsgate market enabled the family to employ a 19-year-old domestic servant, Edith. Unusually, Charles’s mother (and not his father) was recorded as guardian on the school record.
In 1911, Charles was working as a clerk for his father’s business. He married Annie Kendrich in 1913. There are no known children of Charles and Annie.
He joined the 14th battalion (London Scottish), service number 513899. It is believed that he was on the S.S. Winifredian when it disembarked from Southampton for Le Havre on 15th September 1914. He was later part of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force deployed in Palestine. He was killed in action on 30th April 1918 and was buried in the Jerusalem War Cemetery. He had been promoted to the rank of Lance Corporal (unpaid) by the time of his death.
Research by Andrew Emeny, History Teacher at ICHS
Sources:
Ancestry.com
ICHS school records and magazines
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Note
Ilford County High School started life as the Park Higher Grade School in 1901 in Balfour Road, Ilford. It was renamed Ilford County High School (or initially County High School, Ilford) in the years after the school’s management was transferred from Ilford School Board to Essex Education Committee in 1904.