Charles George Blunt

Rank 
Second Lieutenant
Regiment 
Rifle Brigade
Date of death 
21 March 1918
Age of death 
25
Address 
19 Stoneycroft Road
Woodford Bridge
Woodford
IG8 8ED
Address source 
1901 Census
Cemetery / Memorial 
France
Biography 

Born in 1893 at Bow, son of George (Attendant at Claybury Asylum) and Emily Jane Blunt. 1901: With his family at 19 Stoneycroft Road, Woodford Bridge. 1911: A Domestic Footman to retired Physician William Edward Ramsden Wood, at Coram Tower, Lyme Regis, Dorset. The family home was later 1 Stoneycroft Road, Woodford Bridge.

He arrived in France on 19th May 1915 with 7 Rifle Brigade and progressed through the Ranks. He was selected for Officer training which he completed, and was reassigned to 3 Rifle Brigade.

While a Sergeant with 7 Rifle Brigade he won a Military Medal for bravery in the field during the Battle of Flers-Courcellette in September 1916. The Regimental History records that having made a successful advance, Blunt, with “D” Company Commander Captain R.C. Brown proceeded to secure Gap Trench.

Unfortunately, things did not go so well on 21st March 1918 when the Battalion were in the outpost line near St. Quentin, and faced the fury of the German Spring Offensive - “Operation Michael.”  The Battalion resisted, but with breaks elsewhere in the line they faced the prospect of being cut off, and so were withdrawn during the evening. By then Charles Blunt had been Killed in Action.

Research by Adrian Lee, Local Historian

Sources:

Ancestry.com