Charles William Bayley

Rank 
Sergeant
Regiment 
Durham Light Infantry
Date of death 
25 October 1918
Age of death 
34
Address 
37 Cedars Road
Stratford
E15 4NE
Address source 
1911 Census
Cemetery / Memorial 
Belgium
Biography 

Born in 1884 at Mile End Old Town, son of Charles (Labourer, formerly Labourer at Hurd Dock Wharf) and Hannah Bayley. In 1901 his father died. 1911: A Co-Op Milkman living with his widowed mother, brother Samuel and her granddaughter Ethel at 37 Cedars Road, Stratford. On 16th May that year he married Sarah Maria Hoult. When he enlisted on 29th July 1916 he was still employed as a Milkman, living with his wife at “Brooklands” 5 Louisa Terrace, Maybank Road, South Woodford, later recorded as “Brooklands” 56 Maybank Road.

He appears to have been trained at Frinton on Sea. He left there for the B.E.F on 10th April 1918, is shown arriving 5th May 1918, and going into the field from 22nd June 1918. He had reached the rank of Sergeant from 2nd December 1917. His entry in the medal rolls suggested that at the time of his death he was serving on attachment to the Royal Engineers.

In spite of this suggestion, he is buried with others from his Battalion who died around the same time. No Engineers are included. At the time of his death 2/6 D.L.I. had been advancing with 177 Brigade 59 Division in Artois and Flanders. The Division had entered Lille on 18th October, and by 23rd October they were nearing Valenceinnes on the Belgian border after hard fighting on the Scheldt.

It is not recorded how Charles Bayley came to be “Killed in Action” during this part of the war known as “The Advance to Victory.” 

Research by Adrian Lee, Local Historian

Sources:

Ancestry.com