Charles Gawain Raleigh Hunter - St Margaret - Hunningham, Warwickshire
Posted by: SMacB
N 52° 18.605 W 001° 27.309
30U E 605316 N 5796651
A memorial plaque to Charles Gawain Raleigh Hunter, killed in WWI, in St Margaret's church, Hunningham.
Waymark Code: WM129WA
Location: West Midlands, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 04/09/2020
Views: 0
A memorial plaque to Charles Gawain Raleigh Hunter, killed in WWI, on the south aisle wall of St Margaret's church, Hunningham. An engraved brass plaque with the Crest of the King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry top left and inscription to the right and below. The crest, inscription and line are infilled with black enamel paint.
Inscription -
Crest : K.O. YORKSHIRE L.I.
IN LOVING REMEMBRANCE OF
CHARLES GAWAIN
RALEIGH HUNTER
LIEUTENANT 2ND BATTALION
THE KING'S OWN YORKSHIRE LT. INFANTRY
KILLED IN ACTION AT YPRES IN BELGIUM
ON THE 25TH OF APRIL 1915 - AGE 21 YEARS
BELOVED SON OF CAPT. & MRS. W. G. HUNTER
"AND THE SPIRIT SHALL RETURN UNTO GOD WHO GAVE IT.""Charles Gawain Raleigh Hunter joined School House in October 1907. While at school his portrayal of Caroline Dormer in the 1908 Christmas Theatricals caused much amusement. He left in December 1910, having “won the affection and respect of all who knew him”.
He became a clerk to the manager at the Triumph Motor Cycle Works near Coventry then followed his father into the Army in August 1911 as a 17 year old Second Lieutenant and served in Ireland. His obituary in The Breconian records that, after a short period in the Army, he emigrated to the Argentine. He returned to England at the outbreak of war and was commissioned into his old regiment, the King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, on 14th August 1914.
In December 1914 Charles and 60 men joined the depleted 2nd Battalion which had been fighting in Flanders since the outbreak of war. At the commencement of the Second Battle of Ypres the Battalion was called on to assist in holding the Canadian line which was being subjected to heavy bombardment. The Battalion Diary records that the trenches preparatory to an advance were so crowded with Canadian Highlanders that newcomers had to lie out in the open under shell-fire.
Lieutenant C G R Hunter was one of a large number of men who died on the open ground on 24th April 1915. He was 21 years old. His body was never found. He is remembered at the Menin Gate and at the Pirbright Memorial in Surrey as well as on the Christ College War Memorial."
SOURCE - (
visit link)