Charles James Vaughan, known as Charley, was born in Redbourn, Hertfordshire in October 1895 and baptised a month later at St Mary’s Church in the village on Sunday, 3rd November. He was the youngest child born to Daniel Vaughan and Rachel Saunders who had ten children together. Charley’s siblings were: Millicent, James Charles, Rebecca, Alfred, John, William George, Owen Wilfred and Lily. His oldest brother James died in 1888 aged twelve.

In 1901 the Vaughan family lived on Wood Lane in Redbourn where Charley’s father and two of brothers worked on local farms. Charley, Lily and Owen were all attending the local National school in Redbourn.

By 1911 the family had moved back to Hemel Hempstead and was living at 3 Adeyfield Terrace and with the exception of Charley’s mother Rachel, all seven of the Vaughans still at home were working. Charley’s father worked for the Hemel Hempstead Corporation, three other siblings worked in Apsley Mills, one brother was employed by the railways, one was a farm labourer and Charley aged fifteen was an ‘Assistant Gardener’.

At some point after 1911 and before the outbreak of war, Charley moved to Kibworth in Leicestershire. It is not clear why he made the move to such a small village halfway between Leicester and Market Harborough. Records have not revealed a family connection so the most likely explanation was that he went there to work, possibly still as a Gardener.

He was still living in Kibworth when war broke out and in January 1915 he enlisted, when he was nineteen and eligible for overseas service. He attested at Market Harborough and joined the 1st Battalion Leicestershire Regiment, ‘The Tigers’. Following his basic training he was sent to France disembarking at Le Havre on the 1st April 1915.

The 1st Battalion spent 1915 and early 1916 in Flanders before moving to France with the 71st Brigade in the 6th Division. In September 1916 Charley fought in the Battle of Flers-Courcelette by which time he had been promoted Lance Corporal.

The attack at Flers-Courcelette was launched across a seven mile front on the 15th September 1916. Twelve divisions went into action, and it was intended to deploy all the newly invented tanks that the British army possessed, a total of 49. They were however fundamentally unreliable and only 15 rolled into No Man’s Land at the start of the Battle.

Despite this, the tanks produced devastating effects upon German morale - at least locally to begin with and they helped the Allies gain about one-and-a-half miles of ground over the first three days of the assault. This was remarkable at the time in a war of stalemate and particularly at the Somme.

Nevertheless, a combination of poor weather and extensive German reinforcements halted the Allied advance on the 17th September and resulted in heavy casualties, before the attack was finally called off on the 22nd September. 123 Officers and O.R.s were killed and 253 were wounded or missing over the first three days.

Charley was killed in action on the first day of the Battle on Friday, 15th September 1916.

He was remembered with four other fallen Hemel soldiers at a memorial service in St Paul’s Church a few weeks after his death. The details of the service were reported briefly in the following week’s Hemel Gazette.

Charley is Remembered with Honour on Thiepval Memorial, Somme, France, Pier and Face 2 C and 3 A

He was only 20 years old when he died, one month short of his 21st birthday.

Charley was entitled to the 1914-15 Star, the British War Medal and the Allied Victory Medal.