Charles's Story.
Charles Ridgway was born in 1890 in Rostherne, Cheshire, one of seven children born to Edwin and Sarah Ridgway of Rostherne. The family later moved to Brookside farm, Mobberley. Charles worked as a furniture Draughtsman.
On the 1st September 1914 he attested on the in the army in Bristol, becoming Private no. 18194 in the 9th Reserve Cavalry.
On arriving in France he had transferred to the 1st Battalion of the East Surrey Regiment, becoming Private no. 10599.
Charles was killed in action on the 29th July 1916.
On that fateful day:
The war diary states:
29.7.16 LONGUEVAL
Heavy shelling on both sides with the enemys shelling through LONGUEVAL making communication well-nigh impossible.
Many wounded of several days were occupying shell holes in and around the village it was impossible to get them away or even provide them with water which they cry for as one passes. Water is a great difficulty. Many attempts were made to get the water up through the barrage but much more was actually needed than received.. At about 2pm orders were received to attack 2 enemy posts NW of the village the attack was carried out at 3.30pm by nos 2 and 4 coy. No 2 on the right. A previous bombardment by our heavies was to have put out of action the enemy machine guns in the posts. This however was not apparently accomplished as our attack was met by heavy machine gun fire and the few who got forward pluckily were unable to push forward or backwards from the indifferent cover they reached and finally had to withdraw to their original position after dusk.
Our losses were heavy from Noon 27th inst. to noon 29th inst. we lost 12 officers and 308 OR.
The loss of the OR between these dates containing the names of many old stagers who will be hard to replace.
Researched and compiled by Tony Davi9es