Armadale & District Roll of Honour 1914 - 1919
WW1 Dale Boys
Charles James Grumbley
Charles was Born 11th November 1883 in Allahabad India, Baptised 23rd November 1883. Son of Lawrence & Mary Grumbley. Lawrence a Colour Sergeant with the 47th Loyal North Lancashire Regiment. The family being stationed in India at the time of his birth.
The 1901 census shows Charles living at 3 Coalman St, Manchester and as being employed as a slipper maker in a Rubber Works with his Father Laurence age 54, mother Mary S aged 41, Step Brother John 21, Brothers Laurence W 19 ×, Victor 15, Edwin 9×, Fredrick 7, and Sisters Eliza Muad 14×, Lucy 5 and his uncle William McCarthy 39 a Colour Sergeant on Leave. His older Step Sister Mary was 23 and she was no longer residing at home.
× Charles 's older brother Lawrence William Grumbley was serving as a Sergeant with the 2nd Loyal North Lancs at the outbreak of the Great War in India and later served as a Sub Conductor with the Indian Ordanance Dept during the Great War, remaining in India he retired from the Army on 14th January 1936 at the Rank of Major.
× Charles's younger brother Edwin may have served as a Private with the Labour Corps during the Great War.
× Charles's sister Eliza Maud married James Ward prior to the outbreak of War, James was Killed in Action on the 29/07/1918 whilst serving with the 2nd Loyal North Lancs in France.
Eliza Maud Ward with her two sons
Lawrence, Charles’s father died in March 1904 in Manchester.
Charles married Grace Wimbush in December 1908 in Manchester.
Charles and Grace had three Children a daughter Elsie born 1909, a son Charles born 1912, and John born 1915, all three were born in Manchester.
When War broke out in August 1914 Charles was one of the first lot of volunteers for Lord Kitcheners New Army.
He enlisted in Manchester around October 1914 and was soon afterward placed into a draft for the 7th Kings Own Scottish Borders and sent up to Edinburgh, it seems at the start of the War the intention of the Army was to have a Manchester Scottish Battalion, similar to that of the London Scottish or the Liverpool Scottish, but for some reason it did not come about and instead the men that were going to form the Manchester Scottish were drafted to other Scottish Regiments in particular the Royal Scots and the Kings Own Scottish Borderers.
The Kings Own Scottish Borderers (KOSB) were a Lowland Scottish Infantry Regiment, they were not Kilted but were dressed in Lowland uniform, they wore the normal British Infantry uniform with the exception of a cut away tunic and a their diced Glengarry replaced the standard Trench cap.
Charles in the Great War
Charles arrived in France with the 7th Kings Own Scottish Borderers on the 27th July 1915.
1915 Star, British War and Victory Medal as awarded to 7886 Private Charles Grumbley
September 1915 saw the 7th Kings Own Scottish Borderers take part in their first attack, the battle of Loos, they were played ‘over the top’ by piper Daniel Laidlaw who was severely wounded and was later awarded the Victoria Cross for Valour and earned the nickname the Piper of Loos.
During the battle of Loos the 7th Kings Own Scottish Borderers advanced 1,000 yards and captured the first line of German trenches on the Lens to La Bassee road, however in the heat of battle the direction and control was lost by the divisional and brigade Headquarters. This battle cost the Battalion around 500 casualties.
Charles was wounded during the Battle of Loos, and his name appeared in the Scotsmans List of Scottish Casualties on Thursday 28th October 1915.
The 7th Kings Own Scottish Borderers stayed in the Loos sector under strength but still remained fully operational. An attack in May 1916 on part of the German line known as the kink resulted in no gain and further casualties, it was after this attack that the 7th Kings Own Scottish Borderers and the 8th Kings Own Scottish Borderers (who were also very much under strength) were amalgamated to form the 7th/8th Kings Own Scottish Borderers.
It was at this time that Charles was transferred to the 6th Kings Own Scottish Borderers.
The battle of the Somme was to begin on the 1st July 1916, the 6th Kings Own Scottish Borderers were to see action at Mametz and Benafey Wood, and it was here on the 3rd July that they captured the wood with ease, but then had to face five days of shelling from the Germans until they were relieved. From here the 6th Kings Own Scottish Borderers who had suffered heavy casualties as a result of the enemy shelling were sent to a quite sector near Vincy.
The 6th Kings Own Scottish Borderers returned to the Somme sector on 18th October and took up positions near High Wood, the ground was waist deep with mud and progress could only be made with great exertion. Nevertheless the Borderers were ready for the attack on the 20th October and succeeded in taking all their objectives.
On the 9th April 1917 the 6th Kings Own Scottish Borderers took part in the attack on the town of Arras, the 6th successfully advanced half a mile taking all their objectives. Two days later they attacked the town and occupied it, but again suffered high casualties.
The 6th Kings Own Scottish Borderers were back in the attack on 3rd May against Greenland Hill. Due to the difficulty of co-ordination once the attack had been launched, the 6th advanced further than the other battalions taking part in the attack. Two companies then had to change direction to cover the flank an virtually all became casualties. The ground had to be given up.
At the third battle of Ypres in September the 6th were in the area of the Menin road. They attacked towards the Zonnebeeke redoubt on the 20th September. The first objective was taken, and then the redoubt itself was assaulted and captured. The Borderers dug new trenches and suffered enemy artillery fire, but were not counter attacked, they were relieved on the 23rd September. Shortly after this they were involved in the fighting for Passchendale Ridge, this battle took place in the most appalling conditions of mud and water and progress was near impossible. The battalion went into the reserve but still lost nearly 200 casualties many of them through drowning. Their division was withdrawn soon afterwards.
Charles was wounded again around 20th October 1917 during the Third battle of Ypres (Passchendaele), and his name appeared in the Scotsmans List of Scottish Casualties on Wednesday 28th November 1917.
The 6th Kings Own Scottish Borderers some time in early November went back to the Somme area, preparing for the attack on Cambrai that was due to start on the 20th.
In December 1917, the 6th Battalion moved to the Gauche Wood sector near Gouzeaucourt in response to the German counter-attack on Cambrai, some 12 miles to the north-east. There they were engaged in consolidating the trench system, and in particular digging a communication trench from Battalion HQ at 'Sunken Road' and 'Railway Embankment'.
On the 16th December 1917 Charles was killed in action,
The entry in the Battalion War Diary for the 16th December reads as follows: 'Front line improved and duckboarded. R.E. shelters dug for front line garrison, and wiring strengthened and improved. C.T. deepened and improved. During "stand to" at dawn 16 other ranks were killed by a shell landing into one of their shelters in Support Line in Sunken Road and six others wounded.'
Charles's name appeared in the soldiers killed list in the Scotsmans on Wednesday 23rd January 1918.
Charles is buried in Heudicourt communal Cemetery Extension.
Heudicourt is a village in the north-western corner of the Department of the Somme, 13 kilometres north-east of Peronne and 17 kilommetres south-west of Cambrai. Heudicourt Communal Cemetery Extension will be found at the bottom of a farm track behind the Communal Cemetery, which is signposted at the crossroads of the D58 and D181 and again on the D181 as you approach the village centre.
Charles Grumbley's Grave 2007