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13624 Grenadier Guards
Charles Barrell was born in Bulmer in 1886, one of twelve surviving children of George and Caroline Barrell. His father was a farm labourer and stockman and the family lived at Lower Houses, Bulmer. Before the war Charles was employed by Mr. Hyde Parker of Smeetham Hall in Bulmer as a farm labourer and was a member of the Territorial Army.
He joined the 3rd Battalion Suffolk Regiment (formerly 6096) at the age of seventeen in 1903 and transferred as a regular with the 1st Battalion, Grenadier Guards in February 1908. His records describe him in 1903 as 5ft 6˝ ins in height with blue eyes and light brown hair and a 32 inch chest. Charles was later described in the Suffolk and Essex Free Press on 12 March 1919 as being 6ft 1˝ ins in height. As Charles was a reservist he was recalled to his regiment at the outbreak of war.
Charles was married to Florence and they had a son Charlie. The family lived at Church Street, Sudbury but later his widow moved to 4 Mill Lane. At the outbreak of war Charles was called up and landed in France on 6 October 1914. He was badly wounded in 1915, after he had recovered he returned to the front.
He returned to England at the end of 1918 but caught a cold on the boat home. After attending a parade for King George V he became ill with influenza and pneumonia and was taken to the Queen Alexandra Hospital in West London where he died aged 32 on 1 March 1919.
Charles lies buried in St. Andrew’s Churchyard, Bulmer, Essex, where he is also remembered on the village War Memorial.
Charles was awarded the 1914 Star, the British War Medal and Victory Medal.
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