Stop number ORANGE 11: Continue walking up the steps until you reach the large oak tree on your left. Look towards your right and you will see the CWGC grave for Charles Rose.
CWGC grave for C Rose
After you have read his story and you are ready to move on click on the dot/circle for the Tranter family.
Grave of Charles Rose
Brook Street(SWOP MHW24833)
Daisy Rose born 1892
I am Daisy Rose the sister of Charles (1888-1918) who is buried here. We both grew up in Brook Street with our parents Charles and Eunice Rose and our brothers and sisters. In fact we also grew up with our cousins too, because Brook Street was the home of many of my mother's family. She now lives at number 50 (my father died in 1905) but back then we lived at number 37.
At number 35 was my uncle Herbert Neighbour and Auntie Fanny with their children. Their son Charlie was also killed in the war, in January 1917, but I’ll let you read his story when you visit the grave of the Peddle family on the blue trail.
At number 36 was my uncle and aunt, Isaac and Kate Peddle, with their family. Their son George was also killed in December 1917. He was the same age as cousin Charlie.
We lived at number 37 and then at number 38 were the Cutler family who were part of Auntie Kate’s family. Then at number 38 was Grandpa William Peddle with his second wife Mary and their son Andrew.
My brother Charles started work as a coal merchant’s errand boy (Grandpa William Peddle was a coal merchant) but he later worked for the Bridge Street Timber Company. He enlisted in the Oxford and Bucks Light Infantry in May 1915 and went to France that September but in the December he was in a trench which was blown up and he narrowly escaped from being buried alive. As a result he was in a dreadful state of shock and was sent back to England where he remained until June 1916 when he was sent back to France.
Two weeks later our brother Francis William (known as William) was killed back at home through an accident on the railway here in Wycombe. The news was a dreadful blow to us all and especially to Charles. In his weakened state he succumbed to a severe attack of influenza which rendered him unfit for foreign service and he was mercifully invalided home in July 1916. Later he was drafted to a Home Service Battalion of the Royal Berkshire Regiment in Portsmouth and we hoped that he would safely remain there but in July 1917 he was sent back to France again with the Royal Berkshires. In October he was severely wounded by a sniper and was hit in both the chest and back. His body and legs were paralysed which left him dangerously ill in France for the next 15 weeks until the authorities agreed to his request to be sent home to die.
Whilst Charles lay in his hospital bed in France, Auntie Kate and Uncle Isaac heard the news about their own son, George, via a letter sent to them from his Wycombe pal Lance Corporal Pawley. George died on December 15th 1917, shortly after he was wounded, and is buried in France. Corporal Pawley wrote ‘Coming from the same town and knowing each other in civilian life made us close friends. We always enquired after each other when we came out of the line, and I can assure you that the news came as a blow to me, although we are all chums, even to the biggest stranger.’
I hope my brother Charles was also surrounded by his chums in France.
On January 30th 1918 Charles was finally transferred to King George's Hospital in London where he died two weeks later on February 11th. He was one month short of his 32nd birthday.
He had a large funeral in Wycombe. The procession was led by the R.F.A. band, leaving from Brook Street for the Wesley Church in Priory Road where his funeral was held. After the service the procession reformed and his coffin was taken to the cemetery where he was buried with full military honours. Three volleys were fired over his grave and the trumpeters played the Last Post. The band, playing the New Colonial March, then led the military procession back down to the town. Family, friends and neighbours were in abundance and some beautiful floral tributes were left at his grave.
I also had another cousin called George who was born in Tasmania and enlisted with the Australian army. My uncle George Peddle and his wife Caroline had emigrated there before I was born so I didn't really know them at all. George was killed in Belgium in October 1917.
My father and my brother William are also buried in the cemetery.
Daisy Rose, researched by Sally Scagell, performed by Taryn Earley, History for Teens
