Corporal CHARLES WALTER KETLEY M.M.
72, Brassey Road, Winchester.
Service number 42855. 15th Signal Company, Royal Engineers
Killed in action, France, 11 April 1917
Family Background
Charles Walter Ketley was born in 1896 in Beckenham, Kent, the only child of Frederick and Annie Ketley. Charles did not have close links with Winchester: his parents moved to the city in 1914, shortly after war was declared, and moved away again when hostilities ended in 1918. However, his parents ensured that his name appeared on the memorials at St Matthew’s and St Paul’s and in the Winchester War Service Register.
Frederick Ketley, Charles’s father, had been born in Langford, Essex, in 1858, the son of Charles Snr, an agricultural labourer and later pork butcher, and his wife Mary Ann. In 1871 the family were living in Maldon, Essex, where Frederick worked as a gardener.
In 1880 Frederick married Annie Springett in Maldon. Annie had been born in Great Totham, Essex, in 1862. The newly-weds were living in Maldon in 1881 with Frederick working as a carman.
By the 1891 Census, Frederick and Annie had moved to Beckenham, the birthplace of Frederick's mother, Mary Ann. Frederick had become a colporteur (a peddler, especially of religious tracts and books). After apparently being childless for some time, Annie gave birth to Charles Walter in 1896. The family had one servant and Annie's sister living with them.
In 1901 the family were living at 10, Blakeney Avenue, Beckenham, together with Annie's brother. By 1911 Frederick Ketley had become a Congregational Church minister and the family were living at the Manse, Tolleshunt D`Arcy, Essex. Charles Walter, by then aged 15, was employed as a butcher's assistant.
In late 1914 Frederick and Annie moved to 72, Brassey Road, Winchester. The reason for their move is unclear, but it could possibly have been connected to Frederick's religious duties during the Great War.
Great War Record
Charles enlisted in the Royal Engineers in London in September 1914 and arrived in France on 8 July 1915. He served as a signaller. At battalion level this meant passing communications between the battalion commander and his various company and platoon officers. With the limited technology available at the time this would have involved being a runner and carrying messages by hand. It was dangerous work and the life expectancy of a runner was short.
In September 1915, Charles was gassed but he recovered. He rose to become a Corporal, possibly for the action where he won his Military Medal. The award is listed in the London Gazette (supplement 29794, page 10219) of 21 October 1916.
On 9 April 1917, Charles took part in the First Battle of the Scarpe. The battle, together with the action at Vimy Ridge, opened the Arras Offensive which saw the British and Canadians make impressive early gains. The village of Feuchy was captured in the first phase of the battle by troops of the British Third Army who advanced more than three miles in places, the furthest by the Allies on the Western Front up to that date.
Charles was killed in action at Feuchy on 11 April 1917, two days after the start of the Arras Offensive. He was around 20 years old.
Family after the Great War
After the war Frederick Ketley received an Army pension in respect of his son. His address on the military pension records in 1918 was the Sailors Rest Home, Meadow Street, Avonmouth, near Bristol. At some point Frederick returned to Essex, together with Charles’s mother Annie. A later pension record gives his address as Park View, Tiptree Road, Great Totham, Essex, which is the village where Annie Ketley had been born. Frederick Ketley died in Maldon in 1938, aged about 80, and Annie in 1944 at the age of 82.
Medals and Memorials for Charles Walter Ketley
Feuchy Chapel British Cemetery, Wancourt, Pas de Calais, France
Corporal Charles Walter Ketley was entitled to the 1914-15 Star, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal. He is buried in Feuchy Chapel British Cemetery (above), Wancourt, Pas de Calais, France, and is mentioned on the memorials at St Matthew’s and St Paul’s churches.