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30567, 2nd Battalion, “C” Company, Alexandra, Princess of Wales’s Own (Yorkshire Regiment)
Charles Robert Wilkinson was born in Bramham, Yorkshire on 23rd January 1898 the son of Redcar born Thomas Smith Wilkinson and Ruth Richardson of Helperby, North Yorkshire who married at Alne North Yorkshire on 18th October 1893. Charles Robert was the second of four sons and one daughter born to the couple at Bramham between 1894 and 1906.
In 1901 Thomas was living with his wife and family at High Street Bramham and working as a butler. By 1911 he and his family, now complete, had moved to 3 Eldon Terrace, Flushdyke, where he worked as a Club Steward. Ossett’s first Working Men’s Club, Fern House, was a stone’s throw away from the Wilkinson home at Eldon Terrace. Charles Robert, aged thirteen years, was working as a painter’s errand boy and his elder brother, George Smith Wilkinson (born summer 1894), was a plumber’s apprentice, aged sixteen. The other three children, still at school, were Thomas Hubert (born spring 1899) Anne Elizabeth (summer 1902) and William Beck Wilkinson (early 1906).
By the time war was declared on the German Empire in August 1914, Charles Robert was sixteen years of age and the Wilkinson family appear to have moved on from Ossett. He enlisted at Redcar with the 2nd Battalion, Alexandra, Princess of Wales’s Own (Yorkshire Regiment). His army service record has not survived. He was killed in action on 6th May 1918 when he was barely twenty years old.
Charles Robert was posthumously awarded the British and Victory medals for his service in a theatre of war but he was not awarded the 1914-15 Star indicating that he had he not served overseas on or before 31st December 1915. He could have enlisted when he was eighteen years of age (23rd January 1916) but, unless he lied about his age, he should not have served overseas in the armed services until he was nineteen years of age on 23rd January 1917.
When he enlisted he joined the 2nd battalion Yorkshire Regiment which was a regular army battalion. Even though the army had lost many of its regular soldiers by 1918 and replacements were needed to fill their position, this was unusual for his age and experience. There are indications that he was highly regarded and by the date of his death in May 1918 he had been promoted to Corporal and later Lance Sergeant, aged only 20 years.
The 2nd battalion Yorkshire Regiment was in Guernsey in August 1914 and returned to England in late August embarking for France in early October 1914. Charles Robert Wilkinson would have joined them in the 21st Brigade, 30th Division, but not until on or after his 19th birthday in January 1917.
Charles Robert Wilkinson at war 1917- May 1918
That being the case in 1917, aged 19 years, Charles Robert, would have fought in the pursuit of the Germans to the Hindenburg Line and the Arras Offensive in France in April 1917. On 20th May the battalion moved to Ypres in Belgium, pausing en route and arriving near Poperinge, near Ypres, on 26th May where they billeted. There was little activity until 26th July when Charles Robert’s “C” Company launched a raid on the German front line to capture prisoners and “establish an identification”. The raiding party captured one officer and 8 other ranks (O.R.) but lost 2 officers and 8 O.R’s with 36 wounded or missing.
On 31st July at 3.50 a.m., at Pilkem Ridge in the Battle of Passchendaele the 2nd battalion, Yorkshire Regiment launched an assault on the German trenches and captured the whole front line in that frontage. One officer and 24 other ranks were killed, 6 officers (all 2nd Lieutenants) and 190 other ranks were wounded and 35 other ranks were missing. In July/August 1917 the British Fifth Army, of which the Yorkshire Regiment was a part, suffered 27001 casualties of which 3697 were fatalities.
1917 turned into 1918 and on 10th January 1918 the Yorkshire Regiment left Ypres, entrained and travelled all night until they arrived at Longeaux, France a day later. After ten weeks of training, trench digging and parades the Yorkshire Regiment moved into position west of St Quentin. It was here that Charles Robert and his 21st Brigade, 30th Division fought to repel the major German military offensive, known as the German Spring Offensive or Operation Michael which began on 21 March 1918.
Battle of Pilkem Ridge July 1917
The Regimental War Diary for the 2nd battalion Yorkshire Regiment recorded that “At 4.50 a.m. the order was received to “Man Battle Stations”. The Germans had realised that their only remaining chance of victory was to defeat the Allies before the United States could fully deploy its resources. The German Army had gained a temporary advantage in numbers as nearly 50 divisions had been freed by the Russian withdrawal from the war. The Spring Offensive, Operation Michael, was intended to break through the Allied lines, outflank the British forces (which held the front from the Somme River to the English Channel) and defeat the British Army.
From early morning on 21st March 1918 the Yorkshire Regiment was continuously and heavily shelled in the trenches and suffered severe casualties. By 11am the Regiment’s front line was penetrated and by 1pm the support redoubt was surrounded and passed by the enemy who were a mere 800 yards away. At 1.30 pm the enemy attacked the front but without success and at 1.45pm they withdrew but rallied by 4.30pm when they attacked persistently for an hour with heavy artillery which caused large casualties. By 5 pm the Yorkshire’s lost a position in their front line and Charles Robert’s C Company was ordered to counter attack but casualties were high and success was elusive. After twelve hours of bloody effort at 6.30 pm the Yorkshire’s lost their front line but stepped behind the line to repulse further penetration by the enemy.
Spring Offensive British retreat March 1918
There was more of the same over the next ten days to the end of March 1918 with attacks, penetration and heavy shelling by the enemy met by retreat, re-grouping and rebuttal by the 2nd battalion Yorkshire Regiment. By 30th March the Germans had suffered massive casualties during the battle and in some areas the advance slowed, when the enemy ran out of provisions and troops looted Allied supply depots. It was the beginning of the end for the enemy. A final attempt by the Germans to renew attacks on 5th April failed and by early morning, the British had forced the enemy out of all but the south-eastern corner of Amiens. German progress had reached its furthest westward point and Germany terminated the offensive.
If the 2nd Battalion Yorkshire Regiment thought that was the end of the worst of it they were to be disappointed. They left France and the remnants of Operation Michael and joined more of the same in Belgium where Operation Georgette was in full flow in the form of the Battle of the Lys; the fourth battle of Ypres.
The Battalion entrained for Valery Sur Somme on the French coast in readiness for a return to Proven, near Ypres where they arrived at 3 a.m. on 6th April 1918. Ten days later Charles Robert’s “C” Company, 2nd battalion Yorkshire Regiment was in the front line and being shelled by the enemy. Heavy artillery continued with intermittent attacks which were repulsed as the allies and enemy took and then lost ground for the rest of April 1918. In planning, execution and effects, Georgette was similar to (although smaller than) Operation Michael earlier in the Spring Offensive.
On 1st May 1918 the 2nd Battalion were in support in second line trenches. On the 2nd May they had moved out of the trenches and into camp which was shelled, then into another camp which was also shelled with two men killed and several wounded. On 5th May the battalion prepared to move up the line under cover of darkness.
On 6th May 1918 the Regimental War Diary recorded “Quiet – Nothing of importance to report”
But it seems that there was something of importance to report on that day. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission records the 6th May 1918 as the day Lance Sergeant Charles Robert Wilkinson died. Another eight men of the 2nd Battalion Yorkshire regiment also died in Belgium on that same day and seven of those men, like Charles Robert Wilkinson, are remembered at Tyne Cot Memorial to the Missing. It is possible that these men of the 2nd battalion Yorkshire Regiment were those reported wounded on 3rd May 1918.
Still, for others, it went on. Two days later, on 8th May 1918, at 3.15 a.m. the enemy laid down exceptionally heavy bombardment on the front line which lasted for four hours and the casualties were very heavy, the trenches being almost obliterated.
On that day The Commonwealth War Graves Commission recorded 51 deaths of 2nd Battalion Yorkshire Regiment men; 44 of those men are remembered at Tyne Cot Memorial to the Missing and seven men are remembered at Klein-Vierstraat British Cemetery.
The German offensive of March 1918 met with some initial success, but was eventually checked and repulsed in a combined effort by the Allies in September1918.
The Great War had cost the 30th Division a total of 35182 men killed, wounded or missing. One of those men killed was Lance Sergeant Charles Robert, 2nd Battalion, “C” Company, Alexandra, Princess of Wales’s Own (Yorkshire Regiment) . He died on 6th May 1918 aged twenty years.
Charles Robert Wilkinson is remembered by his name in a corner of a foreign land which is forever England. The Tyne Cot Memorial to the Missing bears the names of those from United Kingdom which are inscribed on Panels arranged by Regiment under their respective Ranks. Charles Robert Wilkinson name is inscribed on Panel 52-54 alongside his brothers in arms in the 2nd Battalion, Yorkshire Regiment, who suffered the same fate.
The memorial now bears the names of almost 35,000 officers and men whose graves are not known. The original battlefield cemetery of 343 graves was greatly enlarged after the Armistice when remains were brought in from the battlefields of Passchendaele and Langemarck, and from a few small burial grounds. It is now the largest Commonwealth war cemetery in the world in terms of burials. There are now 11,961 Commonwealth servicemen of the First World War buried or commemorated in Tyne Cot Cemetery, 8,373 of these are unidentified.
In England Charles Robert is remembered at the War Memorial in Bramham; the village of his birth.
He is also remembered on the Redcar War Memorial in the town of his father’s birth which was also once home to Charles Robert and the town where he enlisted. (See below for link)
In 2022 Charles Robert Wilkinson, once of Ossett, will be remembered at the Ossett War Memorial in the Market Place where his name will be inscribed alongside his brothers and sisters in arms; the Ossett Fallen.
We are grateful to Andrea Hartley for discovering Charles Robert Wilkinson and for bringing him to our attention.
Researched and written by Alan Howe. December 2021.
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