Dragon Posted 2 May , 2004 Share Posted 2 May , 2004 Among my possessions I have a letter which was written from Belgium to my grandmother after my granddad was severely injured. It’s a personal letter from Charles Brown (it’s reproduced on my website). Ages ago I decided I’d like to know whether Charles Brown survived the War. Sadly he didn’t. However, I tracked down his details and found he originated from Kirkcaldy, Scotland. I have loads of email acquaintances, many from the volunteer work I do, yet I don’t know exactly where they all live. So last spring, I sent out a message to find out whether anyone knew Kirkcaldy and explained that I wanted to find out whether Charles Brown is on the War Memorial there. It’s too far for me to go on an off-chance and I was pretty ill at the time. I had an excited email back from someone saying that she actually lives there and within the next few weeks she took me some photos of Charles Brown’s name on the town memorial and the house where he lived. I was really appreciative. It felt strange to have his letter, on paper, in his own handwriting with smudges from the field; and yet to see his name on a memorial. Strange, yet chilling. Today I thought I’d look him up, because for various reasons, I didn’t really take in what I found last year. I read: Charles Brown MM Serjeant 45954 25th Div. Signal Coy. Royal Engineers who died on Thursday 2 May 1918, aged 26 . Son of Charles and Annie Lile Brown, of Abbotshall House, 44, Nicol St., Kirkcaldy, Fife. He’s in Esquebecq Military Cemetery, Nord., France I would very much like to find out more about him. Hoping for another coincidence, I wondered whether anyone has done any research on the men of Kirkcaldy? Gwyn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ian Bowbrick Posted 3 May , 2004 Share Posted 3 May , 2004 Have you looked up the London Gazette for date when his MM was announced? You might find a citation for his award in the war diary of the Company - WO 95 series. Then its a search in WO 363 & poss 364 for his service record. There was also a book on the 25th Division published just after the war, which might mention his award - I will post the title and name of the author tomorrow. Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragon Posted 3 May , 2004 Author Share Posted 3 May , 2004 No, I haven't, Ian. Thank you for the suggestion. I'll do that. Gwyn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ian Bowbrick Posted 4 May , 2004 Share Posted 4 May , 2004 45954 Cpl C Brown 25th Div Signal Coy RE won his MM for action on the Messines Ridge in 1917. His name is entered on page 81 of 'The 25th Division in France & Flanders' by Lt/Col M Kincaid-Smith. This is published by Naval & Military Press and is still available to purchase. Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragon Posted 4 May , 2004 Author Share Posted 4 May , 2004 Thats fantastic, Ian. Huge thanks and a big smile! I appreciate your help.I dont suppose it attaches a specific date to his award at Messines, does it, other than just 1917?I ask because his letter is dated in August 1917. Im trying to make some connections, I am really affected by the idea of young men of 24 and 25 writing so many of this sort of letter, when I think what my male friends and I were like at that age. It's all wrong.Gwyn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ian Bowbrick Posted 4 May , 2004 Share Posted 4 May , 2004 The only date is June 1917. Try and get the book to do some research. Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malcolm Posted 4 May , 2004 Share Posted 4 May , 2004 Gwyn, I hate to worry you when you have got some excellent results but does this mean you are related to the Chancellor? Gordon Brown, Kirkaldy? Aye Malcolm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragon Posted 4 May , 2004 Author Share Posted 4 May , 2004 QUOTE (Malcolm @ Tue, 4 May 2004 21:36:04 +0000) Gwyn,I hate to worry you when you have got some excellent results but does this mean you are related to the Chancellor? Gordon Brown, Kirkaldy? Evening, MalcolmNo. I'm the wrong sort of Celt.Charles Brown isn't a relative; he wrote to my grandmother to tell her that her husband (my grandfather), one of his men, had been injured.Thanks for your concern. Gwyn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greenwoodman Posted 4 May , 2004 Share Posted 4 May , 2004 25th Division has some citations for the awards won by its members during the war. There are two for Messines for the 25th Div Sigs Coy 45500 Sgt H Edgar For coolness in collecting and leading his party which had been scattered by the hostile barrage, when in charge of a Brigade Forward Signalling Station. It was owing to his personal example that communications were successfully maintained. Awarded MM Corpl Watson (kia) This NCO throughout the battle behaved in a most gallant manner. During and after the attack of 14th June, he was mending lines outside a battalion HQ, which were continuously heavily shelled, for 24 hours without once coming under cover, although frequently advised to do so. He was finally killed at his duty. No mention of an award here - perhaps an MiD? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragon Posted 6 May , 2004 Author Share Posted 6 May , 2004 Thank you very much for that information, Richard; and thank you too, John, for emailing me an extract from the book. I am appreciative of the touble you have gone to. Gwyn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ian Bowbrick Posted 6 May , 2004 Share Posted 6 May , 2004 Pte Brown's service record survived, althogh not complete, and is to be found in WO 363. Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
9th Black Watch Posted 6 May , 2004 Share Posted 6 May , 2004 Hi Gwyn, The first in a series of books commemorating Fife's war dead was published in 2002 - The Register of the Fife Fallen in the Great War 1914 - 1919 Vol. I, Kirkcaldy and Dysart Fallen' - compiled by E. and J. Klak. It mentions Sergt. Brown dying of wounds at the 2nd Canadian CCS on 2 May 1918, aged 26. An obituary appeared in the Fifeshire Advertiser 18 May 1918. There's a good chance that the paper will give some details on the award of his MM. I've found the Advertiser very useful researching several Fife servicemen. In addition to the war memorial Sergt. Brown's name also appears on the Abbotshall Church Memorial Plaque, Kirkcaldy. I live a few miles from Kirkcaldy. Next time I get an opportunity I'll have a look through the local press for you. Out of interest, only yesterday I listed a piece about Sergt. Andrew Downie 2nd Black Watch who died of wounds 5 May 1916 - another Kirkcaldy man. Best wishes, Derek Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
9th Black Watch Posted 7 May , 2004 Share Posted 7 May , 2004 Gwyn, I had a chance to visit Kirkcaldy Library on the way home from work today. Here's the extract from the Fifeshire Advertiser concerning Sergt. Brown. KIRKCALDY MILITARY MEDALIST KILLED Mr. and Mrs. Charles Brown, Abbotshall House, Kirkcaldy, have received official intimation that their eldest son, Sergt. Charles Brown, M.M., Royal Engineers, died from wounds in a Canadian Clearing Station in France on 2d May. It appears he had been severely wounded on the head and chest on 29th April, and died without regaining consciousness. Sergt. Brown who was 26 years of age, served his apprenticeship as an electrician with Mr. Oliver Melville, and joined the army at the beginning of September 1914. He had been three years on active service, and escaped without wounds until he met his fatal injuries. His gallantry in the fighting at Messines in June last year, was recognised when he was presented with the Military Medal. His brother, Pte. Brown, is also serving with the Royal Engineers in France, and another brother, Pte. James Brown, Fife and Forfar Yeomanry, attached Black Watch, has been serving with the forces in Palestine until recently when he was transferred to another front. Fifeshire Advertiser, Saturday, 18 May 1918, 2. Unfortunately there's no photograph. Best wishes, Derek Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragon Posted 7 May , 2004 Author Share Posted 7 May , 2004 That is fantastic, Derek. Thank you so much for going to the trouble of looking up the article and for your post, too. (This is a holding reply - I will respond properly later on.) Gwyn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
9th Black Watch Posted 9 May , 2004 Share Posted 9 May , 2004 No problem Gwyn. Glad I could help. All the best, Derek Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragon Posted 11 May , 2004 Author Share Posted 11 May , 2004 Hello Derek I’m sorry for the delay in responding; it takes me a while to absorb that I have something written by a person who died in that way. The mind throws up emotional barriers: it is painful. Possessing something which the person actually touched is one level; something that he wrote is on another. Badges, bits of uniform, are, I imagine, the same from one man to another and I can’t get worked up about those: there’s nothing personal or distinctive. They are identifying artefacts, metal moulded for a purpose. Handwriting is personal, human and unique. It expresses personality, emotions, situations in its shape, creation, completion. The mud smudges, the ghosts of fingerprints, are an insight into the mind and the heart of this man. It is too much. Too much because I know he was dead in a few months’ time, dying in a horrible way, and I own a few tangible minutes of his fading life. I feel like this when I listen to the music by which I know a dead person was moved: it opens a shaft into that person’s emotions and mind. It is overwhelming. It is too much because no twenty five year old should be writing letters about the severe and inhumanly ugly injuries to the undamaged body of another man who was not yet twenty. I am going to Edinburgh in the next few days. I’ve decided that I’m going to find my way to Kirkcaldy and visit him. Gwyn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
9th Black Watch Posted 17 May , 2004 Share Posted 17 May , 2004 Hi Gwyn, I hope you made it to Kirkcaldy? Sorry I've not replied sooner but I've been working away from home. If you've not been yet and need any directions just send me an email. The museum and library are just behind the War Memorial. If you get the opportunity the museum is worth a visit. It has quite an impressive art collection and several displays concerning the town's industrial past etc. There were one or two items from the First World War including the medals awarded to the son of the local linoleum factory - Nairns. Not sure if they're on display now. Best wishes, Derek Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragon Posted 6 June , 2004 Author Share Posted 6 June , 2004 Hello Derek I was reminded to review my thread after receiving an email today from the friend in Kirkcaldy who took the original photos for me of Charles Brown’s name on the war memorial. Apparently D-Day prompted her to remember taking the photos and reading the copy of Charles Brown’s letter. She and her partner have been talking about him today. I find it sad and yet warming, the shot-silk situation of a young person who should never have died, remembered by a couple not much different from him in age, brought into mind by an event in another War. All intangibly connected to me from a single piece of stained pink paper by this amazing and mysterious network we name the Internet and by people’s capacity to be moved by their emotions. Anyone who believes that twenty- and thirty-somethings are incapable of being moved by history, and further, have lamentable ignorance about its import, should read some of the correspondence I exchanged in my quest for the original pictures, and the trouble the couple took for me, because he came to matter to them. The answer to your question is, no. It was that incredibly hot weekend, which deterred me from spending what would amount to an afternoon driving. Too many hot and cross people... There will be other times. Gwyn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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