WINTER, Charles Robert
| Service Number: | 1284 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 25 February 1916 |
| Last Rank: | Corporal |
| Last Unit: | 3rd Pioneer Battalion |
| Born: | Launceston, Tasmania, Australia, 13 July 1894 |
| Home Town: | Perth, Western Australia |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Electrician |
| Died: | Fremantle, Western Australia, 26 May 1966, aged 71 years, cause of death not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: |
Fremantle Cemetery, Western Australia |
| Memorials: |
World War 1 Service
| 25 Feb 1916: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 1284, 3rd Pioneer Battalion | |
|---|---|---|
| 6 Jun 1916: | Involvement Private, 1284, 3rd Pioneer Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '5' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Wandilla embarkation_ship_number: A62 public_note: '' | |
| 6 Jun 1916: | Embarked Private, 1284, 3rd Pioneer Battalion, HMAT Wandilla, Melbourne | |
| 7 Jun 1917: | Honoured Military Medal, Battle of Messines | |
| 23 Jul 1919: | Embarked AIF WW1, Corporal, 1284, 3rd Pioneer Battalion, embarked England for Fremantle on board HT Main | |
| 24 Sep 1919: | Discharged AIF WW1 |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Chris Buckley
Eldest of three brothers who served in WWI, Corporal Charles Robert Winter MM (Service No:1284) enlisted in the AIF on 25 February 1916, and was a Private attached to 3rd Pioneer Battalion on 6 June 1916 when he embarked with his Unit from Melbourne on board HMAT A62 Wandilla for service on the Western Front. Awarded the Military Medal on 20 December 1917 'for bravery in the field', Corporal Winter embarked from England for Fremantle on 23 July 1919 on board HT Main, and was attached to 3rd Pioneer Battalion at Discharge on 12 November 1919.
Charles was born in Launceston, Tasmania in 1894, eldest of four children of Charles Gideon Winter (b1865 in Pembrokeshire, Wales) and Mary Ada (aka Ada) Sleightholm (b1871 in Launceston, Tasmania). Charles Snr immigrated with his parents and siblings in 1871, arriving in Melbourne on board the Stonehouse and living in Warrnambool before moving to Tasmania. Charles Snr worked as a Bookseller and was a Farmer in Patersonia, Launceston when he and Ada married in 1893 - Ada was a School Mistress at Patersonia State School. In the late 1890s the family moved to South Africa for Charles Snr 'to conduct business and fight in the Boer War' (Trove; Obituary 1950) - Charles' younger brother William was living in Johannesburg. Charles Snr and Ada returned to Australia in the early 1900s, settling in Kellerberrin where Charles Snr was an Orchardist and Farmer. Charles Snr served in WWI (Corporal; Service No:7588), and following his Discharge, lived briefly in Perth where he worked as a Clerk. In the 1920s Charles Snr and Ada settled in Cookernup, where Charles Snr was a Farmer and Orchardist, then moved to Busselton in the early 1930s, where Charles Snr worked as a Supervisor (Agricultural Bank; Group Settlement Scheme).
In 1915 when he enlisted in the AIF, Charles was living in Perth and gave his occupation as Electrician. Following Discharge in 1919, Charles lived in Kellerberrin, where he was a Farmer, and in 1923 was an Orchardist in Cowarnup when he married his first wife Vera Idalia Morris (b1893 in Perth, Western Australia). Charles and Vera lived in Cowarnup, where Vera died in 1924, and in 1926 in Fremantle Charles remarried to Irene Watkinson (b1908 in Derbyshire, England) - Irene had immigrated in 1923, arriving with her parents and siblings in Fremantle on board the Orvieto. Charles and Irene settled in Fremantle, and Charles worked in the Timber Industry and for the Post Master General's Department in the South West (Willard, Northcliffe, Kudarup), and from the late 1930s was a Foreman based in Fremantle. Charles died in 1966 and Irene in 1999.