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Australia

Birth record not found.

Deaths Sep 1918 Compton Charles G 38 Wilton 5a 196.

Wilton is in the county of Wiltshire.

He was 36 and the son of Charles George and Eliza Compton, husband of Lilian Compton, of 1, Orange Lane, Norwood, Adelaide, South Australia.

He spent some time at Rollestone -Larkhill.

At various times the 5th, 6th, and 7th Training Battalions associated with the 2nd Division were located at Rollestone. Also the 4th, 12th and 13th Training Battalions associated with the 4th Division were also based here.

The military camp is 2.9 km to the northeast of the township on the B3086 from Shrewton to Larkhill.

Military usage of land to the northeast of Rollestone began in the early 20th century, as artillery firing ranges which were later used by the Royal School of Artillery at Larkhill Camp. Rollestone Camp was established in 1916 by the Royal Flying Corps for observation balloon training. Around this time the Amesbury and Military Camp Light Railway was extended from Larkhill to Rollestone and beyond; this extension remained in use until about 1923. Balloon-related usage of Rollestone Camp continued until 1939 when the site became a Royal Air Force Anti-Gas School, which closed in 1945. For several months in 1980–81 the camp was used as a temporary prison (HMP Rollestone Camp) during industrial action by prison officers. The camp continues in use as part of the Salisbury Plain Training Area.

During WW1 a Military Light Railway connected Larkhill to the London and South-western Railway spur, at Amesbury Station, crossed the Packway and terminated at Rolleston Camp, with a spur to the site of the original Fargo ammunition dump. The course of the light railway’s permanent way, though pulled up in 1935, can be traced by a line of apple trees that, it is said, have grown from the seeds of apples thrown out by troops on passing trains.

His birth record suggests he was given a third forename.

Births Dec 1879   Compton Charles George S  E. Preston 2b 369

He was 36 and the husband of Lilian Compton [nee Puttick-married in 1901], of 1, Orange Lane, Norwood, Adelaide, South Australia. He left 2 children, one of whom was probably Charles George H. Compton, born in East Preston in 1904 [Jun 1904 2b 336]

Marriages Jun 1901   
ComptonCharles George E. Preston 2b 818
  
Puttick Lilian E. Preston 2b 818
  
 

He is one of six Australian soldier casualties of the Great War to be honoured on the Worthing War Memorial.

The summary below was completed by Cathy Sedgwick – Facebook “WW1 Australian War Graves in England/UK/Scotland/Ireland 

Died on this date – 2nd July…… Private Charles George Compton was born at Worthing, Sussex, England in 1879.

He married Lilian Charlotte Puttick in 1901. A son, Charles George H. Compton, was born in 1904 at East Preston, Sussex, England. A daughter, Lilian Maud Compton, was born in 1906 at East Preston, Sussex, England.

Charles Compton, Bricklayer, aged 33 was listed as a passenger on Osterley which departed from the port of London, England on 31st January, 1913 bound for Adelaide, South Australia. Mrs Lillian Compton, aged 33 & her 2 children Charles Compton, aged 9 & Lilian Compton, aged 7 were passengers on Beltana which departed from the port of London, England on 9th October, 1913 bound for Adelaide, South Australia.
He enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force (A.I.F.) on 28th March, 1917 as a 35 year old, married, Bricklayer from Norwood, South Australia. Charles George Compton stated on his Attestation Papers that he had previously been rejected from serving in the A.I.F. due to varicose veins. He also stated he had served for 1 year & 2 months (& was still serving) on Home Service at Torrens Island.

Private Charles George Compton, Service number 3037, embarked from Adelaide, South Australia on HMAT Borda (A30) on 23rd June, 1917 with the 43rd Infantry Battalion, 7th Reinforcements & disembarked at Plymouth, England on 25th August, 1917.

Reinforcements were only given basic training in Australia. Training was completed in training units in England. Some of these were located in the Salisbury Plain & surrounding areas in the county of Wiltshire.
He was marched in to 11th Training Battalion at Larkhill, Wiltshire from Australia on 26th August, 1917. On 5th November, 1917 Private Compton was transferred to 10th Training Battalion at Sutton Mandeville, Wiltshire. He was transferred from 10th Training Battalion to 9th Training Battalion at Fovant, Wiltshire on 30th March, 1918.

On 29th May, 1918 Private Compton was sent sick to Hurdcott Hospital on 29th May, 1918. He was admitted to Military Hospital at Fovant, Wiltshire on 11th June, 1918 with seriously ill with Influenza.
Private Charles George Compton died on 2nd July, 1918 at Military Hospital Fovant, Wiltshire, England from Enteritis. (**Note –The Burial Report in the Service Record file has the date of death as 3rd July, 1918. CWGC (& Private Compton’s headstone) & The Australian War Memorial had the date of death as 3rd July, 1918 but they have both altered the date to 2nd July, 1918 on being advised of the error in 2018. Private Compton has a new headstone showing the correct date of death as 2nd July, 1918)

He was buried in Broadwater Cemetery, Worthing, West Sussex, England and has a Commonwealth War Graves Commission headstone.

(The above is a summary of my research. The full research can be found by following the link below)
https://ww1austburialsuk.weebly.com/worthing.html

THE LIFE OF

Charles George Compton

Service number 3037

Overview

Charles George Compton was born in July 1881 in Worthing Sussex, England (1). He was brought up in England by his two loving parents, Charles George Compton and Eliza Compton. At the age of 33, he migrated from England to South Australia (1). While he was in Australia he lived at 1 Orange Lane, Norwood, with his wife Lilian Compton (1C4). He worked as a bricklayer and was enlisted in the Norwood Home Service, in which he served for a full 380 days (1). Charles did not have any offspring but he did have a sister Miss E. Compton who lived back in Worthing, with his parents.

Charles had a fairly average build as he was 5.6 feet tall and weighed 154lbs (69kg). His chest circumference was between 36-38 inches and he had an average dental grade of ‘B’(1). His hair was brown and his eyes were hazel, his complexion was categorised as medium which would most likely have been pale at that time and he may have had a weak immune system, as unfortunately he died of enteritis on the 2 of July 1918 in Fovant, England (3).

Charles George Compton was buried at Broadwater Cemetery,Worthing, Sussex, United Kingdom on the 6 of July 1918, just 4 days after his death somewhere between the age of 37 & 38 (1). The funeral itself was very appropriate, it was a military funeral and Rev E.J Cunningham officiated at the ceremony (1). Charles himself was of the Church of England and was buried in a polished Elm wood coffin with brass mountings (1). After the last post had played there was a gun salute and then he was buried in consecrated ground. Many floral wreaths were laid at the tombstone which to this day can be found in row 4, section A10 of Broadwater Cemetery (6). Unfortunately for Charles’s wife this made it very hard to visit his grave, so she asked the A.I.F for a photo of his grave to keep (6). This was a war in itself and after many letters had been sent she finally received her photo. This would have made her very happy, as now Charles could always be in her home, as well as in her heart.

Life in the Military

Charles George Compton enlisted in the Australian Imperial Forces at the age of 35 and 8 months, on the 28th of March 1917, at an enlistment station somewhere in the Adelaide CBD (1). This was not his first time enlisting for the AIF. Previously he had attempted to enlist but was refused as he had varicose veins (1C4). Charles was accepted into the army later in the war because Australia was no longer able to recruit enough troops if they only accepted people in A grade condition. Charles was not forced into signing up because of social pressure in fact he probably would have been over looked as he had been serving in the Home Service and had been doing so for 380 days prior to enlisting (1). On the 1st of April 1917, Charles graduated from the B. Coy at Mitcham training camp, was given the rank of private and placed in the 43rd Infantry Battalion, which formed part of the 11th Brigade (1&5). Inside the 43rd Battalion was the 3rd Australian division, which consisted of infantry units and the AIF (5). The battalion’s commanding officers were John Farrell, Charles Philip Butler & Douglas Dixon Gordon (5). On the 23 of June 1917 Charles departed from Port Adelaide aboard HMAT Borda A30, his journey was completed 64 days later when he disembarked at Plymouth, England on the 25th of August 1917 (1).

To develop his skills so that when he went to war he would be a capable and valuable soldier, Charles George Compton travelled to multiple training camps around England. He started his journey by travelling from the port in Plymouth to the Lark Hill training camp which today is located in a suburb of Salisbury. He arrived at Lark Hill on the 26th of August only a day after landing in England (1). It was here that he would receive training from experienced English Officers, which would help him build on the basic training he had done at Mitcham. As an infantry private Charles would have most likely used a rifle and nothing else, whilst Charles did not actually make it to a war front his training was designed to prepare a soldier for that situation. Three months later he had completed his training at Lark Hill and travelled to Sutton Mandeville(1) where he would once again train and perfect his skills. Sutton Mandeville was not as much of a training camp as Lark Hill. Instead it was more of a place for soldiers to rest and get the right mind set. When a soldier went to a front they didn’t take much with them, which was most likely because they only had a small kit bag with them when they were in the trenches (3). Because Charles did not leave for the front he therefore had more personal effects, than if he had died at the front. Even though he still did not have much, some of his personal effects included a pen, a wallet, money which was most likely his pay, smoking pipes, a razor, handkerchiefs and assorted letters, photos and post cards (1). All of these items were either bare essentials, precious gifts or items to remind him of home and his loved ones.

On the 30th of March 1918 Charles George Compton travelled from Sutton Mandeville to Fovant (1) which would have been the last stop before he went to the front in France. It was in Fovant that Charles would have finalised his training and was briefed by his commanding officers. Charles trained for around three months in Fovant before he was unfortunately diagnosed with influenza (1). Charles was admitted to Fovant military hospital on the 11th of June 1918 (1C6). Little did he know that it would claim his life just 28 days later. This was a disease that was commonly caught in the trenches and it is not that strange when you read that one year later the flu claimed more lives than in the entirety of the Great War. In a way Charles was lucky that he got to die in the comfort of his birth country and was buried three days later in Broadwater cemetery in Worthing Sussex (1), where his family could attend his funeral. Charles, whilst he did not fight in France or any front for that matter, was still honoured with a military funeral and was awarded three war medals which were the British War Medal, Victory Medal and the British War Star, which would have been given to his family(2). In addition to these medals Charles George Compton’s family was given a memorial death plaque of WWI (2). 

Charles George Compton was an infantry private, so he would have packed light and would most likely have only carried a rifle possibly with a bayonet on the end (7). It was the job of the infantry to be in the heat of the battle and defend their trenches from the enemy. It was also the job of the infantry to storm across no man's land and lay down their lives in an attempt to seize the defender's trench. Since Charles was in the infantry his death was simply collateral damage, and his loss was an expense of war. It was the state of ill preparation that led to the loss of hundreds of lives most of which occurred at the Battle of Lone Pine (7). It was really only the officers who oversaw the battle from a boat or from a safe distance who were guaranteed to live. However, most officers did feel guilty if there were massive loses of men as they felt that they had led their men to this fate. Superior officers often felt dishonour if they had failed to take the trenches and instead were left with a slaughter. A prime example of this is Winston Churchill whose idea it was to attack Gallipoli. It was the sacrifice of many men which led to the Allie’s victory. Unfortunately, in the case of Gallipoli this meant innocent lives were lost only to achieve a stalemate. Whilst Charles George Compton did not lay down his life for the lives of others he was prepared to do so, which makes him as honourable as those men.  

Anzac Spirit

Anzac Spirit is the mateship, courage and compassion for one other that was shown by the ANZAC’s during War (8). The Term ANZAC spirit, whilst it may originate in WWI applies to all Australian and New Zealand Soldiers who fought or are fighting in war today (8). The ANZAC spirit shown in World War One by Charles and his fellow soldiers was the most significant as they had not been properly prepared for war. It was these qualities that kept them together and pushed them through the war. It would have been hard on the soldiers, not only not knowing what they were getting into but, also the entire plan going awry and hundreds of them getting slaughtered. Whilst some soldiers displayed the ANZAC spirit by going beyond the call of duty, for example Simpson and his donkey others might have shown this by doing something as simple as offering some food or taking someone’s turn at the trench wall (7).

Charles George Compton displayed the ANZAC spirit in many ways, one example being the fact that he enlisted in the AIF (1). Charles did not have to enlist as he was already doing his part in the Home Service and no one would have thought any less of him for doing so (1). Instead of staying in the H.S Charles made the courageous decision to re-enlist in the Military. This has even more significant as Charles was willing to lay down his life defending a country that he wasn’t even born in. If Charles died at war his wife would have been left a widow with no children, so he was not only risking his life but also his family name (7). The courage shown by Charles by fighting for another country is something for everyone to admire. He went from the simple job of laying bricks, to protecting his friends and family from a highly unlikely attack, to risking his life, so that a young adult would be able to live theirs. Charles George Compton did not risk life and limb on the battle field storming the enemy’s trenches, but that doesn’t mean that he is forgotten. This biography is a clear example that he risked just as much as the man on top of the trench. Even if he didn’t die a valiant death, he is still remembered in war memorials and especially by his loving family.  

Footnotes

(1) http://naa.gov.au/

(2) https://search.findmypast.com.au

(3) https://data.sa.gov.au,

(4) https://rslvirtualwarmemorial.org.au/

(5) https://www.awm.gov.au

(6) https://aif.adfa.edu.au/aif/

(7) Prior knowledge

(8) Explained in class

(C) Confirmed by

Bibliography

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Findmypast.com.au. 2018. findmypast.com.au. [ONLINE] Available at: https://search.findmypast.com.au/results/australia-and-new-zealand-records-in-armed-forces-and-conflict.com.au [Accessed 03 March 2018].

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