AITKEN, Charles
| Service Number: | 4971 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 14 February 1916 |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 21st Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Grange Loan, Edinburgh, Parish of Newington, Scotland, 29 January 1895 |
| Home Town: | Rochester, Campaspe, Victoria |
| Schooling: | Gillespies School, Edinburgh, Scotland |
| Occupation: | Farm Labour |
| Died: | Died of wounds, France, 5 October 1918, aged 23 years |
| Cemetery: |
Ramicourt British Cemetery, France Row B, Grave 9 INSCRIPTION HE DIED TO SAVE US |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour |
World War 1 Service
| 14 Feb 1916: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 4971, 21st Infantry Battalion | |
|---|---|---|
| 3 Jul 1916: | Involvement Private, 4971, 22nd Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '13' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Ayrshire embarkation_ship_number: A33 public_note: '' | |
| 3 Jul 1916: | Embarked Private, 4971, 22nd Infantry Battalion, HMAT Ayrshire, Melbourne | |
| 7 Jan 1917: | Promoted AIF WW1, Lance Corporal, 21st Infantry Battalion | |
| 3 May 1917: | Wounded AIF WW1, Lance Corporal, 4971, 21st Infantry Battalion, Bullecourt (Second), GSW right hand | |
| 5 Oct 1918: | Involvement Private, 4971, 21st Infantry Battalion, --- :awm_ww1_roll_of_honour_import: awm_service_number: 4971 awm_unit: 21st Australian Infantry Battalion awm_rank: Private awm_died_date: 1918-10-05 |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Geoffrey Gillon
21st Bn., 13th Reinforcement -Australian Infantry, A.I.F.
He was 23 and the son of Mrs. John [Jane] Aitken, of "Craigview," Earlsferry, Fife, Scotland.
Age on arrival in Australia 18
Age at embarkation 21
Enlistment date 14 February 1916
Place of enlistment Bendigo, Victoria
AWM Embarkation Roll number 23/38/3.
Embarkation details
Unit embarked from Melbourne, Victoria, on board HMAT A33 Ayrshire on 3 July 1916
Rank from Nominal Roll Lance Corporal
Unit from Nominal Roll 21st Battalion
Place of woundingRainecourt, France
Age at death 23
War service: Western Front
Sources
NAA: B2455, AITKEN Charles
The Aitken brothers are both on the Roll of Honour in the Earlsferry Town Hall and the Elie parish church in Scotland. Their names are also commemorated on the Elie and Earlsferry War memorials.
Biography contributed by Evan Evans
From Michael Ganey, Montbrehain Centenary, 5th October 2018
Aitken, Charles. – Service Number 4791.
Charles Aitken was born on the 29th January 1895 to John and Jane Aitken in Edinburgh Scotland. John Aitken was a veterinary surgeon, as had been his father and grandfather. Charles was the 9th born in a family with 14 children and within the family, Charles was always known as ‘Chad’.
When Charles’s father John died in 1911, Jane and her young family moved to ‘Craigsview’ Earlsferry in Fife. On the 27th March 1913, at 18 years of age, Charles migrated to Australia on the P & O Liner Geelong. (This ship was later used as a troop ship and was designated HMAT A2 Geelong).
Charles was farm labouring in Rochester, Victoria when he enlisted in Bendigo as a 21 year old on the 14th February 1916. He was assigned to the 13th reinforcements to the 21st Battalion and eventually embarked on the HMAT A33, Ayrshire on the 3rd of July 1916.
He was taken on strength with the 21st Battalion in the field in December 1916. He was well liked and was always referred to as “Scotty”. After a promotion to Lance Corporal in January 1917, he took part in the assault on Bullecourt on the 3rd May 1917 and was hit by shrapnel in his right hand. This wound saw him returned to England for treatment and he was not able to rejoin his unit until October of that year. While in England he was promoted to temporary Corporal in November.
On the 16th of December, the unit was in reserve in the village of Locre, which is 11 kilometres southwest of Ypres. Charles was in charge of a sentry party and according to his records, ‘he allowed his sentries to leave their posts’. For this he was charged and demoted back to the rank of Private.
He was hospitalized with scabies in July 1918 and then served without further incidents until the 5th of October 1918.
On the 5th of October, he was the Number 2 in a Lewis Gun crew with ‘B’ company during the assault on Montbrehain. During the advance he was on the outskirts of the village when he was hit in the chest by shellfire and was killed instantly.
It was reported that he was buried soon after ‘in an isolated grave 5 miles N/NE of Peronne’. He was later re-interred at Ramicourt.
Harry’s younger brother, Andrew, did not come to Australia, and he enlisted in the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. It is known that Andrew and Charles had caught up with each other somewhere in France in September 1918. Andrew was killed in action on the 3rd of October 1918, and he is buried in the Tincourt New British cemetery, which is not far from Montbrehain. It appears that the two brothers were in the same area in early October 1918. It is not known if Harry knew about his brother’s death before he himself was killed.
Two of Jane’s boys were a world apart and were in different armies, but were killed in the same area about the same time. She would have received the news about the deaths of her boys at about the same time. Another younger brother, James, was also serving in France with the Black Watch, and Jane also received more news, about the same time, that James was missing in action. Later this was amended to wounded. James had lost an arm and was later repatriated home.
Charles’s eldest brother William served as a veterinarian in the Army Service Corps and returned to Earlsferry after the war as veterinarian in the footsteps of his father and grandfather.
Private Charles Aitken lies in the Ramicourt British Cemetery in plot B.9.
His mother wrote the epitaph on his head stone.
‘HE DIED TO SAVE US’
The Aitken brothers are both on the Roll of Honour in the Earlsferry Town Hall and the Elie parish church in Scotland. Their names are also commemorated on the Elie and Earlsferry War memorials.
Charles name also appears on the Milloo Anglican Church Honour Roll, which is west of Rochester in Victoria.
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