Thame Remembers – Charlie Boiling

THE ‘Thame Remembers‘ project continues to discover more about those men from Thame who died during, or as a consequence of WW1, and the latest Newsletter highlights the story behind the search for the illusive Charlie Boiling. Here’s the story behind finding out exactly who he was:

Rifleman Tom Bowen, lays a Thame Remembers commerorative cross on the memorial stone of Private Charlie Boiling

THERE are four people named Boiling on The Thame War Memorial; three are readily identified but C Boiling does not appear in the CWGC (Commonwealth War Graves Commission) records. A Charles Boiling does appear on a medal record card and the Silver War Badge records, shown on MilitaryGenealogy.com. He is listed as a Private (16826) in the Oxford & Bucks Light Infantry and so things started to look promising. The 1911 Census shows Charles, age 15, living at 11 Park Street, Thame, with his father, also Charles, and mother Agnes, all born in Thame. Parish records confirm his baptism as February 6, 1896, and he was buried on December 29, 1920, age 25.

Armed with a year of birth for Charlie Boiling, returning to Ancestry searches, there he was – the subject of one of the burnt army records to survive. Though a little singed around the edges, it was learned from this that Charlie ‘joined up’ on December 14, 1914. at Oxford. He served in England until September 20, 1915, when his unit was sent to France, and on November 16, 1915, he was sent to fight in Salonica. Records show that Charlie was wounded in the right thigh and left leg on August 18, 1916, and was medically evacuated back to England on October 19, 1916.

At his medical discharge hearing in December, 1917, Charlie wrote: “Would like to learn a trade that did not entail walking.” He was finally discharged on January 28, 1918, and his silver war badge issued on January 31, 1918. His character reference on discharge was excellent, saying that he was reliable, trustworthy and always willing and hardworking.

Charlie returned to Thame, but unfortunately his mother Agnes was buried in November, 1918, aged just 46 years. His father Charles survived to age 68, only dying in 1939.

Although Charlie was buried in St Mary’s churchyard, his grave is not marked, which gave the Thame Remembers team a problem when it wished to allocate a Thame Remembers cross to his final resting place. Funeral Directors, Surman and Horwood, heard about the dilemma and Charlie’s sad story, and offered to erect (gratis) a stone for him close to where he is believed to be buried.

So, finally, on August 3, 2014, Rifleman Tom Bowen, placed a Thame Remembers cross against a headstone placed in honour of Pte Charlie Boiling. Tom said he was particularly moved as Charlie was the same age, when he died, as he is now and his regiment, The Rifles, is a successor regiment to the Oxford & Bucks Light Infantry.