Charles John Duffield
Born: 28 February 1884
Died: 24 July 1918
Rank and Regiment: Private 66606 in the 51st Battalion of the Machine Gun Corps (Infantry)
Resting Place: St Imoges Churchyard, Marne, France - Cemetery Reference B. 13
Memorial: Runhall War Memorial
He was born in Hindringham on 28 February 1884, the son of Robert Duffield, shepherd, and Charlotte (nee Twiddy).
He is recorded as being admitted to Runhall with Coston School on 6 January 1890, his previous school being stated as Hardingham.
He enlisted in the Norfolk Regiment on 25 February 1903. It is stated that he was 5 feet 4 ½ inches tall and weighed 138 lb (9 st 12 lb). He had grey eyes and brown hair.
The following year he was court-martialled for allowing a prisoner to escape. He was sentenced to five days’ imprisonment with hard labour. In 1905 he appears to have been discharged from the Regiment, but placed on the reserve list which (as with John Brown) meant that he was called up the moment war broke out.
In the 1911 Census we find a record of a household:
Robert Duffield, 55 [so born about 1866] “Sheppard (sic) on Farm”, born Coston;
Charlotte Rebca (sic), 53, born Hindringham;
Charles John, 26 [so born about 1885], Labourer, born Hindringham;
Robert George, 16, Labourer, born Coston. (who would later, as a widower, marry the widow of Harry Egle, q.v.)
Also there on Census night is Millicent Twiddy, 10, at school, and born Park Gate, Rotherham. Robert and Charlotte have been married 28 years and have 9 children, all of whom are living. We read that the house is “3 up and 2 down”.
He married Alice Elizabeth Allen, sister of Thomas Long Allen, at Runhall on 20 December 1913. One of the witnesses to the marriage was Charlotte Ellen Balls, sister of Horace William Balls.
In 1914 he was assigned to the Machine Gun Corps. He was killed in action on 24 July 1918 and is buried in St Imoges Churchyard, Marne, France (Cemetery Reference B. 13). He is commemorated on the War Memorial of Runhall Church.
Soldiers Died in the Great War, 1914-1919 indicates that at the time of his death he was resident in Hardingham.
St. Imoges, France