Pte 31084 Charles Henry Gallagher

• Age: 19
• From: Woolton, Liverpool
• Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 19th Btn
• K.I.A Sunday 30th July 1916
• Commemorated at: Guillemont Rd Cem
  Panel Ref: IV.M.7

Charles Henry Gallagher was born in the September quarter of 1897 in Woolton, which at the time was a village outside Liverpool the only son of John Gallagher and his wife Mary Ann (nee Hornby) who were married in St Marys Roman Catholic Church, Woolton on the 22nd June 1897. Both John and Mary Ann were born and raised in Woolton.

At the time of the 1901 census the family were living in court housing at 1 Rose Street, Woolton. Charles is 3 years old and has a 2 year old sister called Mary. Their father John is 42 and is a general labourer, and their mother Mary Ann is 44 and is a laundress. The parents' ages do not match those given in the later census.

By 1911 the family are living at 26 Rodick Street, Woolton. Both parents are recorded in the household. His father, giving his age as 45, is still employed as a general labourer, and his mother, stated age 47, still works as a laundress (her birthplace is given as Edge Hill. Charles is now 13 and a scholar and his sister Mary aged 12. 

Charles enlisted in Liverpool in the second half of 1915, when he was 17 or 18 years old. He joined the 19th Battalion of The King’s Liverpool Regiment as Private No 31084.
He arrived in France some time in 1916.

Charles was killed in action on the 30th July 1916, aged 19, at the village of Guillemont, France, during the Somme Offensive.

19th Battalion Diary 

MALTZ HORN FARM

BATTLE begun. ZERO hour 4:45 am. The Battalion reached its objective, but suffered heavy losses, and had to evacuate its position owing to no reinforcements.

Everard Wyrall gives details of the attack in his book The History of The King’s Regiment;

"The 2nd Attack on Guillemont- 29th July 1916 the 89th Brigade the 20th King's were to attack on the right and the 19th on the left. During the evening of the 29th the night was dark and foggy when the Battalions moved off and the 19th with Lt Col G Rollo commanding, when passing the South east of the Briqueterie they were heavily shelled first with H E and then with a new kind of asphyxiating Gas shell which had curious results, at first it had no nasty effect but about 8 hrs later men began to fall sick with violent headaches and pains in the stomach. All ranks had to wear gas masks which in the darkness and mist made the going terribly difficult. It was indeed wonderful that they were able to reach their Assembly point at all. But they did and by 2.45 a.m. on the 30th July 1916 the Btn was assembled having suffered about 30 Casualties on the way up ready for the Zero hour at 4.45 a.m.

It is known that the two left Companies of the 19th under Capt. Dodd and Capt. Nicholson advanced in touch with the 2nd Royal Scots Fusiliers on their left although they suffered many casualties from Machine gun Fire did not encounter many Germans and reached their final objective about the time allocated, beginning at once to dig in south of the orchard on the South east corner of Guillemont.

On the left of the 19th the Scots Fusiliers most gallantly forced their way through Guillemont to the eastern side of the village but were soon overwhelmed by the enemy and few returned.

At 8 a.m. finding that the village was not held the two left Companies of the 19th received no word from the rear or either flank believed themselves to be totally isolated so were forced to fall back and dig in, their position being untenable.

At midday the effective fighting strength of the 19th Btn was just 7 Officers and 43 other ranks"

When darkness fell on the battlefield the 30th Division held a line from the railway on the eastern side of Trones Wood , southwards and including Arrow Head Copse, to east of Maltz Horn Farm. On this line the division was relieved by the 55th Division during the early hours of the 31st July.

Casualties in the 19th Battalion were 11 Officers and 435 Other Ranks

The events of 30th July 1916 were regarded at the time as Liverpool’s blackest day. There follows an extract from The History of the 89th Brigade written by Brigadier General Ferdinand Stanley which gives an indication of the events of the day.

Guillemont

Well the hour to advance came, and of all bad luck in the world it was a thick fog; so thick that you couldn’t see more than about ten yards. It was next to impossible to delay the attack – it was much too big an operation- so forward they had to go. It will give some idea when I say that on one flank we had to go 1,750 yards over big rolling country. Everyone knows what it is like to cross enclosed country which you know really well in a fog and how easy it is to lose your way. Therefore, imagine these rolling hills, with no landmarks and absolutely unknown to anyone. Is it surprising that people lost their way and lost touch with those next to them? As a matter of fact, it was wonderful the way in which many men found their way right to the place we wanted to get to. But as a connected attack it was impossible.

The fog was intense it was practically impossible to keep direction and parties got split up. Owing to the heavy shelling all the Bosches had left their main trenches and were lying out in the open with snipers and machine guns in shell holes, so of course our fellows were the most easy prey.

It is so awfully sad now going about and finding so many splendid fellows gone.

He was initially declared Missing, his name published in the list of K.L.R. casualties in the Liverpool Daily Post on 18th September 1916:  

King’s(Liverpool Regiment) - Gallagher, 31084, C. H.; 

His death later presumed for official purposes as having occurred on 30th July 1916. Charles was 18 or 19 years old.

He was buried close to where he fell and after the war, when graves were concentrated, his body was removed and reinterred in Guillemont Road Cemetery where he now rests. 

Guillemont was an important point in the German defences at the beginning of the Battle of the Somme in July 1916. It was taken by the 2nd Royal Scots Fusiliers on 30 July but the battalion was obliged to fall back, and it was again entered for a short time by the 55th (West Lancashire) Division on 8 August. On 18 August, the village was reached by the 2nd Division, and on 3 September (in the Battle of Guillemont) it was captured and cleared by the 20th (Light) and part of the 16th (Irish) Divisions. It was lost in March 1918 during the German advance, but retaken on 29 August by the 18th and 38th (Welsh) Divisions.

The cemetery was begun by fighting units (mainly of the Guards Division) and field ambulances after the Battle of Guillemont, and was closed in March 1917, when it contained 121 burials. It was greatly increased after the Armistice when graves (almost all of July-September 1916) were brought in from the battlefields immediately surrounding the village and certain smaller cemeteries.

Guillemont Road Cemetery now contains 2,263 Commonwealth burials and commemorations of the First World War. 1,523 of the burials are unidentified but there are special memorials to eight casualties known or believed to be buried among them.

The cemetery was designed by Sir Herbert Baker. 

Soldiers effects to his mother Mary Ann including a War Gratuity of £3. She was awarded a pension of 7/- a week from May 1917, still living at 26 Rodick Street.

His father John disappears off the Electoral Roll at 26 Rodick Street in 1928, he had died aged 60. 

Charles Henry Gallagher is remembered on the War Memorial in St Mary’s Church, Woolton, Liverpool.

His sister Mary married and had a son she called Charles Henry.

His mother was still on the Electoral Roll at 26 Rodick Street in 1938. She died, aged 80, in 1942. 

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