“Are you related to the Suddaby on the war memorial here at Caistor?” I was asked a few years ago while enjoying a drink in the local pub. “No idea. Probably” was my honest reply and the conversation moved on. Thankfully that question stayed with me and some time afterwards I set about seeing what I could find out. Here is just a little of what I discovered.
I started by asking my dad who was able to confirm it was my great grandfather. Dad didn’t really know anything about him and had never thought to mention it.
Meet Charles Suddaby, my great grandfather.
Charles Suddaby in the uniform of the Coldstream Guards
29-year-old Charles enlisted on 22 March 1915 at Lincoln, leaving behind Rose and their three children, Charles, Gertrude Elizabeth and John aged just three, two and one year respectively, at home in Canada [Lane], Caistor, Lincolnshire, England1. I only have the one photo of Charles, above, which you can see is of poor quality, and so to find a brief description of him on his attestation records was exciting – 5 feet 8.5 inches tall, chest range of expansion 3 inches to 35.5 inches when fully expanded and no distinctive marks. Nothing out of the ordinary you might think but it helped me to visualise what Charles might have looked like.
Charles travelled down to London to join the 5th (Reserve) Battalion of the Coldstream Guards on 25 March before joining the 4th Battalion on 12 August. During this time his fourth child, Frances May, was born. I like to think he met his daughter but I will probably never know the truth.
On 21 December Charles was posted to France with the 2nd Battalion and before long they were in Belgium. From the Battalion War Diaries, I know that on 1 July 1916, Day 1 of the Battle of the Somme, the Battalion were at the Huts at Camp D near Poperinghe [Poperinge].2 They moved on to Ypres, then Trois Tours back to Poperinghe before arriving at the billets in Neuvillette, Somme, France on 31 July.
The extract below from the war diaries of the 2nd Battalion record their activity in and around Lesboeufs mid September 1916.3
| Date | Summary of Events and Information |
| 1916 Sept 14th | At 8pm the Battn moved up to GINCHY and took over trenches from the 2nd Bn Grenadier Guards. Relief completed about midnight. |
| 15th | At 6,30am the Battn advanced to the assault with 3rdBn Coldstream Guards on left and 1st Bn Coldstream Guards (2nd Bde) on right. Position of Companies: No 3 Coy, left front. No 4 Coy, right front. No 1 Coy, left support. No 2 Coy, right support. On emerging from GINCHY WOOD the line came under very heavy machine gun and rifle fire and despite our artillery Barrage, casualties were very heavy. Two lines of Trenches were captures and left and the original objective – 1000-1200 yards away – was taken without great opposition at 7.15am. About 11am the line again advanced and despite a heavy hostile artillery Barrage took the 2nd line. Lt. Edmonstone and Lt Laing the only two officers left, went out 400-500 yards in front with men of No 1 Coy. and remained their till dusk when ordered to retire. Lt. Edmonstone was killed during the withdrawal. The Commanding Officer and Lieut. I Laing were the only two officers left with the remains of the Battn. Remainder of night spent in consolidating position. At 7pm a Counter-attack by a few Germans on our right flank was easily repulsed. |
| 16th | After a fairly quiet night the enemy shelled our position and lines in rear continuously throughout the day. Infantry on our flanks attacked the German line with moderate success. |
| 17th | At dawn the Battn, after a quiet night, were relieved by the Lincolns and marched to BERNAFAY WOOD where they had a hot meal and then returned to Huts and Tents at the CITADEL. Battn. marching in Commanding Officer, Lt. I Laing and 242 other Ranks. Approximate casualties – officers killed 4. died of wounds 2, wounded 10. Other Ranks killed, wounded & missing 440. |
On 15 September 1916 Lesbeoufs was attacked by the Guards Division and on 25 September was captured by them.4
Charles Suddaby, 15846, 2nd Battalion, Coldstream Guards, died age 31 on 15 September 1916.5 His grave is in the Guard’s Cemetery, Lesboeufs, Somme, France.
Grave of Charles Suddaby, 15846 Guardsman, Guards Cemetery, Lesboeufs, Somme France.
Charles’ early life
Born on 25 November 1885 in Stenigot, Lincolnshire, England6, Charles was the eleventh of thirteen known children, nine boys and four girls, to Charles Robinson Suddaby, agricultural labourer, and his wife Sarah, formerly Crawford.
In 1891 the family is found on the Census living at Pump Square, Donington on Bain, Lincolnshire.
1891 Census. Charles Suddaby at Pump Square, Donington on Bain, Lincolnshire.7
By the 1901 Census Charles and his younger brother Jim are the only children recorded at the family home at Grove House, Ings Lane, Scamblesby, Lincolnshire.8 He is recorded as an agricultural labourer.
Following the death of his father at Scamblesby on 08 May 19069 Charles and his mother Sarah move to market town of Louth. Only two years later, on 08 August 1908, Sarah dies at 6 Seaton Terrace, Newmarket Louth, aged 62 years.10
Charles married Rose Isabella Blanchard two years later, 16 November 1910, at St Nicholas Church, Cabourne.11 He is a waggoner on farm in the household of John Richard Rickells, farmer, at Cabourne Mount, Caistor on 1911 Census.12 His wife Rose and their two-month-old son, Charles, are with Rose’s parents and siblings also living at Cabourne.
The nave of St Nicholas Church, Cabourne, Lincolnshire.
Just five years later Charles joined the thousands of other brave men who were ‘killed in action’. Rose, 26, was widowed and their four children aged five years and under were left without a father.
I am so grateful for the question in the pub that night. My life is all the richer for the discoveries made while researching my family’s history.
Sources
- Coldstream Guards. Attestation of Short Service. Army Form B. 2505. SUDDABY, Charles. Coldstream Guards. Service number: 15846.
↩︎ - War Office (Great Britain). First World War and Army of Occupation War Diaries. 2 Battalion Coldstream Guards. WO 95/1215/2. Image 96. National Archives (Great Britain), Kew, England, England. https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C7351834 : accessed 29 May 2006. ↩︎
- War Office (Great Britain). First World War and Army of Occupation War Diaries. 2 Battalion Coldstream Guards. WO 95/1215/2. Image 97. National Archives (Great Britain), Kew, England, England. https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C7351834 : accessed 29 May 2006. ↩︎
- Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Debt of Honour Register. SUDDABY, Charles. Death: 15 September 1916. Service number: 15846. http://www.cwgc.org.uk/detailed.asp?casualty=543702 : accessed 22 August 2002. ↩︎
- Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Debt of Honour Register. SUDDABY, Charles. Death: 15 September 1916. Service number: 15846. http://www.cwgc.org.uk/detailed.asp?casualty=543702 : accessed 22 August 2002. ↩︎
- Births (CR) England. Stenigot, Louth, Lincolnshire. 25 November 1885. SUDDABY, Charles. Entry no. 234. ↩︎
- Census records. England. Donington on Bain, Lincolnshire. 05 April 1891. SUDDABY, Charles R (head). PN 2609. FL 95. SN 29. ED 9. p. 4. https://www.ancestry.co.uk : accessed 06 April 2003. ↩︎
- Census records. England. Scamblesby, Lincolnshire. 31 March 1901. SUDDABY, Charles E (head). PN 3070. FL 36. SN 3. ED 11. p. 1. https://www.ancestry.co.uk : accessed 29 April 2019. ↩︎
- Deaths (CR) England. Scamblesby, Horncastle, Lincolnshire. 08 May 1906. SUDDABY, Charles Robinson. Entry no. 174.
↩︎ - Deaths (CR England. Louth, Lincolnshire. 08 August 1908. SUDDABY, Sarah. Entry no. 445.
↩︎ - Marriages (CR) England. Cabourne, Lincolnshire. 16 November 1910. SUDDABY, Charles and BLANCHARD, Rose Isabella. Entry no. 95.
↩︎ - Census records. England. Cabourne, Caistor, Lincolnshire. 02 April 1911. SUDDABY, Charles. RD 423/1. PN 20013. SN 17. ED 5. https://www.ancestry.co.uk : accessed 13 January 2009. ↩︎
Tracey Worboys Genealogy 