Charles Herbert Shingles

Private - Service No. 20961 - 1st Battalion Essex Regiment 

(Formerly - Private - Service No. 18690 - Norfolk Regiment)

Charles Herbert Shingles, the son of James Robert Shingles of Bixley and his wife Anna Maria (Bloom) of Irstead, was born in early 1881 in Whitlingham, Norfolk. He was the second of six children, Robert John Harvey Shingles (actually born R J H Bloom 1874), Albert James (1878), Anna Maria (1885), Arthur William (1888), and Arnold Henry (1894). The whole family seem to have swapped first and second names quite randomly throughout their lives. James and Anna married on 8th February 1878 in Irstead, Norfolk, and lived in the Bixley/ Poringland area where their first four children were born. Initially, Anna's son, Robert, lived with her parents in Irstead but he eventually moved in with James and Anna and adopted the surname of Shingles. Around 1890, when Anna's mother died, the family moved to North Walsham, where their last child, Arnold, was born. Anna died in 1915 so never knew of her son Charles' death in the war. James eventually left the area with his eldest son, Albert, who had married in 1901 and had a son and a daughter of his own, to live near Dartford in Kent. James died there in 1945.

In 1903 Charles Shingles married Ethel Harriet Harbord from Potter Heigham. Ethel already had an illegitimate son, Herbert William Harbord, born a couple of years earlier and the couple, with Herbert, moved back to the Bixley area where they had another son, Arnold Reginald Shingles, in 1907.

In 1915 Charles Herbert Shingles joined the 1st Battalion of the Essex Regiment as Private 20961 although he had initially attested to the Norfolk Regiment as Private 18690. After training he embarked for Gallipoli on 9th October 1915 to join the regiment which had been there since April. In January 1916 they were evacuated from Gallipoli to Egypt due to severe casualties from combat, disease and harsh weather. In March 1916 they embarked for France from Alexandria arriving at Marseilles and the Division engaged in various actions on the Western Front. On 21st April 1917 Charles Shingles was killed in action.

His army service records do not survive but we know he was awarded the 1915 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal all of which, together with his pay, war gratuity and personal effects, were sent to his widow Ethel. Among his possessions was found a Will that he had written while in France. During his time in the army Charles' family were living at Mangreen, Swardeston but, by the time the war finished and the paperwork was complete Ethel had moved to 186 King Street, Norwich. She died in 1934 after both her sons had married.

Charles Herbert Shingles is commemorated on the Feuchy Chapel British Cemetery at Wancourt, Pas de Calais, France.

Norfolk Regiment Casualty Books carry the following entry:- SHINGLES Charles Herbert 20961 Private 1st Btn Essex Regiment. Born Whitlingham. Enlisted Norwich. Residence Swardeston. Died 21-4-17 - France/Flanders.

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