BORN HULL 1897. SON OF GEORGE BRIDGES AND MARY ELLEANOR NEEDLER -15 CARLTON TERRACE, PROVIDENCE ROW, 64 SHARP STREET AND 5 ST. WILFRED’S TERRACE, SHARP STREET. HIS FATHER DIED IN 1897 WHEN HE WAS YOUNG. CHARLIE HAD A BROTHER HARRY AND SISTER MABEL. HE WORKED AS A LABOURER. HE MARRIED JESSIE MOWTHORPE, ON 07/07/1917 AT ST AUGUSTINE’S CHURCH, HULL. THEU LIVED NEXT DOOR AT 7 WILFRED’S TERRACE, SHARP STREET. ENLISTED HULL. HIS ARMY RECORDS DESCRIBE HIM AS 5 FOOT 5 INCHES TALL, 34 INCH CHEST, WEIGHT 123LBS. SERVED IN EGYPT. POSTED TO FRANCE ON 08/03/1916, WOUNDED TWICE, ON 23/08/1916 AND AGAIN ON 19/10/1916. HE WAS KILLED IN ACTION ON 24/03/1918 DURING THE GERMAN SPRING OFFENSIVE, AGED 21. HIS WIDOW JESSIE MOVED TO 13 SARAH’S TERRACE, ALEXANDRA STREET, SPRING BANK. HIS NAME IS RECORDED ON ST MARY’S CHURCH, SCULCOATES LANE, ST JOHNS, NEWLANDS CHURCH, HULL AND THE ARRAS MEMORIAL, FRANCE.
Hull Pals Memorial Post. PRIVATE CHARLES HENRY BRIDGES 13/414. Born in March 1897, Charles was the youngest of three children to George and Mary Bridges of 64 Sharp Street, Hull. George Bridges died just after Charles was born and he was raised by his mother and elder siblings. A Labourer by trade he enlisted at Hull City Hall on 18th November 1914 giving his age as 19 years and 30 days. He lied. He was 17 and underage. Whether it was a nudge and a wink that got him through it, or whether he looked older than his age, he joined the 13th Battalion East Yorkshire Regiment, ‘T’Others’, 4th Hull Pals. A veteran of Egypt, the Somme and Oppy Wood Charles was killed in action on 24th March 1918 during the first days of the German Spring Offensive. His body was never recovered and his name is commemorated on the Arras Memorial; he was 21 years old. During a period of leave back in the UK he married Jessie Mowthorpe on 7th July 1917, and left her soon afterwards never to return.
Background. When the German spring offensive opened on 21 March 1918, 31st Division was in reserve, with 10th and 11th EYR Battalions digging trenches in the ‘Army Line’ behind the front. On 23 March the division was sent up to hold off the German attack at St Léger, but 92 Bde remained in reserve at Ervillers, improvising the defences. Ervillers was attacked on the evening of 24 March, the defence being confused by British troops retreating from the forward defences. Two companies of 10th Bn were pushed up to reinforce 11th Bn fighting in the village streets. About midnight a German patrol got into the village, but was captured by 11th Bn’s HQ staff. The following day the 11th Bn was reinforced by 10th Bn Manchester Regiment of 42nd (East Lancashire) Division and their combined fire stopped the German advance. However, events elsewhere meant that the 31st and 42nd Divisions were ordered on the morning of 27 March to retire through Courcelles-le-Comte.
On 27th March 1917, the brigade defended Ayette aerodrome against repeated attacks from 11.20am to 16.30pm, when with both flanks ‘in the air’, the brigade pulled back to the partly-dug ‘Purple Line’ in front of Ayette village. Between 24 and 27 March, 10th EYR Bn had lost 211 officers and men, and was praised “for its exceptional gallantry on March 27” by the Commander in Chief of the BEF, Sir Douglas Haig. During the night, Lt-Col Headlam of 10th Bn led up a composite battalion of troops from the quartermasters’ details of all three battalions to take over part of the Purple Line, and they helped to recover some 18-pounder ammunition from behind enemy lines, which was fired the following day. Although fighting continued elsewhere along the line, 28 March was a quieter day for 92 Bde, and 11th Bn took over some trenches started by 210th Field Company, Royal Engineers, which they continued to dig. The brigade was relieved on 31 March and marched back to billets near Pommier.
