Hull Pals Memorial Post. PRIVATE CHARLES BALDWIN 11/727. Born in July 1896, Charles was the eldest of four children to Joseph and Phoebe Baldwin of 4 Linnaeus Grove, Rugby Street and 1 South View, Willerby, Hull. A Farm Servant before the war, he enlisted on Wednesday 9th September 1914 at Hull City Hall telling the little white lie that earned so many boys a tin hat and a rifle: “Yes sir, I am 19.” One of the Originals, Charles appears to have come through all the major set-piece battles of the Pals war completely unscathed. There is no record anywhere of even the slightest wound or spell out of the line with illness. Perhaps his farm job made him better able to stand the creeping cold of winter in the trenches than a clerk would, who knows. He survived Egypt, the Somme, Oppy Wood, Arras, the German Spring Offensive…..all without so much as a scratch. Then his luck ran out. Charles Baldwin was killed in action on 11th August 1918, exactly three months from safety, and is buried in Outtersteene Communal Cemetery Extension, Bailleul, France; he was 22 years old.
The Postcard above was sent to his mother inscribed by Baldwin, ‘Dear Mother, I arrived safely back on Sunday night, and I am alright hoping to see you again in three weeks time, this is a card I thought I would drop you to let you see how soon a soldier can get a girl. Well alls well from C.Baldwin. Remember to Jim and dad, home in three weeks time.’ Charles Baldwin died in service on 11th August 1918. HIS NAME IS INSCRIBED ON THE KIRKELLA WAR MEMORIAL AT ST ANDREWS’ CHURCH.
