Lives of the First World War

Stoker C E Higgs

Charles can be seen directly under the 'Zeebrugge Heroes' caption in the tin helmet and a cigarette in his hand.

This is a copy of the baptism record for Charles in the parish church of Woolwich. Below his entry (near bottom of page) you can see that his elder brother George was baptised on the same day.

1911 census return for the Higgs family living at 43 St Andrews Rd, Walthamstow. You can see Charles named along with siblings George, Arthur and Ruby. *Note that in the column for children born alive the number 18 is entered! Four living and fourteen dead.

Charles can be seen in the photo on the right holding his hat. He returned to Zeebrugge for the rest of his life to attend the memorial ceremony.

Under the terms of clause 13 of the VC statutes, in cases where a body of men was deemed to have been so gallant, the best way to select VCs was by a ballot, enabling the men themselves to decide. Following on from a ballot for the Royal Marine participants, a ballot was held for the Royal Navy participants. These latter were the ships crews of Vindictive, Iris II, Daffodil, as well as the men of the Naval Storming Party. Captain Carpenter of the Vindictive, and AB McKenzie who belonged to B Company of the seaman storming party, were awarded the VC as a result of the ballot. Unfortunately, the six page list does not break out 1. the parties by company and embarked ship, nor 2. who was crew on HMS Vindictive. In addition to what was on the original list, a "prior posting" column has been added, as well as the company if known. It can be seen that the men tend to be grouped by ship. Stokers were not in the storming parties.

This is C. E. HIggs ballot paper for the Victoria Cross for his actions during the Zeebrugge Raid 23/04/1918. The letter was part on an exhibition at the Provincial Palace in Bruge in 2018.