Merseyside Police Remembers

Merseyside Police Remembers

Charles Vipond was the 4th son of Thomas and Alice Vipond with Thomas being described as a Beerhouse Keeper in the 1891 census. Charles was born in 1880 in Poulton and is shown as first joining the Royal Artillery at the age of 18 attesting in Liverpool on 29th June 1898. He was described at that time as a labourer and lived in Poulton, Birkenhead Charles is shown as being stationed in Malta from December 1899 to October 1902 and then in India immediately after until he returned home on 1st February 1906. On his army record, it shows that his father Thomas was at this point in Chester Asylum so his next of kin was his elder brother William. Following his time in India, he transferred to the Army Reserves and it is likely that this is when he became a Police constable. On 16th September 1907, Charles married Clara Lake Davies at St Nicholas’s Church Liverpool when he was 27 years old and she was aged 23. By 1911, Charles and Clara are living at 75 Sutcliffe Street, Liverpool and have a 6 month old son also called Charles. Records show that their first born little girl Edith died in 1910 at the age of 2 years old. They went on to have another daughter named Phyllis in 1912. The regimental war diary from September 1918 describes how on September 1st 1918, the Brigade were “still waiting to know what was happening. The situation seems very unsettled and no definite reports are received. Fires are seen behind the enemy lines.” Over the next few days, they move forwards to Daylight Corner taking over from the 38th Army Brigade when the weather broke and there was heavy rain, thunder and storms. There is then an entry on the 8th September which simply states “Heavy rain again. Two O.Rs killed in “A” Battery and one of “D” wounded”. It appears likely that one of the two ORs was Charles. Charles died on the 8th September 1918 and is buried at West outré British Cemetery, West-Vlaanderen, in Belgium. His personal effects were sent home to his widow Clara. His obituary appeared in the Liverpool Daily Post on 7th October 1918. He is also commemorated on the war memorial at St Hilary’s Church Wallasey and on the family grave again at St Hilary’s Church, Wallasey. The family headstone records that Alice and Thomas also lost their son Ernest in the Boer War and another son Thomas Henry in peacetime at sea. Clara went on to marry Frederick G Chapman in 1920 and it is interesting to note that Charles’s son also named Charles joined the Royal Artillery in WW2.

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  • Profile picture for Charles Vipond

    Died 1918

    British Army L/3788 Bombardier Royal Field Artillery

    British Army L/3788 Serjeant Royal Field Artillery