Charles William NEWNS

08 June 1917

SILSDEN'S HEROES IN THE FIGHT – THREE SOLDIERS MISSING

Sergt. Charles W. Newns, of the Duke of Wellington’s West Riding Regt., husband of Mrs. Newns, 3, Clock View Street, Beechcliffe, Keighley, and son of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Newns, 19, Rostletop Road, Earby, has been officially reported missing from May 3rd. Mrs. Newns received such information from the York Record Office (Territorial headquarters) on Saturday last. She has also received a letter from Lieut. G.C. Kilner, in which he states:– “It is with much regret that I have to inform you that your husband, Sergt. Newns, is missing. His battalion made an attack the first week in May, and he was last seen by Company-Sergt.-Major Garside at the German wire. Every search has been made, but your husband has not been found. It is impossible for me to tell you how sorry I and all the company are for you, but let us still hope for the best.”

Sergt. Newnes enlisted in September 1914, and went out to France on the 5th of February last. Prior to joining the Colours he resided at Silsden, and was employed as a weaving overlooker by the firm of Messrs. James I. Stocks, Becks Mill, Silsden. He was a former member of the Silsden Fire Brigade, and was also closely associated with the Silsden Parish Church. Mrs. Newns is anxious concerning her husband, and would gladly welcome any information as to his whereabouts.

15 June 1917

IN MEMORY OF SEVEN SILSDEN FALLEN HEROES

There was a large congregation at the Parish Church on Sunday morning last, when a service was held in memory of seven young men from Silsden who have recently paid the great sacrifice for King and Country.

The service was conducted by the Vicar (Rev. E. E. Peters, M.A.,) who said they were met that morning, when all nature seemed to speak of joy and gladness, under very solemn and sad circumstances to pay their tribute of respect and affection to the memory of seven gallant men who had given their lives for their country. They were:– Private Fred Hardy, Private Edgar Raw, Private Harry Wade, Private William Burton, Private Willie Saddington, Private John William Baldwin, and Private Charles Henry Gill.

By their presence and by taking part in that service, they gave some expression of the heartfelt sympathy which they felt with the sorrowing relatives.

Private Fred Hardy had not been resident a great many years in Silsden, but he had gained many friends by reason of his cheerful disposition and his pleasant and amiable manners. When the call came he left his wife and his happy and comfortable home to go forth in order to do his duty. They knew how he was wounded, brought to a Casualty Clearing Station, and how for some days there was terrible anxiety as to how the balance would turn. During that time he either wrote himself, or dictated to the good and sympathetic chaplain, most brave and cheerful letters in which he thought of his wife, not at all of himself. He derived great comfort from the consolation of religion, and the chaplain was able to write to his wife and assure her how he died in the faith and fear of Jesus Christ.

Private Edgar Raw was one who gave an early answer when the call first came. He had not the pleasure of knowing him personally, but everyone spoke in the very highest terms of him. He was a most excellent young man, active in religious work, and left behind him a fragrant memory.

He then came to one whose loss had been a peculiarly intimate one to him as well as a personal sorrow, for he knew him well, and like everyone else who knew him, he had a great regard for him. He referred to Private Harry Wade, a young man of great promise and blameless character, a true simple-hearted Christian and loyal Churchman, and a regular communicant to whom he had had the great privilege of administering on more than one occasion since he joined the Army the Holy Sacrament. He was a young man, home loving and home keeping; yet, one who felt it his duty to volunteer to defend his country. Although he had no taste for military life, he nevertheless made a thoroughly good soldier, and one of whom his officer spoke in the very highest terms. His officer said he showed great capability, was always reliable and trustworthy, and one whom he could chose to do important work and knew it would be carried out well. Now he had gone to the home above and left them a very heavy loss indeed.

Private William Burton, who was probably not known to a great many of them, was held in high esteem by those who knew him. He was the gardener at Moorfield, and a man who was thoroughly efficient in his work and took a great delight in it. He, too, was very comfortable in his home with his wife and two children, and had gained the confidence and esteem of his employer. He and three other men were killed going to the trenches by a German shell.

Then he came to one who was well known to all of them – Private Willie Saddington – a young man who was brought up in their Sunday School. He had the distinction, as was generally known, of being one of the five soldiers in Silsden who, at mobilisation, was called up to the Colours at the very beginning of the war. He believed his father was also one of the original five. He had honourable military traditions in his family, and since the war broke out – he was a Territorial, as they knew – he at once volunteered for active service. He was kept back in England for some time on account of being a member of a military band, and at last he went out and had not been long at the Front before he fell doing his duty honourably and gallantly.

Private John Wm. Baldwin was a man much older than those of whom he had spoken. He was a soldier of that grand Army – the old original regular Army. He had served his country in South Africa, served his time in the reserves; a man time expired when the war broke out, and well above age, but still he volunteered to join the Colours again. He was one of those who during the first terrible months of the war maintained our cause against desperate odds. He was wounded at Hill 60 of bloody memory, the scene last week of our great and glorious victory. He never recovered entirely from his wounds, his health having been grievously affected, and he died at the military hospital at Derby, where he had gained the affection of the staff. He was laid to rest in that Parish Churchyard with military honours in the presence of a large and sympathetic congregation.

It was only the previous week that they heard of the death of Private Charles Henry Gill, one whom the stern necessity of cruel war had made into a soldier. He was a young man of retiring disposition, reserved in his manners to the general public, but one full of family affection, and devoted to his home. He had fallen a victim to the monster, called into being by the Prussian lust of conquest.

He wished to speak of three more of their young men who were in a somewhat different category to those he had already mentioned. He hoped they would not have to mourn them as gone, and prayed that good news might come concerning them. They had all been reported missing:– Sergeant Charles W. Newns, Private Norman Phillip, and Private Jack Riley.

They were all intimately connected with that place of worship, having been taught in their Sunday School. Sergeant Newns was one of the most promising young men they had. He was a splendid young man, a good Sunday School teacher, and a gymnast and athlete. He naturally made a very fine soldier and gained the highest testimony from his officers and also from the men he commanded. The last they had heard of him was that he was seen risking his life for a wounded man. They prayed that it might be the will of Almighty God to restore those men to them, as they could ill afford to lose them. He wished on his own behalf, and on behalf of all of those present, to express deep sympathy with those in great sorrow and affliction. It was hard to express in anything like adequate terms what they felt. They all realised that the inequality of sacrifice was one of the sad things of their life – that some had to sacrifice so much while others, whether they were willing or unwilling, were not called upon to make sacrifices of like character. But he assured them that they appreciated in the most complete manner the offerings of their sons and the husbands and of those so near and dear to them, which had been made in the cause of righteousness and truth.

During the service the hymns, ‘The saints on earth and those above’, ‘On the resurrection morning’, and ‘O God our help in ages past’, were sung.

There was a company of Girl Guides present at the service, in charge of the vicar’s wife.

The bells were also muffled as a token of respect to the fallen.

08 March 1918

NEWNES – Missing, now presumed dead, Sergt. Charles W. Newnes, Duke of Wellington’s West Riding Regiment, formerly of Silsden, and husband of Mrs. Newnes, Clock View Street, Keighley.

08 March 1918

SILSDEN SOLDIER PRESUMED DEAD

Mrs. C. W. Newnes, of 3 Clock View Street, Keighley, has received information from the Infantry Record Office, York, that her husband, Sergeant Charles W. Newnes, West Riding Regiment, missing since May 3rd 1917, is now presumed killed on the above date. Sergeant Newnes enlisted soon after the outbreak of war. He was a resident of Silsden, and formerly employed by Messrs. J. I. Stocks, Becks Mill, Silsden. He was a former member of the Silsden Fire Brigade, and also closely associated with the Silsden Parish Church. Sergt. Newnes is the son of Mr. and Mrs. C. Newnes, of Bolton Road, Silsden.

03 May 1918

NEWNS – In loving memory of my dear husband, Sergeant C. W. Newns, 2/6th Duke of Wellington’s Regiment, who was posted as missing May 3rd, 1917, now presumed to have died on that date.

Not now, but in the coming years,
It may be in that better land,
We’ll read the meaning of our tears;
Not now, “Sometime we’ll understand.”

From his loving Wife, 3 Clock View, Beechcliffe, Keighley.

NEWNS – In loving remembrance of our dear son and brother, Sergeant Charles W. Newns, who was posted missing on 3rd May, 1917, now presumed to have died on that date.

We do not forget him, nor do we intend,
We think of him daily and will to the end;
We mourn him in sorrow and silence unseen,
And dwell on the memories of times that have been.

From Father, Mother, Sisters and Brothers, 57, Bolton Road, Silsden.

NEWNS – In loving remembrance of our dear brother, Sergeant Charles W. Newnes, who was posted missing on 3rd May, 1917, now presumed to have died on that date.

You’re not forgotten, brother dear,
Or will you ever be
As long as life and memory last
We will remember thee.

From his loving sisters, Maggie, Kate and Georgina.

07 June 1918

SILSDEN – In Memoriam

A service in memory of the Silsden young men who have recently given their lives for their country was held at the Silsden Parish Church on Sunday morning, conducted by the vicar, Rev. E. E. Peters. The hymns ‘The Saints on earth’, ‘O God our help in ages past’, and ‘God the all-terrible King who ordainest’ were sung. Mr. Herbert Cooper presided at the organ. Mr. Peters said in the service in which they had just taken part they had commemorated 69 men who has been killed in action, or died from wounds or from some other cause. He wished to say a few words especially about those young men who had fallen, and were connected with their Church and Sunday Schools.

The first was Sergeant W. Newns, who had been missing for over a year, but whom the authorities had recently announced as killed. He was one of the best young men in every sense of the word. He was a communicant, a Sunday School teacher and a young man who took a great interest in the physical side of life. He was one of the leaders of the training class for physical development. When he joined the Army in the early days of the war, he found that his time had been well spent as he was made an instructor in physical drill and a full Sergeant.

A few weeks ago the Church had lost another of its young men – Signaller Harry Barrett, who, before he joined up, was treasurer of the Church of England’s Young Men’s Society, and a very devoted member of the branch. Private Ernest Hardcastle was killed in September, after having proved himself a good soldier. He and Sergeant R. Hill were connected with the Sunday School and they did not forget their religion when they went into the Army. Mention was made of Second Lieutenant T.D. Stocks and his connection with the Boy Scout movement; Sergeant Rowland Hill; Private Ormond Clarkson, who was accidentally drowned a few weeks ago in the Persian Gulf; Air Mechanic Albert Bradley, who died in hospital alter being away from home only a few weeks; Sergeant Joe Bancroft who won the Military Medal by his extraordinary gallantry; Private Sydney [P]Lumb who was killed in September, and who had four other brothers serving.

On behalf of the church people of Silsden, the Vicar offered to the relatives and friends of those men their deepest sympathy and their most sincere and heartfelt gratitude for what they had done for them. He expressed the wish that as long as the Church remained, and if at any time a new Church should be built, it would be the custom at least once a year to commemorate all the men who had fallen in the war. He was impressed and touched beyond expression by the courage which the women of the parish had shown in these awful times, and it was an inspiration to the men, for they had shown themselves to be worthy mothers and wives of heroes who had given their all.

“Shall we betray their trust and take their deaths in vain?”

02 May 1919

NEWNS – In affectionate remembrance of my dear husband, Sergeant C. W. Newns, 2/6th Duke of Wellington’s Regiment, who was posted as missing at Bullecourt, May 3rd, 1917, afterwards presumed dead.

Not gone from memory,
Not gone from love;
But gone to our Father’s home above.

From his loving wife, Beechcliffe, Keighley.