Family :

Service Life:

Campaigns:

• The First World War 1914-1918, World-wide.

19 October - 22 November 1914. Following the failure of the German Schlieffen Plan in August and September 1914, both sides engaged in a series of linked battles as they sought to outflank each other. The climax of these manouvres was at Ypres in November 1914 when the might of the German Army attempted to break the much outnumbered British Expeditionary Force. The political importance of Ypres, being the last town of any size in Belgium that remained in allied hands, established its importance for both sides and ensured a series of battles over four years.

The First Battle of Ypres in 1914 is characterised by a series of linked heroic stands by outnumbered British soldiers in conditions of confusion and weary endurance. The Germans never knew how close they had come to winning - at one point just the clerks and cooks were the last line of defence for the BEF. By the end of the battle the magnificent original BEF, composed of professional regular soldiers, had been all but destroyed and already the Territorial battalions were called into battle. From the end of 1914 a 'Regular' battalion was in terms of its compostion little different to a Teritorial or later Service Battalion. The professional soldiers had all but vanished.

Detail :

MAJOR CHARLES GODFRAY MITFORD SLADE, 4th BATTN. PRINCE OF WALES'S OWN YORKSHIRE REGT. Son of Bertram Mitford Slade, and was born at Teddington in 1878. He was educated at Colchester and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. He joined the Prince of Wales's Own Regiment in May, 1901, serving with the 1st Battalion through the whole of the Boer War, having been present at the relief of Kimberley, and at Paardeberg, and took part in the operations to the east of Pretoria from July to the end of November, 1900. In the fighting he was severely wounded. On the conclusion of the war he received the Queen's medal with three clasps and the King's medal with two clasps.

Retiring from the Regular Battalion, he joined the 4th Battalion as Captain in April, 1907. He obtained his Majority in September, 1914. In the Great War Major Slade was attached to the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment, and was killed on Tuesday, the 8th November, 1914. After taking a German trench, he was ordering the prisoners to be removed when he was shot. Major Slade was a Freemason, belonging to the Abbey Lodge, Abingdon. He was a very keen sportsman and a member of the Firfield Golf Club, Abingdon, and of the Cricket and Football Club. He married Adelaide Luduvina, daughter of Daniel Turner, of Cardiff, and granddaughter of Dr. Bennett, of Sydney, New South Wales, and left two children : Godfrey Bertram, born 25th August, 1906 : and Gladys May, born 24th May, 1908

Masonic :

Source :

The project globally acknowledges the following as sources of information for research across the whole database:

• The Commonwealth War Graves Commission
• The (UK) National Archives
• Ancestry.co.uk - Genealogy, Family Trees & Family History online
• ugle.org.uk - The records of the United Grand Lodge of England including the Library and Museum of Freemasonry

Additional Source:

• Founder Researchers : Paul Masters & Mike McCarthy
• Researcher : Bruce Littley