Private

Charles Henry ASCROFT
Infantry
Died: 31st October 1917 - Age: 36

Commemorated:

1. Grave:Beersheba War CemeteryK. I.
2. Book:The (1921) Masonic Roll of Honour 1914-1918Pg.115
3. Memorial:The (1940) Scroll - WW1 Roll of Honour14B GQS
4. Memorial:Liverpool Masonic Hall War MemorialCol.1. Hope St.
    

Awards & Titles:

 

Early Life :

The majority of this legend is courtesy of Geoff Cuthill of the Province of West Lancashire, to whom the project is grateful.

Charles Henry Ascroft was born in the spring of 1881, the son of James and Ellen Louise Ascroft (nee Shaw), in the West Derby registration district of Liverpool, his parents having married in 1874. Born into a large family, which resided around the Edge Hill area of the city, his known siblings were James Shaw Ascroft born in 1875, William George 1876, Albert Edward 1878, Mary Catharine 1884, Ethel Louisa 1887, Margaret Theodora 1889, and Beatrice 1895.

Charles did not appear on the 1881 census as it took place just before his birth, but the family are found at 23 Kemble Street, Kensington. Three of Charles’s siblings were baptised in the parish church of Christ Church, Kensington between 1876 to 1879, with their address being the same as the 1881 census, their father’s occupation being given as a Bookkeeper. By the time of the birth of Ethel Louisa, who was baptised at St. Catherine’s parish church in Edge Hill the family lived at 14 Squires Street., but the 1891 census sees them at Royston Street. The family obviously liked the Edge Hill area as they were still there at the time of the next census in 1901 at 49 Sidney Place. Charles himself was not baptised until 1906, when he, with his sister Mary Catherine, were recorded on 19 April as being admitted into the church in the baptismal records for the parish church of St. Mary, Edge Hill, with their address given as 96 Empress Road.

The 1911 census shows the family still at 96 Empress Road, and interestingly the head of the family is James, now 70 years of age and employed as a retail assistant in the Municipal Stores and that he and Ellen have been married for thirty six years age, having had ten children, seven of whom have survived to date,

Service Life:

Campaigns:

Unit / Ship / Est.: Royal Welsh Fusiliers 

Action : Palestine 

Palestine is a generic term to cover actions in the region now consisting of Sinai, Israel, Jordan, Syria and Aden and involved operations against the Turks. Once the security of the Suez Canal was assured in 1915 the focus shifted to the area now within the post 1967 borders of Israel. In 1917 there were three battles at Gaza, which enabled the capture of Jerusalem in December. In 1918 the campaign continued north into the Jordan Valley then towards Damascus. The Armistice with Turkey was signed on the 31st October 1918.

Charles was living at 104 Holt Road, Liverpool, when in 1915 he enlisted to the King's (Liverpool Regiment) with the service number 29163; he was later transferred to the 25th (Montgomery & Welsh Horse Yeomanry) Battalion, Royal Welsh Fusiliers and renumbered as Private 62381. The 25th Battalion, R.W.F. of the Territorial Force became part of 231 Brigade, 74th (Yeomanry) Division, formed at El Arish, 4th March 1917 as part of the Suez Canal defences. His elder brother, James, had also enlisted on 22nd May 1915 into the 3rd Bn. Kings (Liverpool Regiment), as Private 29379, transferred 12 May 1916 to 4th Garrison Bn. Royal Welsh Fusiliers as Corporal 46963, later transferring to the Military Provost Staff Corps as T/242).

Detail :

On 31 October 1917, Charles went into action at the battle of Beersheba, a critical element of a wider British offensive, known as the Third Battle of Gaza, aimed at breaking the Turkish defensive line that stretched from Gaza on the Mediterranean shore to Beersheba, an outpost 30 miles inland. The attack on Beersheba by his battalion as part of General Chetwode's XX Corps commenced at 5.55 a.m. with the usual heavy artillery barrage bombarding the Turkish trenches.

The first infantry went in at 8.30 a.m. to capture some Turkish outposts, with the main attack of four infantry brigades at 12.15pm. The 74th Division was successful in capturing the Turkish fortifications west of Beersheba. Unfortunately Charles was probably killed instantly during this attack, aged 36, and now lies in plot KI in the Beersheba War Cemetery in Israel. Charles’s family would have been entitled to his British War Medal and Victory Medal, his name wrongly recorded on the medal index card as Ashcroft.

In addition to masonic record, Charles is commemorated on memorials in St. Cyprian with Christ Church, Durning Road, Edge Hill and St. Mary’s, Towerlands Street, Edge Hill.

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission also erroneously records Charles as “Ashcroft” and gives the following description of Beersheba Cemetery with the attached photograph;

“By October 1917, General Allenby's force had been entrenched in front of a strong Turkish position along the Gaza-Beersheba road for some months, but they were now ready to launch an attack with Beersheba as its first objective. On 31 October, the attack was carried out by the XXth Corps (10th, 53rd, 60th, and 74th Divisions) on the west, and the Desert Mounted Corps on the east. That evening the 4th Australian Light Horse Brigade charged over the Turkish trenches into the town. The cemetery was made immediately on the fall of the town, remaining in use until July 1918, by which time 139 burials had been made It was greatly increased after the Armistice when burials were brought in from a number of scattered sites and small burial grounds. The cemetery now contains 1,241 Commonwealth burials of the First World War, 67 of them unidentified.”

Masonic :

TypeLodge Name and No.Province/District :
Mother : Everton No. 823 E.C.West Lancashire

Initiated
Passed
Raised
17th January 1912
20th March 1912
17th April 1912
 

Record at United Grand Lodge shows name as Ascroft (not Ashcroft). Charles Ascroft was initiated into Everton Lodge No. 823 on 17th January 1912, a storekeeper age 30 and residing at 104 Holt Road. He was passed to the second degree on 20 March, third degree 17th April, with his Grand Lodge certificate issued on 14th May, 1912. Recorded in the annotation of the books at United Grand Lodge "Killed in Action 31st October 1917".

Appears on the Liverpool Masonic Hall Memorial, Hope Street. In London, he is remembered on Scroll of Honour at Freemason’s Hall, Great Queen Street and on page 26 of the Roll of Honour Book published by United Grand Lodge in 1921 as, Ascroft, Charles Henry, Private.

Source :

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

Additional Source:

Last Updated: 2021-02-03 07:31:51