Rank: Private 7457 Regiment: 2nd Bn., Devonshire Regiment Died: died 13 July 1916 Parish: Newton Poppleford Local Memorials: Newton Poppleford War Memorial
Charlie Smale really was Dan’s little brother, being ten years younger, and was probably impressed by his big ‘Staff Serjeant’ brother. Unlike so many of his other brothers, he did not work very long for his father. Before 1911 he had got a job as a station porter at Guildford Station, Surrey, and was living as a boarder with a Mr and Mrs Patrick and their three children, in Stoughton,Guildford.
It would appear that about this time he ‘blotted his copybook’. The records of his employing company, The London & South Western Railway, show that he was dismissed for ‘pilfering’ . Pilfering suggests small value items, but nonetheless he was dismissed. He enlisted in the Devonshire Regiment 2nd Battalion, in Ottery St Mary, so by the beginning of the war he must have returned home, probably to work for his father.
He died on 3 July 1916, just a few months after his brother Dan. He is shown as having died of his wounds, and his final theatre of war is recorded as “Home”. So it appears he was repatriated to this country but then died of wounds.
He is buried near the north-west corner of Newton Poppleford Cemetery. The Smales were a large family so we should note Burt Smale who also served his country. He was brother to Dan and Charlie and joined the Royal Army Veterinary Corps. He seems to have been wounded in France and was returned home. He was discharged with a disability, and subsequently lived at Glebe Farm, Newton Poppleford.
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