Current Information:

Age-33

54, Wyatt Road, Highbury

Bailleul Communal Cemetery, France

The Race to the Sea - September-October 1914

By the middle of September 1914, the Aisne battlefield had stagnated into trench warfare and in order to break this impasse, both sides tried to outflank each other in a general movement northwards. Moving up through Picardy, Artois and Flanders the race was over by 19^th October when the North Sea was reached. The Western Front, a line of trenches stretching from Belgium to Switzerland, was now a reality. Initially it was the French army that conducted this movement whilst the British Expeditionary Force remained on the Aisne but by 6 October British reinforcements were needed to help beat off German attacks around Lille. They moved north and along with reinforcements from Britain, they took up new positions in Flanders, on the left of the Allied line and much closer to the Channel ports.

The Battle of Armentières  12th October-2nd November 1914

The official History pinpoints the battle of Armentières to a series of battles that took place between the river Douve and a line between Estaires and Foumers. It was part of the Race to the Sea and it determined the line of the Western Front in that sector. It was fought by III Corps which consisted of 4th and 6th Divisions as well as 19 Brigade.

On 20th October all three Brigades of 6th Division were attacked along the line Radinghem-Ennetières-Prèmesques-Epinette on the Lille Ridge. Between 7 and 8 am their trenches were heavily shelled followed by a German infantry attack which came on in bounds and was covered by machine guns.  The 1st East Kents (Buffs) battalion of 16 Brigade, held the front east of Radinghem whilst the remainder of 16 Brigade prepared a second line half way between them and Bois-Grenier. At the end of a day of heavy fighting the British line had been pushed back in places and on the following morning the battalion withdrew from Radinghem to new positions. It was on this line that there was a fierce attack, on 23rd October against two other battalions from the brigade and support was required from 1st Buffs. As they moved forward one platoon was hit at short range by a concealed enemy machine-gun and not many survived. Elsewhere they assisted in trying to regain the lost trenches with only partial success. Charles Rumley died from wounds on 24th October, but it is not known on which day he was wounded.