Born on 12th March 1892 Charlie was the fourth child of John and Matilda Hands, New Street, Shipston-on-Stour, Worcs and was baptised privately on the 20th May 1892. On the 28th April 1896 Charlie was enrolled into Class IV of the Shipston Infants School and on the 4th July 1898 Charlie moved up from the Infants to the Senior School.  He left school on the 10th March 1905 and, like his older brothers, Charlie went to work as a blacksmith for his father. Enlisting early on in the war Charlie’s smithing skills would have made him in demand in an Army that was mostly transported by horse drawn wagons.  After training Charlie was posted to the 6th (Inniskilling) Dragoon Guards with a service number 5726. The 6th Dragoons were in the Mhow Brigade of the 1st Indian Cavalry Division, which had arrived in France on the 7th November 1914.  Charlie arrived in France on the 17th October 1915 and in the February of 1916 the Cavalry Brigade Machine Gun Squadrons were formed and Charlie along with the rest of the Machine Gun section of the 6th Dragoons were transferred to the 11th Cavalry Brigade Machine Gun Squadron.  By May 1917 Charlie’s Machine Gun Squadron were in billets at Amplier and remained there until the 13th when they received instructions to move forwards to Mericourt and by the 17th were bivouacking at Brie. On the 21st they received orders to relieve 174th MG Company and they arrived in Temple-Le-Guerard on the evening of the 22nd May, the relief being complete by 4am the following morning. On the whole the Squadron seem to have had a fairly quiet time. On the 28th a couple of trench raids took place on key German positions to assess the impact of some shelling and to check if a sniper post was being built.  The following day the Germans retaliated with some shelling.  Unfortunately the war diary does not record casualties, and so it’s difficult to know exactly what was happening when Charlie was killed.  For the 30th and the 31st May it reads: 30th 7am At 3am enemy bombarded MG emplacement in Switch Trench…. From direction of SUGAR FACTORY with rifle grenades and LT Mortars. This bombardment lasted until 4am. 33 projectiles were thrown at this position during the hour referred to. 30th 4pm Situation unchanged. Weather Fine 31st 4am. Situation reported unchanged quiet night along front. Night Cloudy 4pm Situation Normal. Considerable hostile artillery activity around a position in N SUNKEN ROAD from 8am to 4pm Enemy probably ranging on X Roads W of HARGICOURT. Charlie Hands was killed in action on the 31st May 1917 and coming less than five months after the death of his younger brother Harry, Charlie’s death must have been an enormous shock to the family.  He is buried at the Templeux-Le-Guerard Communal Cemetery Extension, Somme and is remembered on both the Council School and Town Memorials.

Mike Wells