Current Information:

Age-41

52, Havelock Road, Hackney

On 21st May, 1915, the 3rd Middlesex battalion of 85 Brigade, 28th Division moved into the front line in the northern part of the Ypres salient where they had seen action earlier in the month during the fighting associated with the Second Battle of Ypres. They remained here until relieved on 23rd May when they moved back to reserve and support trenches in the GHQ line. The battalion diary recorded that these three days spent in the trenches were quiet and makes no mention of any casualties, so the circumstances of the death of Charles Fowler who was killed on 21st May are not known. The attrition rate among British soldiers on the Western Front was on average 300 each day and 60% of these were as a result of shellfire. When not involved in an actual battle it was either shell fire or a sniper’s bullet that caused most deaths and injuries.