Flintshirewarmemorials.com
Name Charles Harold Blackburne
Regiment 5th Dragoon Guards (Princess Charlotte of Wales's)
Service Rank and Number Lieutenant Colonel
Military Cemetery/Memorial Royal Hospital Cemetery, Kilmainham
Ref No. of Grave or Memorial
Country of Cemetery/Memorial Ireland
Medals Awarded DSO, Mentioned in Dispatches
Date and Circumstances of Death Died Aged 42 on October 10th 1918. He was a passenger along with his wife and two children on SS Leinster sailing from Kingstown (now Dun Laoghaire) to Holyhead. The ship was hit twice by torpedoes fired by a German submarine, UB 123. Charles and both children were drowned along with 584 other people. (The U Boat 123 was destroyed nine days later after running into a mine barrage that lay between Norway and Scotland. All on board were lost)
Biographical Details Known This extraordinary man's extraordinary story is detailed in a memoir written by his brother Lionel. It was published in 1919 and is now available as a free download if you follow the link. http://openlibrary.org/b/OL7033616M/Charles_(Lieut.-Colonel_C.H._Blackburne_D._S._O._5th_Dragoon_Guards) The photographs below are taken from this book.
In summary, Charles was born in 1876, the third of four sons born to Charles Edward Blackburne and his wife Mary (nee Riley). The family background was comfortable and middle class. His father died when Charles was just eighteen months old and the mother made a home for her and the boys in Hastings. She remarried in 1881 a William Shadforth Bodger and a daughter was born in 1885.
Charles was not an academic. His great lifelong passion was horses and he became an expert on breeding, training and managing horses. He was an adventurer and spent more than a year travelling in Canada and Alaska. He tried his hand at farming but eventually joined the army and served in the Boer War. It was in this conflict that he was decorated. He stayed on in South Africa after the war and he married his long time sweetheart Emily Beatrice Jones (known as Bee) in 1903 and they began their life together in South Africa. Their first child, a daughter, lived for only 11 days. Their followed two more children, Audry Beatrice was born in 1907 and Charles Bertram (Peter) was born in 1911.
After leaving South Africa, Charles bought 'Tyddyn' a house on the Wrexham Road just outside Mold. This family home enabled him to carry out his business affairs in Liverpool and enjoy his country pursuits such as hunting and shooting.
When the First World War began, he rejoined the army and fought in France. He was wounded badly in the shoulder in 1915 and could take no further active part in the conflict. He was given a staff position in the army in Ireland and he moved his family to Dublin to live with him there. He was in Ireland when the Irish Rebellion of 1916 took place. He was to due attend a Staff course in Cambridge, England which was the reason the family were sailing home on the fateful voyage in October 1918. To learn more about the sinking of the SS Leinster follow the link.
His eldest brother John (known as Jack) was killed at Gallipoli.
Regiment 5th Dragoon Guards (Princess Charlotte of Wales's)
Service Rank and Number Lieutenant Colonel
Military Cemetery/Memorial Royal Hospital Cemetery, Kilmainham
Ref No. of Grave or Memorial
Country of Cemetery/Memorial Ireland
Medals Awarded DSO, Mentioned in Dispatches
Date and Circumstances of Death Died Aged 42 on October 10th 1918. He was a passenger along with his wife and two children on SS Leinster sailing from Kingstown (now Dun Laoghaire) to Holyhead. The ship was hit twice by torpedoes fired by a German submarine, UB 123. Charles and both children were drowned along with 584 other people. (The U Boat 123 was destroyed nine days later after running into a mine barrage that lay between Norway and Scotland. All on board were lost)
Biographical Details Known This extraordinary man's extraordinary story is detailed in a memoir written by his brother Lionel. It was published in 1919 and is now available as a free download if you follow the link. http://openlibrary.org/b/OL7033616M/Charles_(Lieut.-Colonel_C.H._Blackburne_D._S._O._5th_Dragoon_Guards) The photographs below are taken from this book.
In summary, Charles was born in 1876, the third of four sons born to Charles Edward Blackburne and his wife Mary (nee Riley). The family background was comfortable and middle class. His father died when Charles was just eighteen months old and the mother made a home for her and the boys in Hastings. She remarried in 1881 a William Shadforth Bodger and a daughter was born in 1885.
Charles was not an academic. His great lifelong passion was horses and he became an expert on breeding, training and managing horses. He was an adventurer and spent more than a year travelling in Canada and Alaska. He tried his hand at farming but eventually joined the army and served in the Boer War. It was in this conflict that he was decorated. He stayed on in South Africa after the war and he married his long time sweetheart Emily Beatrice Jones (known as Bee) in 1903 and they began their life together in South Africa. Their first child, a daughter, lived for only 11 days. Their followed two more children, Audry Beatrice was born in 1907 and Charles Bertram (Peter) was born in 1911.
After leaving South Africa, Charles bought 'Tyddyn' a house on the Wrexham Road just outside Mold. This family home enabled him to carry out his business affairs in Liverpool and enjoy his country pursuits such as hunting and shooting.
When the First World War began, he rejoined the army and fought in France. He was wounded badly in the shoulder in 1915 and could take no further active part in the conflict. He was given a staff position in the army in Ireland and he moved his family to Dublin to live with him there. He was in Ireland when the Irish Rebellion of 1916 took place. He was to due attend a Staff course in Cambridge, England which was the reason the family were sailing home on the fateful voyage in October 1918. To learn more about the sinking of the SS Leinster follow the link.
His eldest brother John (known as Jack) was killed at Gallipoli.
Mold
Lieutenant Colonel Charles Harold Blackburne
A younger Charles
Charles the horseman
'Tyddyn' the family home near Mold in Flintshire
Bee and Charles with children Peter and Audrey
Peter and Audrey. A watercolour by Miss K Mayers
County Herald 17th September 1915
County Herald 18th October 1918
County Herald 18th October 1918
Copyright © Flintshirewarmemorials.com
Within the War Memorial 'chapel' in Mold Parish Church there is a statue of the Virgin Mary and child that was placed in the 1920s in an empty very old alcove, highly decorated with carved stone angels. The words at the foot of the statue say 'in Loving memory of Audrey and Peter October 18th 1918 . The name Blackburne is on the right hand side of the base.