Biography of Second Lieutenant Charles Reginald Winckley
15th Battalion Sherwood Foresters (Notts and Derby) Regiment
Died 20th July 1916

Soldier

  • Name: Charlees Reginald Winckley
  • Date of birth: 9th December 1893
  • Place of Birth: Nowgong, India
  • Date of Birth Registration: Unknown
  • Place of Birth Registration: Unknown

Father

  • Name: Charles Richard Thorold Winckley
  • DOB: 1855
  • Place of Birth: Harrow, Middlesex, England
  • Occupation: Reverend and retired Government chaplain

Mother

  • Name: Amy Underwood
  • DOB: 1868
  • Place Of Birth: Folkestone, Kent, England
  • Marriage: 16th January 1889 Paris, France

Siblings: (Name), (DOB), (POB)

  • Winifred Amy Winckley, 1890, Fort William, India (died 1890)
  • Frederick William Winckley, 1891, India
  • Charles Reginald Winckley, 1893, Nowgong, India
  • George Clifford Winckley, 1895, Nowgong, India
  • Muriel Amy Frances Winckley, 1899, Shillong Assam, India
  • Evelyn Mary Winckley, 1903, St Leonard, Sussex
  • Rosamund Cecile Grace Winckley, 1905, Calcutta, India
  • Edward Octavius Winckley, Kasauli, India

Census

  • 1901: Unable to find Charles but more likey in India.
  • 1911: Charles is living with his mother at 99 Dorset Road, Bexhill, Sussex. The census gives him an age of 17 and he is listed as a student.
Relatives in services

  • None found

Marriage

  • No marriage for Charles has been found and because of his age we can assume that he never had the opportunity to marry.

Newspaper Mentions

  • Grantham Journal Saturday 5th August 1916
    BILLINGBOROUGH
    LIEUT. REGINALD WINCKLEY KILLED. – Last weekend, the Vicar and Mrs Winckley recieved the distressing news that their second son – Lieut. Charles Reginald Winckley – had been killed in action.  The information came in a letter from a fellow officer and has aroused the deepest feelings of regret and sympathy for the bereaved family.  Second-Lieut. Winckley was born in December, 1893, at Nowgong, Central India, where his father was then Government Chaplain.  He was edutated at Aldenham School, Herts., and on leaving he entered the National Provincial Bank of England, where in he served for a time at the Oxford and Long Sutton branches.  Subsequently he was appointed on the staff of the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation in London.  He was regarded as a painstaking and most promising member of the business.  Before attaining his majority, he passed the Bankers’ Association examinaton, taking the 19th place out of over 700 canidates, and he also passed, with honours, the examination in the Gilbert Lectures on Banking Law, and the Bank of Bengal had niminated him for a post.  In May, 1915, he joined the Inns of Court O.T.C., and a few months later recieved a commission in the Sherwood Foresters. He went to France in May, 1916, and was killed in action – shot through the head – while leading an attack on July 20th. The deceased officer, though serveral times rejected for service on account of his eyes, persisted, and when passed, wanted nothing but combatant service.   He felt and said he was destained to be killed – a veritable example of voluntary sacrifice.  His was a noble character; utterly unselfish and considerate for others, and of ths his parents have ample evidence from his men.  One letter, received from the father of a lad upon whom the deceased officer compassion, was couched in the following terms; “My son, in his letters home. often mentions he has received many acts of kindness and lots of encouragement from your good self, and I though I should like to write and thank you, and tell you how glad I am you have taken an interest in the boy.”

 

  • Grantham Journal Saturday 31st March 1917
    A NEW STAINED GLASS WINDOW has just been erected in the chancel of the Parish Church, in memory of the Vicar’s son, who was killed in action last year.  It is of two lights, and is very beautiful, in design and colouring.  One light represents our Lord holking a crown and looking towards the other light which is filled with the khakie-lad figure of an officer just leaving the trenches, with two ministering angels over his head looking to the skies.  It is a most striking likeness of the dead officer.  Underneath is a brass tablet bearing the inscription: ” This window is erected in loving memory of second Lieut. Charles Reginald Winckley, Sherwood Foresters, killed in action in France while leading an attack, on 20th July, 1916, aged 22 years.  He was the second son of Rev. C. R. Thorold Winckley, Vicar of this parish.  Dulce et Decorum est pro Patria mori.”  (It is sweet and proper to die for one’s country.)  The window was supplied by Messrs. A. L. ????? and Sons, London.

 

  • Grantham Journal Saturday 21st April 1917
    WOUNDED A SECOND TIME – The Vicar (the Rev. c. R. Thorold Winckley) has received an offical communication that his their son, Lieut George Clifford Winckley (Lincolns), has again been wounded.  The injury is in the groin.  On Wednesday the Vicar heard from his son, who said that his wound was painful, but he hopes it is going on well.  He is in the Dushess of Westminster’s Hospital at Le Touquet.  Lieut. Winckley has been wounded before.  On the first occasion, he was shot through the leg.  Sympathu is expressed for the family in their trouble and anxiety.  Last year their second son, Lieut. Charles Reginald Winckley (Sherwood Foresters), was killed in action.  Their eldest son, Mr. Fred Winckley, who was in Sumatra, came over to England to join the forces, and is now going through an officer’s course.  He was on the torpedoed “Arabia.”.

 

  • Boston Guardian Saturday 21st April 1917
    LIEUT. G. C. WINCKLEY, OF BILLINGBOROUGH.
    Lieut. George Clifford Winckley, Lincolnshire Regiment, third son of the Rev. C. R. Thorold Winckley, vicar of Billingborough, has for the second time, been wounded.  The injury, which is in the groin, is said to be severe. Another son, Lieyt. Charles Reginald Winckley, was killed in action last year, and the elder son, who was in sumatra, has come to England to join the Forces, and is now on the Arabia when she was torpedoed in the Mediterranean.

 

  • Lincolnshire Echo Thursday 25th October 1917
    LINCOLNSHIRE DAY BY DAY
    On Sunday morning the Vicar of Billingborough (The Rev. C. R. Thorold Winckley) received a telegram from his eldest son, Lieut. fred Winckley, had been badly shell-gassed.  Subsequent communications, happily, are more reassuring.  Lieut. Winckley has already reached England, and is in hospital, where he has been able to write home.  It is quite recently that he went to France, and had only been in action a few days.  It will be remembered that the gallant officer came over from Sumatra last year to join the Forces, and while taking this journey, his ship was torpedoed and was rescued from the sea, but lost all his belongings.  after qualifying, he went to France last month.  Mr. Winckley’s second son, Lieut Reginald Winckley (Sherwood Foresters), was killed in action last year, and a third son, Lieut. G. C. Winckley (Lincolns), has been wounded twice.

 

  • UK, De Ruvigny’s Roll of Honour, 1914 – 1919
    WINCKLEY, CHARLES REGINALD, 2nd Lieut., The Sherwood Foresters (Nottinghamshire and Derbtshire Regt.), s. of the Rev. Charles Richard Thorold Winckley, of Billingborough Vicarage,co. Lincoln, Retired Bengal Government Chaplain, by his wife, Amy, dau. of William Underwood, of St. Could, Paris;  b. at Nowgong, Central India, 9 Dec. 1893: educ. Aldenham School, co. Hertford; on leaving school he entered the National Provincial bank of England, and afterwards the Hong=Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, Gracechurch Street. E.C.; passed nineteeth our of 700 in the examination of the Institute of Bankers; joined the Inns of court O.T.C. May 1915; gazetted 2nd Lieut. The Sherwood Foresters the following Aug; went to France May 1916, and was killed in action there 20 July following, while leading an attack; unm.

Military Records

Attestation Papers

  • None found

Soldier’s Died In The Great War

  • These records show that 2 Lieutenant Charles Reginald Winckley, 15th Bn Notts and Derby (Sherwood Foresters) Regiment was killed in action on 20th July 1916 in the Western European Theatre in France and Flanders.

Pension Records

  • None found

Effects Left To

  • Father Rev. Charles Richard Thorold Winckley

Medals

  • The British Medal
    The Victory Medal

Memorials

  • UK:
  • Billingborough, Roll of Honour in Billingborough St Andrews Church
  • Billingborough Stained Glass Window

 

  • Commonwealth War Graves Commission:
  • In memory of Second Lieutenant Charles Reginald Winckley, 15th Bn., Sherwood Foresters (Notts and Derby) Regiment who died on 20 July 1916 Age 22
  • Son of Charles Richard Thorold Winckley and Amy Winckley, of Lillington, Warwickshire.
  • Remembered with honour, Thiepval Memorial
  • Pier and Face 10 C 10 D and 11 A.

© Picture taken by South Lincolnshire War Memorials

© Picture taken by South Lincolnshire War Memorials

Military Service Timeline

  • This is ongoing research and will be posted when completed

Sources

  • WW1 Soldier’s Records (www.ancestry.co.uk)
  • British Newspaper Archive.
  • Fold 3
  • Find My Past
  • Genealogist
  • Forces War Records
  • British Army Service Numbers
  • War Gratuity Calculator
  • Commonwealth War Graves Commission
  • National Archives – Battalion War Diaries
  • General Registry Office