Private memorial to 2nd Lt Charles Fletcher Hartley, Grenadier Guards, KIA during the Battle of Cambrai
Charles Fletcher Hartley, the eldest son of Mr and Mrs Harry Hartley of Englefield Green, Surrey, was born in Brookline, Massachusetts, USA on 18 October 1897. Educated first at Pomfret School, USA, he went on to Harrow where he won the Heavy Weight Boxing Competition in 1916 - he was over 6' tall - matriculated at Trinity College, Cambridge, and according to his Army Record, spoke French. Hartley took his commission in the Coldstream Guards on the 26 May 1916 and went to the Front on 7 November having passed through the six week course at the Machine Gun School at Grantham. He was to serve with the Machine Gun Corps for the rest of his career, earning a mention in despatches for his action on 31 July 1917. Following the initial British success of 20/21 November in the Battle of Cambrai, there were strong German counter attacks and fierce fighting in and around Bourlon Wood and Fontaine and the ground changed hands several times. "The work of the machine gunners throughout the course of the engagement on the 27th of November was extremely arduous from the beginning to the end of the day." said "The Guards Division in the Great War 1915-18" (C Headlam, Murray 1924) and they took heavy casualties. Exactly what happened to 2nd Lt Hartley' is unclear but it is believed that his two gun teams were in support of the Coldstreams in action near the eastern corner of Bourlon Wood when he was shot through the head. His grave could not be found after the War and it is presumed that his parents erected the memorial on the spot where he fell. It is in the form of a granite cross with the base inscribed: 'IN LOVING MEMORY OF CHARLES FLETCHER HARTLEY, 2ND LEUT. COLDSTREAM GUARDS WHO FELL ON THIS SPOT NOV. 27TH 1917. AGED 20 YEARS'. The memorial is protected from grazing animals by a concrete fence. - See more at: #
Size: 3815px × 4768px
Location: A field to the E of Bourlon Wood, W of Fontaine-N-D, Cambrai. - See more at: http://westernfrontasso
Photo credit: © Niall Ferguson / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
Keywords: 1914-18, 1917, 2nd, battle, bourlon, cambrai, charles, fletcher, fontaine, france, front, great, grenadier, guards, hartley, lt, memorial, war, western, wood, world
