3 April 1965 · Southport
Charles Johnson died in Southport on 3 April 1965, aged 85.
More than seventy years had passed since he had joined the Cheshire Regiment as a fourteen-year-old boy. His obituary, published in the Regiment’s Oak Tree in Spring 1965, looked back over the military career that had shaped so much of his life.
Obituary
Published in the Oak Tree, Spring 1965.
We regret to announce the death of Captain C.Johnson at Southport on 3rd April, 1965, aged 85. A native of Altrincham, Charles Johnson joined the Regiment as a Boy in 1894. His first posting was to the 2nd Battalion in Aldershot. In February the next year he was drafted to the 1st Battalion at Bellary, India. During his ten years’ service in India he gained steady promotion, qualified as a Gym Instructor, and became a marksman and Company Shot. He returned to Home Service with the 1st Battalion in 1904. At the outbreak of war he was a senior Colour Sergeant on the permanent staff of the 3rd (Special Reserves) Battalion at Chester, which quickly brought him to into the training of New Army battalions. Commissioned early in 1915, he helped to form and train the 16th (Bantam) Battalion, and whilst Captain and Adjutant of that Battalion in France, was severely wounded with the loss of the left arm in July 1916.
Throughout his long life he showed and maintained great interest and pride in his Regiment.
A lifetime with the Cheshire Regiment
That final sentence seems a fitting summary of Charles’s relationship with the Cheshire Regiment.
He had joined as a boy in 1894, served in India, risen through the ranks, been commissioned during the First World War and served as Captain and Adjutant of the 16th Battalion before being severely wounded on the Somme.
More than half a century after he first put on the uniform, the Regiment was still an important part of his life.
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