Open/Close Toolbox
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 New Zealand License
Format: Person
Linked To
Copyright
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 New Zealand LicenseThis licence lets you remix, tweak, and build upon our work noncommercially and although your new works must also acknowledge us and be noncommercial, you do not have to license the derivative works on the same terms.
Menu
- People
- Places
- Themes
- Surprise Me
Rifleman Charles William Henderson
Description
TitleRifleman Charles William HendersonSummaryA soldier in World War One. DescriptionCharles was born in Wellington on 17 July 1887, son of Thomas and Maria Theresa Henderson. He was 5ft 8in tall with a dark complexion, brown eyes and dark brown hair. He had an appendix scar as well as a scar on his left knee and a deformed left collarbone, the result of cycle accident. He was also a skilled light weight boxer in the Canterbury Amateur championships. He spent his early years in the Oxford district, afterwards purchasing a chaff-cutting plant at Kirwee. He was an engine driver, not of a train but a chaff cutter engine. He sold this business so that he could enlist. He took a keen interest in sport, and was a member of the Kirwee Sports Committee, Courtenay A. and P. Association, and Oxford Oddfellows, and was described as being of a most kindly and generous disposition.
Charles enlisted 28 May 1915 and was assigned to the New Zealand Rifle Brigade. He had measles whilst in camp and was hospitalised in Palmerston North. He recovered enough to embark on 9 October 1915 for Suez. Whilst in Egypt he took part in the in the Christmas Day battle with the Senussi sect of Islam. The 1st Battalion of the New Zealand Rifle Brigade were sent to strengthen the Allied advanced base. Later the Rifle Brigade were sent to France and he embarked with them on 6 April 1916. He was killed in action on 10 September 1916, aged 29, as the Rifle Brigade took over the front line from the junction of Peach and Tea Trenches to Sap "A". He was buried in the Quarry Cemetery, Montauban. Charles is remembered on the Malvern County Memorial.
Montauban is a village about 10kms east of Albert. 5 kilometres from Albert on the D938 (Albert-Peronne).Historical Information: Montauban village was taken by the 30th and 18th Divisions on 1 July 1916 and it remained in Commonwealth hands until the end of March 1918. It was retaken on 25 August 1918 by the 7th Buffs and the 11th Royal Fusiliers of the 18th Division. Quarry Cemetery was begun (at an advanced dressing station) in July 1916, and used until February 1917. At the Armistice it consisted of 152 graves in the present Plots V and VI. It was then increased when graves (almost all of July-December 1916) were brought in from the battlefields surrounding Montauban and small burial grounds. Quarry Cemetery now contains 740 Commonwealth burials and commemorations of the First World War. 157 of the burials are unidentified but there are special memorials to seven casualties known or believed to be buried among them. Other special memorials commemorate 19 soldiers buried in Quarry Scottish Cemetery, Green Dump Cemetery and Caterpillar Wood Cemetery No.2, whose graves could not be found on concentration. The cemetery also contains 16 war graves of other nationalties. The cemetery was designed by Sir Herbert Baker.First NameCharles WilliamLast NameHendersonFamilySingleSon of Thomas and Maria Theresa HendersonDate of Birth17 July 1887Place of BirthKirweeDate of Death10 September 1916Place of DeathFrance Cause of DeathKilled in action Age at Death29
Charles enlisted 28 May 1915 and was assigned to the New Zealand Rifle Brigade. He had measles whilst in camp and was hospitalised in Palmerston North. He recovered enough to embark on 9 October 1915 for Suez. Whilst in Egypt he took part in the in the Christmas Day battle with the Senussi sect of Islam. The 1st Battalion of the New Zealand Rifle Brigade were sent to strengthen the Allied advanced base. Later the Rifle Brigade were sent to France and he embarked with them on 6 April 1916. He was killed in action on 10 September 1916, aged 29, as the Rifle Brigade took over the front line from the junction of Peach and Tea Trenches to Sap "A". He was buried in the Quarry Cemetery, Montauban. Charles is remembered on the Malvern County Memorial.
Montauban is a village about 10kms east of Albert. 5 kilometres from Albert on the D938 (Albert-Peronne).Historical Information: Montauban village was taken by the 30th and 18th Divisions on 1 July 1916 and it remained in Commonwealth hands until the end of March 1918. It was retaken on 25 August 1918 by the 7th Buffs and the 11th Royal Fusiliers of the 18th Division. Quarry Cemetery was begun (at an advanced dressing station) in July 1916, and used until February 1917. At the Armistice it consisted of 152 graves in the present Plots V and VI. It was then increased when graves (almost all of July-December 1916) were brought in from the battlefields surrounding Montauban and small burial grounds. Quarry Cemetery now contains 740 Commonwealth burials and commemorations of the First World War. 157 of the burials are unidentified but there are special memorials to seven casualties known or believed to be buried among them. Other special memorials commemorate 19 soldiers buried in Quarry Scottish Cemetery, Green Dump Cemetery and Caterpillar Wood Cemetery No.2, whose graves could not be found on concentration. The cemetery also contains 16 war graves of other nationalties. The cemetery was designed by Sir Herbert Baker.First NameCharles WilliamLast NameHendersonFamilySingleSon of Thomas and Maria Theresa HendersonDate of Birth17 July 1887Place of BirthKirweeDate of Death10 September 1916Place of DeathFrance Cause of DeathKilled in action Age at Death29
Connections
CollectionSoldiers of Selwyn World War OneImageMalvern War MemorialMore InformationAuckland War Memorial Cenotaph
Military Service
Memorial or CemeteryMalvern County War MemorialQuarry Cemetery, MontaubanOccupation before EnlistingEngine driver Regiment or ServiceNew Zealand Rifle BrigadeEnlistment Details28th May 1915Service Number 23/168Embarkation9th October 1915CountryNew Zealand
Attribution
Researched ByL. M. Seaton
Rifleman Charles William Henderson. Selwyn Stories, accessed 13/02/2026, https://selwynstories.selwynlibraries.co.nz/nodes/view/293
