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Private Charles Glennie
Description
TitlePrivate Charles GlennieSummaryA soldier in World War One. DescriptionCharles was born at Linwood, Christchurch 25th September 1881, son of Charles and Helen Glennie, and nephew of Mr John Mackenzie, Tai Tapu. He received his education at the Tai Tapu school. He worked for several years for C. F. Otley, timber merchant but at the time of enlisting was working for Rantin Bros as a Carter. He was 5ft 2in tall with a medium complexion, blue eyes and brown hair.
He enlisted on 6th February 1917 and was assigned to the 25th Reinforcements, Canterbury Infantry Regiment, C Company. He embarked on 26th April 1917 on board the SS Turakina arriving in Devonport and Sling Camp on 20th July. He left for France on 5th September arriving at base depot in Etaples on 9th. He joined 1st Battalion Canterbury Regiment in the field on 16th September barely a month before the disastrous action at Passchendaele on 12 October. He was declared missing and a court of enquiry on 13 April 1918 decided he had been killed in action that day, aged 35. The rain that had turned the battlefield into a quagmire drowned many and hid their bodies. Charles’s body was not found or identified and his name is inscribed on the Tyne Cot Memorial to the Missing, Panel 2. In New Zealand Charles is remembered on the Tai Tapu War Memorial.
The Tyne Cot Memorial is one of four memorials to the missing in Belgian Flanders which cover the area known as the Ypres Salient. Broadly speaking, the Salient stretched from Langemarck in the north to the northern edge in Ploegsteert Wood in the south, but it varied in area and shape throughout the war. The Salient was formed during the First Battle of Ypres in October and November 1914, when a small British Expeditionary Force succeeded in securing the town before the onset of winter, pushing the German forces back to the Passchendaele Ridge. The Second Battle of Ypres began in April 1915 when the Germans released poison gas into the Allied lines north of Ypres. This was the first time gas had been used by either side and the violence of the attack forced an Allied withdrawal and a shortening of the line of defence. There was little more significant activity on this front until 1917, when in the Third Battle of Ypres an offensive was mounted by Commonwealth forces to divert German attention from a weakened French front further south. The initial attempt in June to dislodge the Germans from the Messines Ridge was a complete success, but the main assault north-eastward, which began at the end of July, quickly became a dogged struggle against determined opposition and the rapidly deteriorating weather. The campaign finally came to a close in November with the capture of Passchendaele. The German offensive of March 1918 met with some initial success, but was eventually checked and repulsed in a combined effort by the Allies in September. The battles of the Ypres Salient claimed many lives on both sides and it quickly became clear that the commemoration of members of the Commonwealth forces with no known grave would have to be divided between several different sites. The site of the Menin Gate was chosen because of the hundreds of thousands of men who passed through it on their way to the battlefields. It commemorates those of all Commonwealth nations, except New Zealand, who died in the Salient, in the case of United Kingdom casualties before 16 August 1917 (with some exceptions). Those United Kingdom and New Zealand servicemen who died after that date are named on the memorial at Tyne Cot, a site which marks the furthest point reached by Commonwealth forces in Belgium until nearly the end of the war. Other New Zealand casualties are commemorated on memorials at Buttes New British Cemetery and Messines Ridge British Cemetery.First NameCharlesLast NameGlennieFamilySingleDate of Birth25 September 1881Place of BirthLinwood, ChristchurchDate of Death12 October 1917Place of DeathYpres, BelgiumCause of DeathKilled in actionAge at Death35
He enlisted on 6th February 1917 and was assigned to the 25th Reinforcements, Canterbury Infantry Regiment, C Company. He embarked on 26th April 1917 on board the SS Turakina arriving in Devonport and Sling Camp on 20th July. He left for France on 5th September arriving at base depot in Etaples on 9th. He joined 1st Battalion Canterbury Regiment in the field on 16th September barely a month before the disastrous action at Passchendaele on 12 October. He was declared missing and a court of enquiry on 13 April 1918 decided he had been killed in action that day, aged 35. The rain that had turned the battlefield into a quagmire drowned many and hid their bodies. Charles’s body was not found or identified and his name is inscribed on the Tyne Cot Memorial to the Missing, Panel 2. In New Zealand Charles is remembered on the Tai Tapu War Memorial.
The Tyne Cot Memorial is one of four memorials to the missing in Belgian Flanders which cover the area known as the Ypres Salient. Broadly speaking, the Salient stretched from Langemarck in the north to the northern edge in Ploegsteert Wood in the south, but it varied in area and shape throughout the war. The Salient was formed during the First Battle of Ypres in October and November 1914, when a small British Expeditionary Force succeeded in securing the town before the onset of winter, pushing the German forces back to the Passchendaele Ridge. The Second Battle of Ypres began in April 1915 when the Germans released poison gas into the Allied lines north of Ypres. This was the first time gas had been used by either side and the violence of the attack forced an Allied withdrawal and a shortening of the line of defence. There was little more significant activity on this front until 1917, when in the Third Battle of Ypres an offensive was mounted by Commonwealth forces to divert German attention from a weakened French front further south. The initial attempt in June to dislodge the Germans from the Messines Ridge was a complete success, but the main assault north-eastward, which began at the end of July, quickly became a dogged struggle against determined opposition and the rapidly deteriorating weather. The campaign finally came to a close in November with the capture of Passchendaele. The German offensive of March 1918 met with some initial success, but was eventually checked and repulsed in a combined effort by the Allies in September. The battles of the Ypres Salient claimed many lives on both sides and it quickly became clear that the commemoration of members of the Commonwealth forces with no known grave would have to be divided between several different sites. The site of the Menin Gate was chosen because of the hundreds of thousands of men who passed through it on their way to the battlefields. It commemorates those of all Commonwealth nations, except New Zealand, who died in the Salient, in the case of United Kingdom casualties before 16 August 1917 (with some exceptions). Those United Kingdom and New Zealand servicemen who died after that date are named on the memorial at Tyne Cot, a site which marks the furthest point reached by Commonwealth forces in Belgium until nearly the end of the war. Other New Zealand casualties are commemorated on memorials at Buttes New British Cemetery and Messines Ridge British Cemetery.First NameCharlesLast NameGlennieFamilySingleDate of Birth25 September 1881Place of BirthLinwood, ChristchurchDate of Death12 October 1917Place of DeathYpres, BelgiumCause of DeathKilled in actionAge at Death35
Connections
CollectionSoldiers of Selwyn World War OneImageTai Tapu War MemorialMore InformationAuckland War Memorial Cenotaph
Military Service
Memorial or CemeteryTyne Cot Memorial to the MissingTai Tapu War MemorialOccupation before EnlistingTimber merchantRegiment or ServiceCanterbury Infantry RegimentEnlistment Details6th February 1917Service Number47324 Rank Last HeldPrivateEmbarkation26th April 1917TransportTurakinaReinforcement25th ReinforcementsCountryNew Zealand
Attribution
Researched ByL. M. Seaton
Private Charles Glennie. Selwyn Stories, accessed 08/11/2025, https://selwynstories.selwynlibraries.co.nz/nodes/view/398
