Served in the Coldstream Guards and the South Staffordshire Regiment
Enlistment in 1st Battalion Coldstream Guards and service in Boer War 1899-1902
The release of World War I pension records on the Ancestry website has been really helpful in terms of understanding how my great uncle, Charles Corns, came to serve in the First World War when aged over 35. The pension records clearly show him joining the1st Battalion Coldstream Guards in 1898 at the age of 19 years and 11 months. His previous occupation is given as railway porter. He also declares that he is serving in the militia - 3rd Battalion, South Staffordshire Regiment. He signed up for 7 years, undertaking to serve in the First Class of the Army Reserves for a further 5 years.
In the attestation documents he is listed as five feet seven and a half inches tall, weighing 142 pounds, with a fair complexion, blue eyes and light brown hair.
He joined the regiment in London on 22nd April 1898, being stationed at the regiment's base in Aldershot until March 1899. His military history sheet shows that he was later stationed in Gibraltar from 10th March 1899 until 27th October 1899 and then mobilised to South Africa from 28th October 1899 until 4th October 1902. The Coldstream Guards website notes that by November 1899 both the 1st and 2nd Battalions were encamped near the Orange River Station and played a very distinguished role in the campaign that later followed.
Charles Corns was appointed Lance Corporal on 25th March 1899 and promoted to Corporal on 25th April 1902. However, on 14th July 1902 he was convicted of drunkeness and leaving his guard whilst on active service. He was imprisoned and returned to duty as a Private on 8th September 1903. He continued to serve until the expiration of his army service on 18th April 1905 and was discharged from the reserves on 17th April 1910.
The picture shows Charles Corns at his nephew's wedding in 1917, a year before he died and when he had been blinded in his right eye.
Enlistment in 3rd Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment and service in First World War 1914-15
On 11th August 1914, Charles Corns re-enlisted into the Army, joining 3rd Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment at Lichfield on the following day. He was posted to the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force on 2nd July 1915.
On 28th July 1915 at Achi Baba, Gallipoli, he was wounded in the right eye by a ricochet bullet and was admitted to the Red Cross Hospital, Giza, Cairo on 5th August 1915. He set sail for England from Port Said on 23rd August 1915 on the hospital ship Massilia and was discharged on 10th July 1916 as being no longer physically fit for war service. A medical board report dated 22nd June 1916 says that he is blind in the right eye and is also complaining of trouble in his sound left eye, which is watering and smarts at times and the sight is growing weaker. The report also comments that he has had a great deal of rheumatism lately. At the time of discharge, he is listed as being in the 7th Battalion (depot) and his trade is given as ironworker.
Charles Corns died on 15th January 1918, aged 40. His death certificate says that he is of no occupation but was formerly a coal wheeler at the ironworks. It gives his cause of death as general paralysis and pneumonia. However, the inclusion of his name on the memorial window at St John's church, Swindon, Staffordshire indicates that, as far as the local community was concerned, his death was a result of the injuries received on active service. He is not listed on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission's website and his grave at St John's church is unmarked.
