Private. 257th Area Employment Company. Labour Corps. Regimental number: 378783.
Previously 84th Training Reserve (Service number 59904), and 87th Training Reserve. (Service number 69633.)
Early life:
Charles’s parents were Tom Hymas and Margaret Ellen Hymas née Scott. They were married at St. Peter’s Church (Bradford Cathedral) in Bradford on the 3rd August 1889. Tom was a 24 year old Stone Mason’s labourer and Margaret was a 27 year old coffee tavern assistant. Both were living at 130, Rosse Street in the Manningham area of Bradford.
Charles was born in Thornton at Bradford in 1890 and his birth was registered there in the first quarter of that year.
In the 1891 census Charles was aged just one and living with his parents at Ackton in Featherstone. Father Tom aged 27 was a farmer’s man and Margaret aged 28 was at home. Their children were Lynda aged four and Charles E. aged one. Also living with them was Lena M. Scott, a visitor aged 14.
By 1901 they had moved to Bradford and were living at 22, Woodbine Terrace in Idle and Tom was aged 34 and a Pavior dresser (road) labourer. They would have been making pavement flagstones, kerbings and possibly setts for the roads. Margaret was 38 and looking after the family home. Lynda was aged 14 and a worsted spinner. Charles was aged eleven and there was Dixon aged eight and Fred aged five with the youngest being Dorothy A, aged just ten months.
Forward another ten years to the 1911 census and we see them at Oakworth. Tom was 44 and a sewage farm labourer for the Urban District Council, Margaret was aged 46 and at home. They have been married for 22 years and had ten children, three of whom had died leaving them with seven. Charles is 21 and a Boiler attendant at a shuttle peg works; Dixon is eighteen and an apprentice overlooker at a worsted mill; Fred is 15 and a worsted doffer making worsted yarns, Dorothy Ann is aged ten and along with Ethel aged six, is attending school. The youngest is J. Richard, who is aged three.
In 1916 Charles married Amelia Bell Withers at Rylstone in North Yorkshire. He was aged 26 and a porter living in Hetton, Amelia is aged 23 and a spinster living at Cracoe. They were married in St. Peter’s parish church of Rylstone on the 19th of February. Visitors to the area today might be forgiven for wondering how a porter might be working at Hetton but at that time there was a ‘Grassington Branch’ railway line running between Hetton and Cracoe, all the way North to Threshfield and Grassington with passenger services, so he was likely to be working there. Nowadays this rail line is only used by the Swinden quarry and only transports aggregates.
Their first child Dorothy, was born on the 13th November 1916.
War service:
Charles enlisted for General Service on 5th May 1917 at Keighley (Skipton). He was aged 27 years and 113 days and was a station porter for the Midland Railway. His home address was Rose Cottage at Rylstone. He was sent to join the 87th Training Reserve at Halifax on the same date. His TR/5 regimental number was 59904. His 84th Training reserve number was 378783. Amelia was his next of kin living at the same address in Rylstone. Charles was 5 feet 5 inches tall with a 38 inch chest. He had a fresh complexion, brown hair and brown eyes. A separate note in his records indicates he had deformed feet and an additional examination was required (15th May 1917) This appears to be that he had one flat foot (the right foot.)
Charles was in training from the 5th of May to the 20th of September 1917 when he was posted to France.
He was transferred to no. 257 Area Employment Company on 8th October 1917 and when he was taken ill and moved to 7, General Hospital at St. Omer. Whilst still on active service, he died on the 13th of December 1917. The cause of death was Ludwig’s angina and septic pleurisy. Apparently Ludwig’s Angina is a cellulitis based throat infection which can affect the airway. Amelia was notified of his death by telegraph on the 29th of December 1917.
After his death, Charles was buried in grave 25 of row F in plot IV of Longuenesse (St. Omer) Souvenir Cemetery at Pas de Calais in France. This is a Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery.
Remembrance:
Charles is of course remembered at his grave in France but he is also remembered on the Oakworth Wesleyan Roll of Honour at Oakworth Methodist Church in the village. Also listed are F. Hymas and R. Hymas who might be his brothers Fred and Dixon, who did both serve in the war.
They are all in the served and returned section and oddly, Charles is not in the list of the fallen.
Charles is also named on the Oakworth Great War Centenary roll of honour on display at Oakworth Community Hall.
Charles is also commemorated on the Midland Railway War Memorial at Derby and on the Rylstone War Memorial in St. Peter’s Church and the Cracoe War Memorial which is an obelisk at the top of Cracoe Fell.
He is not named on any other war memorial in the Worth Valley, but since Amelia was living at Rylstone, she would not have been aware of the Oakworth memorial being built in 1938.
Post war:
Charles was awarded the British War Medal and the Victory Medal for his war service. These were received by Amelia on 29th November 1921. She also received a memorial scroll and bronze war memorial plaque for Charles on 15th May 1920, both would be inscribed with his name.
She also received his remaining Army pay in a sum of £6 18s 9d on 24th June 1918 and a further payment of £3 for the war gratuity, which was paid to her on 26th November 1919.
A Dependant’s pension was applied for and Amelia was awarded a weekly payment of 20 shillings and 5 pence for herself and daughter Dorothy. Dorothy’s element would stop on her 16th Birthday on 13th November 1932 but Amelia’s pension was for life. Her address for this was their home at Rose Cottage in Rylstone, near Skipton.
In the 1921 census Amelia was living at Rylstone. She was aged 26, widowed and on home duties.
Their daughter Dorothy was also here aged four. There was also Jesse Ibbotson was boarding with them, which would have helped greatly with the household budget. He was a joiner from Keighley aged 28 and employed by Renton Joiners in Hetton.
In 1924, Amelia remarried to Jesse Ibbotson and their marriage was registered at Skipton in the second quarter of the year.
She was recorded in the 1939 Register as Jane A. Ibbotson and was living at ‘The Green’ in Rylstone with her husband Jesse and two sons: David (born 16th June 1924) and George (born 10th September 1926. There are several redacted entries, so we don’t know if anyone else was living with them.
Jane died at the age of 80 in 1974 and her death was registered at Staincliffe in the first quarter of the year.
Dorothy was not there though, because she was aged about 23 and employed as a Bookbinder for a stationers in the town. She was living at 11, Weston Lane in Otley with the Goodall Family who were George and Linda with their son Jack. There is one redacted entry for this address so this may be for another Goodall child.
Dorothy married John McDonough in 1943, registered at Wharfedale in the second quarter of the year.
Dorothy died aged 66 in 1983 with her death registered at Staincliffe in the second quarter of that year.
Information sources:
West Yorkshire, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1813-1935
England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1837-1915
1891 England Census
1901 England Census
1911 England Census
North Yorkshire, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1940
England & Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1916-2005
British Army World War I Service Records, 1914-1920
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Soldiers Died in the Great War, 1914-1919
Army Registers of Soldiers’ Effects, 1901-1929
British Army World War I Medal Rolls Index Cards, 1914-1920
World War I Service Medal and Award Rolls, 1914-1920
World War I Pension Ledgers and Index Cards, 1914-1923
1921 England Census
1939 England and Wales Register
England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1916-2007
