The Queens Own Royal West Kent Regiment

Lance Corporal C R J Packard

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Lance Corporal Charles Robert James PACKARD, G/4340, 8th Battalion,  Queens Own Royal West Kent Regiment, killed in action, Flanders France, 2nd September 1916.

1888 September Quarter, born Ipswich, Suffolk, son of Charles &  Elizabeth Packard, 8 Church Road, Gillingham, Kent / 14 Church Road, Gillingham, Kent

Child - Edith Barnes (illegitimate), born 2nd November 1907, Rochester, Kent.

1908, Medway, Kent Registration District, married Emily Edith M Barnes.

Children - Charles William Joseph Packard, born 16th August 1909, Gillingham, Kent; Ernest F F Packard, born 1911, Medway, Kent Registration District, died age 6, 1918 March, Medway, Kent Registration District.

1911 Census - 5 Theodore Place, Green Street, Gillingham, Kent - Charles Packard, head, age 23, married, coal porter, worker, born Ipswich, Suffolk; Edith Packard, wife, age 23, married 4 years, 2 children, both still alive, born Gillingham, Kent; Edith Packard, daughter, age 3, born Gillingham, Kent; Charles Packard, son, age 1, born Gillingham, Kent.

27th May 1912, Gillingham, Kent, Emily Edith M Packard, died, age 24,  Mrs J Crull, sister of Soldier & Guardian of illegitimate child, Edith Barnes, 46 Fore Street, Gillingham, Kent.

Enlisted Chatham, Kent, age 26 years & 152 days, height 5ft 6½ inches, weight 143lbs, fresh complexion, blue eyes, fair hair. Formerly general labourer. Widower.

Home, 9th November 1914 to 29th August 1915; BEF, 30th August 1915 to  2nd September 1916.

9th November 1914, enlisted; 10th November 1914, posted Depot, Royal West Kent Regiment; 14th November 1914, posted 8th Battalion, Royal West Kent Regiment; 30th August 1915, posted BEF & embarked; 8th November 1915, appointed unpaid Lance Corporal; 23rd December 1915, appointed paid Lance Corporal.

24th April 1917, pension awarded to the children, of 15/- a week from 2nd April 1917 increasing to 20/- a week from 4th April 1917, payable to the guardians.

20th July 1917, War Office memo, medals to be sent to mother, Mrs Elizabeth Packard, to be held in trust for the deceased soldiers son, Charles, and should be handed to the child on attaining an age to appreciate their value.

Commemorated at Thiepval Memorial, Pier & Face 11C, France.