This article was first published by the Pirton Magazine in October 2005, and is provided courtesy of the magazine, the editor Derek Jarrett. Further acknowledgments appear at the end of the article.

In writing about the men whose names are on our War Memorial, there are great variations in the amount of material available on which to build their stories. With some of these men killed in the First World War, parts of their story have been learnt from family descendants. Information has also been available through articles or snippets which appeared in local papers; strangely, the war-time parish magazine carried little about these individual men. Other information can be gleaned from the remarkable book of contemporary cuttings which is held by Denise Marshall. Official documents, such as census studies and baptismal or marriage records, are also helpful. However, with some of the victims of the First World War, little information has emerged.

For Private George Charlick, who was killed in the final year of the War, little is known. He was not born in the village, didn't spend his childhood here nor attended the village school. Apart from the briefest mention of one in a Parish magazine, we find no reference in any local paper, nor has contact been established with any descendant. Indeed, apart from his name being on our memorial, his association with Pirton remains a partial mystery.

It can only be hoped that in writing the little that is known, someone in the future will be able to contribute more. Certainly, the census details for 1911 (to be made available in 2011) will reveal a little more, for the known story of both George Charlick virtually stops with the last census made available – in 1901. That is, apart from the awful detail of both their deaths in 1918. Let us recount the little that is known so far.

Private George Thomas Charlick

By the 1880’s the population of London was rapidly extending into the countryside and Enfield was one such thriving community. It was there, that George Thomas Charlick was born in the summer of 1887, the year in which the Queen celebrated her golden jubilee.

His father, after whom he carried the same Christian name, was 26 when young George was born. His wife, Elizabeth, two years older, had grown up in Bedford. Young George had at least one sibling, Ernest who was two years older. Also living with the family was Alfred, an uncle to young George. Both father and uncle were gunsmiths, but quite what that implies remains uncertain. Maybe they managed, or simply worked in, an establishment for repairing guns. Sometimes the occupation on census forms leaves much to the imagination – some title had to be given!

Some time in the next ten years the family moved to Essex, close to the boundary with Kent. By 1901, George Charlick Snr had changed his work and ran, and partly owned, a public house. George Jnr was by then 13. His older brother Ernest seems to have moved out of the Charlick home, but young George had a brother, 12 year old Edward, and a sister, Louisa, who was nine.

Of George’s childhood and schooling nothing is known. The years at the turn of the century were ones of people becoming more mobile and sometime between 1901 and 1918, at least some of the family moved to Pirton. It may be that as the parents lived in our village, George’s name was engraved on our War Memorial; whether or not he lived in Pirton we simply do not know. The fact that George joined the London Regiment, living in Rosebery Avenue (Tottenham) at the time, suggests that he may not have moved to our village at all.

No doubt he visited his parents who had well settled in Pirton, for we know (from last month’s reported fracas with Henry Chamberlain) that George Senior became a special constable in the village. By this time young George, now in his twenties, had enlisted as Private George Charlick, 452330 2/11th London Regiment.

Of his war-time we know nothing, simply – and tragically – that he was killed in action in fighting on the Somme on 17th June 1918, aged 31. George’s parents were left grieving with the ever increasing number of families in their adopted village, Pirton. He is commemorated on the Pozieres Memorial, Somme, France (panel 89).

His parents, George and Elizabeth, stayed in Pirton for the rest of their lives, almost certainly living In Royal Oak Lane. Their oldest son, Ernest Nugent Charlick, became a policeman and in preparation for his retirement, built a house on the edge of the village, Northmead in Holwell Road where the Clark family now live. George Senior died in 1929. We know that Ernest, who married Minnie, had a daughter called Una whom we believe may still be alive. Unfortunately, we have not been able to trace her. After Ernest’s wife died, he sold the house to Margot and Michael Anderson in July 1946, and lodged with Dora Walker, whom he later married, at 16 Royal Oak Lane (now the home of Beth & Peter Harding). Ernest died in 1967; the last known member of the Charlick family living in the village.

George senior, his wife Elizabeth (died 1945) and Ernest Nugent and his first wife (died 1943) are all buried in St. Mary’s churchyard.

Points of contact are:
Pirton Website Jonty Wild via jontywild@pirton.org.uk

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