Darnell, Charles Verdon
Second Lieutenant
1st Battalion Connaught Rangers transferred to
25th Squadron, Royal Flying Corps
Killed in action on Wednesday 25 April 1917 (aged 22)
No known grave
Commemorated:
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Arras Flying Services Memorial, France
Cheltenham College Chapel Memorial Plaque
Bangor and District War Memorial
Royal British Legion (Bangor Branch) Memorial Plaque
Comrades of the Great War (Bangor Branch) Album in North Down Museum
North of Ireland Cricket Club (includes members who played Rugby Football)
Royal North of Ireland Yacht Club (RNIYC)
Royal Belfast Golf Club, Holywood
Bangor Parish Church of Ireland Church (St Comgall’s)
Credence Table in Helen’s Bay Church of Ireland Church
BIOGRAPHY
The birth of Charles Verdon Darnell was registered in the first quarter of 1895 in Torrington, Devon, England and he was the only child of Charles Knapp Darnell (born in Hill Morton, Warwickshire) and Annie Verdon Darnell (born in Scotland).
The marriage between Charles Knapp Darnell and Annie Verdon (sometimes Verden) Stenhouse (nee Anderson), a divorcee, was registered in the second quarter of 1892 in West Bromwich, Staffordshire. Annie Verdon Anderson and William Charles Stenhouse, a solicitor, were married on 10 November 1885 in Edinburgh and they had one child. They lived in Dunfermline and, in February 1892, Annie eloped with Charles Knapp Darnell. William Charles Stenhouse and his wife divorced in March 1892.
Charles Knapp Darnell was a general medical practitioner, and in 1901 the Darnell family lived at 60 Main Street, Bangor.
In June 1906, in the Dufferin Memorial Hall, Dr Darnell was presented with an illuminated address, a silver rose bowl, and a purse containing 100 guineas ‘by his many well-wishers as a token of the esteem in which they hold him both as a private gentleman and as a medical man, and as an encouragement to him to realise that after the trying experience which he has had he still retains the confidence of his wide circle of patients and friends’. The ‘trying experience’ was a case brought against Dr Darnell alleging negligence in treating a patient with mumps in 1904. In March 1906 the case was settled in favour of the plaintiff (£250 damages for personal injuries).
In 1911 the Darnell family was living at 30 Hamilton Road, Bangor.
In January 1915 it was reported in the County Down Spectator that Civil Surgeon Charles Knapp Darnell had taken over medical charge of the Ulster Division Cyclist Company stationed in Bangor.
Charles Verdon Darnell was educated at Arnold House School in Llanddulas; at Cheltenham College in Gloucestershire and at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, Berkshire. From there he obtained his commission in the Connaught Rangers and in 1917 he transferred as a Pilot to the 25th Squadron Royal Flying Corps.
Second Lieutenant Charles Verdon Darnell was 22 when he was shot down on 25 April 1917 and it was reported that he had been attacking a German observation balloon at Willerval in France and his aeroplane crashed to the ground. He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Arras Flying Services Memorial, Pas de Calais, France. This memorial is located in the Faubourg-d’Amiens Cemetery, Arras.
Also aboard the aircraft was Air Mechanic 2nd Class George Pawley who was 19 when he died and he was buried in Orchard Dump Cemetery, Arleux-en-Gohelle (Grave III. C. 9).
Second Lieutenant Charles Verdon Darnell is also commemorated on Cheltenham College Chapel Memorial Plaque; on Bangor and District War Memorial; on the Royal British Legion (Bangor Branch) Memorial Plaque; in the Comrades of the Great War (Bangor Branch) Album in North Down Museum (Page 39); on the North of Ireland Cricket Club Memorial Plaque (includes those members of the Club who played Rugby Football); on the RNIYC Memorial Plaque; on the Memorial Plaques in Bangor Parish Church of Ireland Church (St Comgall’s) and on the credence table in Helen’s Bay Church of Ireland Church which bears the following inscription:
THIS
CREDENCE TABLE WAS
ERECTED BY MAJOR F.G. HILL QC RGA
SEPTEMBER 1914 TO JULY 1919
TO THE GLORY OF GOD AND IN MEMORY OF THE
OFFICERS WHO SERVED UNDER HIM AT GREY POINT
BATTERY AND GAVE THEIR LIVES FOR KING
AND COUNTRY IN THE GREAT WAR
ROYAL GARRISON ARTILLERY
CAPT W.B. PEPPER LIEUT C.D.D. SWAIN
LIEUT D. O’RORKE ALSO LIEUT C.V. DARNELL
LIEUT L.H. McKISACK ATTACHED RFC
ATTACHED INFANTRY OFFICERS
CAPT W.A. VERSCHOLE ROYAL IRISH FUSILIERS
LIEUT O.B. MACAUSLAND INDIAN ARMY
LIEUT W. LA NAUZE ROYAL IRISH RIFLES
Charles Verdon Darnell’s father died on 10 April 1942 (aged 73) and his address at that time was 15 Tennyson Avenue, Bangor.
Charles Verdon Darnell’s mother died on 25 April 1951, and she was cremated on 28 April 1951. She was buried in the Anderson family grave in Dean Cemetery 1, Midlothian.
[The North of Ireland Football Club (members played Rugby Football as opposed to Soccer) was founded by members of the North of Ireland Cricket Club and the North of Ireland Cricket Club Memorial Plaque commemorates members of both Clubs. Members of the Football Club were also members of the Cricket Club but not all members of the Cricket Club were members of the Football Club.]