Wilson, Charles Hugh Parke (Charles)
Private
No. 30421, Canadian Army Service Corps (CASC)
Died of influenza on Monday 4 November 1918 (aged 35)
Buried:
Vancouver (Mountain View) Cemetery, Canada (Grave 2. 45. 14)
Commemorated:
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Canadian Virtual War Memorial (CVWM)
Canadian First World War Book of Remembrance
Portaferry Presbyterian Church
Family grave headstone in Ballymanish Cemetery Portaferry
BIOGRAPHY
Charles Hugh Parke Wilson was born on 14 September 1883 in Portaferry and he was a son of Samuel and Annie Wilson (nee Parke, sometimes Park) who were married on 21 March 1879 in Cloughey Presbyterian Church.
The Wilson family lived in Market Square, Portaferry.
Samuel Wilson was a timber and hardware merchant and he and Annie had four children:
James William Albert (born 7 February 1880 in Portaferry)
Madeline Seratia Elizabeth (born 6 June 1881 in Portaferry; died 31 August 1906 aged 25)
Charles Hugh Parke (born 14 September 1883 in Portaferry)
Victor Samuel (born 14 December 1884 in Portaferry)
The children were all baptised in Portaferry Presbyterian Church.
Samuel Wilson died of heart disease on 2 May 1914 (aged 73) and Annie Wilson died of heart disease on 15 February 1919 (aged 72).
Charles Wilson worked as a farmer before he moved to Canada and there he worked as a teamster (driver). He enlisted on 23 September 1914 at Valcartier, Quebec and it was noted in his attestation papers that he was 5 feet 9 inches tall with a dark complexion, blue eyes and dark brown hair and that he had previous service in the 15th Light Horse, Calgary. The last joint of the second finger on his right hand was missing. At attestation he declared his date of birth to be 14 September 1884 and he used Charles as his forename.
Private Charles Wilson (No. 30421) served in the Corps Depot with the Canadian Army Service Corps and on 6 February 1917 he was admitted to No. 3 Canadian General Hospital, Boulogne with a fractured left tibia (caused by an accidental fall). He was transferred from there to St John’s VAD Hospital, Chester and he was discharged from hospital on 26 May 1917. On 30 June 1917 he sustained a broken left ankle and was in hospital for another month, before being discharged on 23 July 1917. His next-of-kin was Dr J.W.A.Wilson, 27 Old Market, Wisbach, Cambridge.
Private Charles Wilson (No. 30421) was discharged from the Army on 9 February 1918 at Calgary, Alberta ‘being medically unfit for further war service’ – VDH, chronic bronchitis and weakness of left leg following fracture. He was 35 when he died of influenza on 4 November 1918.
Private Charles Wilson (No. 30421) was buried in Vancouver (Mountain View) Cemetery, Canada and he is commemorated on the Canadian Virtual War Memorial (CVWM); in the Canadian First World War Book of Remembrance (Page 524); in Portaferry Presbyterian Church and on the family grave headstone in Ballymanish Cemetery Portaferry where the engraver inscribed Hugh Parke as his forenames.