Charles William Wareham

Story:
Charles William Wareham was born in Iwerne Minster, Shaftesbury, Dorset, in 1888 the son of William Wareham and Anna Maria Wareham (nee Coombes).  He lived all his life except for Military Service in the Iwerne Minster area.    He married Ethel Mary Burden in Tarrant Hinton, Dorset, on 23 Oct 1912.    He had enlisted with the Duke of Edinburgh's (Wiltshire) Regiment as a Territorial on 6 Dec 1915 and was mobilized on 11 Feb 1916 as a Private (Service Nos. 24259 & 61091).  He served in the UK only transferring successively to the King's Liverpool Regiment and then the East Lancashire Regiment (attached to the 309th Home Service Company of the Labour Corps) (Service No. 171356).  By this time he held the rank of Corporal.  He was discharged as being physically unfit due to scepsis of the index finger on his right hand which, after treatment at the Cambridge Military Hospital, Aldershot, Hampshire, was declared to be useless for military services to continue.  His discharge took place on 26 Feb 1919 and he received a limited pension.  There are no medal records but his service records show he was entitled to at least the Victory Medal.  The 1921 Census shows he was living at The Drove, Iwerne Minster, working as a Rabbit Trapper and it is where he died on 23 Oct 1924.   His brothers, John Wareham and Harry James Wareham, also served in the conflict.