BURDETT,
CHARLES PLANTAGENET BALFOUR BORN 26 JANUARY 1890
Charles Plantagenet Balfour Burdett was born in the
United States on 26 January 1890. The University of Durham has researched the life of Charles and hence much of what we know comes from their Roll of Honour Record.
2nd Lt. C.P.B. Burdett (Ref: MIA 1/338)
He was the third child of John E Burdett and Adelaide Victoria Stanley Burdett (née Leatham b 1859). John, a Canadian citizen, was a mechanical engineer working with motor cycles. Both John and Adelaide were originally from Ireland. John was born in 1856 in Newbliss, County Monaghan, whilst Adelaide was born in 1859 in Upper Langfield, County Tyrone. John and Adelaide had three more children, John Head Burdett (b 1884), Sybil Mary Burdett (b 1886 in Shell Mouth, Manitoba, Canada) and Cyril French Burdett (b 1896 in Lewisham London). John and Adelaide returned to Fifth Panel
Liverpool, England on the RMS Etruria in 1893, and then settled in Middlesex. Cyril was born after their return from Canada. John established a Cycle and Motor Engineering business under the name of Maxwell and Burdett. Charles Burdett entered School on 12 January 1898, aged 7, but left after only a few months on 3 February 1898, aged 8. The records remark ‘was allowed to attend on a visit to Clifton’. Charles’ brother, John Head, also attended the School from 19 September 1893 to December 1898. At that time, the School records showed their guardian was their Aunt, Miss Louisa Burdett, of 6 Alma Road Clifton. In 1911, Charles started a degree in Theology at the University of Durham, graduating with a BA in 1913. He was a keen sportsman taking an active part in hockey, football and rowing. He was due to take the curacy of St Thomas, Stepney, but on the outbreak of war enlisted in September 1914. By 12 August 1915, he was a temporary Second Lieutenant in the Royal Fusiliers (the City of London Regiment), 15th Battalion. This was a reserve battalion that stayed on home soil. Later he transferred to the regular forces and attached to the 9th Battalion arrived in France on 9 March 1916. He was killed on 7 July 1916, aged 26, during an attack on the village of Ovillers, part of the Battle of the Somme. His commanding officer wrote to his parents, “Your son…was killed as he was gallantly leading his platoon to the attack. I cannot say too much about his calmness under fire. The whole 19
