Name

Charles Stonehouse

Designation
Assistant Architect
Born
1882
Place of Birth
Accrington
Died
1916

  • Born                      15 May 1882 at Accrington.
  • Died                       1 July 1916 – killed in action
  • Memorial             Thiepval Memorial - Pier and Face 6 C.
  • Memorial             Blackburn Old Cemetery
  • Burial                     Serre Road Cemetery No.3, Somme, France

The son of Francis Stonehouse, draper, and his wife Mary Ann, Charles Stonehouse was born on 15 May 1882 at Blackburn. He was articled to Briggs and Wolstenholme of Blackburn from 1899 to 1903 and remained a further year as assistant. From 1905 to 1908 he was employed as assistant to N Harley Hacking of Manchester before moving to the office of John T Proffitt of Walkden. He passed the RIBA qualifying examination in 1909 and was elected Associate of the RIBA on 28 February 1910 proposed by F G Briggs, H V Wolstenholme and P Ogden.

On 17 September 1914 he enlisted in the Accrington Pals as a Private Stonehouse and was promoted to Lance Corporal before being commissioned with the rank of 2nd Lieutenant on 18th January 1915. He was further promoted to full Lieutenant on 20th June of that year. Sent to the front, with the 11th Battalion, East Lancashire Regiment, Stonehouse led a platoon of "W" Company as part of the attack on Serre on 1 July 1916 and was killed close to enemy lines.

Charles Stonehouse was commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial (Pier and Face 6 C), being the only full Lieutenant of the Accrington Pals killed at Serre whose body remained unidentified after the war.

However, one grave only in the Serre cemeteries was marked as being that of an unknown Lieutenant of the East Lancashire Regiment - grave B.24 in plot 1 of Serre Road Cemetery No.3. In 2017, the Ministry of Defence accepted evidence that the remains of Charles Stonehouse were buried in this grave. A new headstone was provided by the CWGC and a rededication service held on 3 July 2018.