Friday 1 May 2015

Whittaker, Charles - Private (242770)

Pte Charles Whittaker
Kings Liverpool Regiment,
Died 31st July 1917
Age 28

Tyne Cot Cemetery

Newspaper Report:

FALLEN BROTHERS - THE PROMISING CAREER OF A YOUNG HASLINGDEN ARTIST

A Haslingden soldier with a cultivated taste in drawing and painting was killed in action on August 1st 1917
A cutlooker at Laneside Mill, the late Rifleman Charles Whittaker showed great promise in drawing examinations at Haslingden Technical School, and, as his sense of colour developed, he began to use the brush with considerable local success. Several of his oil-paintings were hung in different shop windows, and though landscapes were his favourite subject, he was not without the artist's imagination, which can even find beauty in such things as cotton mills, and in putting some of these on canvas he revealed the spirit and the influence of his industrial life and environment.
He was 28 years of age, and enlisted in September 1916. His wife used to live at 6 Whitaker's Court, Deardengate, but is now with her father, Mr. Cuddy at 36 Hargreaves Street.  
The deceased is on the roll of honour of St. Mary's Catholic Church, and his brother, Private Jack Whittaker, fell in action in October 1916.

Newspaper Memorials:

In loving memory of Rfn Charles Whittaker (No. 242770, King's Liverpool Regiment) who was killed in France on July 31st 1917, aged 28 years.

"Peaceful be thy rest, dear Charlie,
It is sweet to breathe thy name;
In life we loved you very dearly,
In death we do the same,
Too dearly loved in life to be forgotten in death.

From mother, sister and brothers.

"now a loving voice is silent,
And a true heart ceases to beat;
How we miss that well-known footstep,
And the form we used to greet.

Ever his memory will be cherished,
In our hearts a tender spot,
For his many acts of kindness,
That will never be forgot.

Tis only those who have lost can tell,
The pain and grief of a last farewell,
Of a loving brother, true and kind,
With the beautiful memory he has left behind".

"His duty nobly done."

From his sorrowing Mother, Sister, and Brothers.