2nd Lieutenant Charles Lewarne Teape
9TH DEVONSHIRE REGIMENT
TO THE NORTH OF ALEC Forbes and his battalion, another young officer was also among those assaulting one of Haig’s designated key objectives. Charles Lewarne Teape was the only son of a clergyman, who presided over the church of St Michael’s in Devonport. Born in Surbiton and educated at St John’s School, Leatherhead, Charles was a keen cricketer in the second XI, with ‘a good eye’ but a poor fielding record. As an academic he was more successful and was entered for Pembroke College, Cambridge, for 1915. Instead of going up to university though, Charles applied for a commission at the age of 18. It was quite some time before he arrived at the front. After first training at St Albans he then went on to become a bombing instructor. It was a role in which he excelled and Charles was consequently sent to be adjutant to the commandant of the Southern Area Grenade School at Lyndhurst, where he was most diligent and well-liked by his fellow officers. It was not until mid-August 1916 that Charles Teape was sent to France and joined the 9th Devons on the Somme. He found a daunting task waiting for him.
2nd Lieutenant Charles Teape. (Authors’ collection)
Having watched his army fail to seize desired objectives on 3rd September, and with positions still outstanding that were deemed essential for the onset of the rapidly approaching offensive in the middle of the month, Rawlinson reacted by doing exactly what he had been warned against. Despite strict instructions not to waste resources on small-scale attacks, he now ordered these on local targets that were still outstanding, namely Ginchy, which the Bindoff twins’ division had entered, but failed to hold on to the day before. His army began to repeat the same pattern of behaviour that had been causing Haig to lose patience with his subordinate.
On 4th September Charles Teape and his battalion would be sent up to try to secure Ginchy once and for all. The Germans had now reoccupied it in some force. The Devons had spent 3rd September in reserve before orders arrived in the evening to move as quickly as possible by bus to Mametz. As the night wore on, Charles and his comrades bumped across broken ground on the way to do battle.
In the early hours the Devons were collecting picks, shovels and water from Bernafay Wood as they hurried on, lurching frustrated around a quarry and Mametz looking for misplaced bombs. The situation was uncertain but British troops apparently still remained inside Ginchy and as a result there would be no artillery bombardment to support them and help silence the German occupants. There was simply too much of a risk that it would inflict casualties on its own soldiers. Charles was ordered him to seize one of two trenches off the south-east corner of Delville Wood, standing directly en route to the village, and from here he and his company attacked the southern end of Ginchy.
Troops advance on Ginchy. (Authors’ collection)
As soon as they moved off, No. 2 Company’s commanding officer was struck down and Charles swiftly and coolly took over. He seemed impervious to the shocking bombardment being levelled on the Devons as he quite calmly led the whole company on towards its objective. The battalion managed to get to the outskirts of the village, but the German machine-gun and shrapnel fire was so accurate and so devastating that they could get no further. Charles had begun to reconnoitre their surroundings when a shell flew into Ginchy and burst right underneath him. He was killed instantly, as the Devons began falling back to their starting positions. The attack on Ginchy had failed.
His parents received a pile of correspondence from the officers who survived the encounter. ‘Although he was only with the regiment such a short time,’ wrote one, ‘he won the esteem of men and officers alike. He was a fine, brave officer in every way and very cool under heavy shellfire.’ Charles Teape had survived just three weeks on the Somme. Originally buried where he fell, to the east of Ginchy, the 20 year old was later laid to rest at Delville Wood Cemetery, plot VI.M.1.