Charles William Kellett

War Service

Charles was enrolled in the Army Service Corps (ASC) - previously Labour Corps - on the 24/02/1915 and assigned the number T4/061532.
At the time of his enlistment he was employed as a ‘Butcher’ and his medical record shows he was 5ft 4 inches tall, weighed 128 lb and had a chest measurement of 36 inches. He also had distinguishing scars on his right shin and over his right ear.
Though much damaged by fire some of Charles’ army records survive and the following are taken from the parts that are legible.
11/4/1915 - embarked from Southampton on Bellerophon
12/4/15 – disembarked Le Havre
10 -17/6/16 - 44th Reserve Park
25/11/1916 - qualified ‘Fair Cook’
22/2/1917 - awarded Good Conduct Badge
2/7/1918 - assumed duty Aux H Company
12/4/1919 – Acting Corporal from 3/1/19 Aux H Coy.
The ship Bellerophen was actually a Dreadnought class battleship which was sent to the Royal Dockyard, Dartmouth in May 1915 for a refit. It would be unusual for such a ship to be used for transportation but it was in the channel at the time stated on Charles’s records.
The Reserve Parks acted as mobile reserve (of rations and forage) in the event of a breakdown in the normal replenishment chain.
A Reserve Park's task was to carry two days reserves of iron rations (1lb of preserved meat, 1lb of biscuits. 5/8oz ounces tea, 2 oz of sugar and 2 x cubes of meat extract 1 oz in a tin) with groceries for a (Infantry) Division as well as a day of groceries and oats for a Cavalry divison. Groceries included tea, sugar, tinned milk, bacon, jam and cheese. To achieve this each park was equipped with 59 General Service wagons, 2 forage carts, 1 light Maltese cart and a water cart. To pull these 359 draught and riding horses were allotted to each park.

Family Life

Charles was born in Brotherton in 1894. His parents were Charles and Susannah. Charles came from a Brotherton family but his wife hailed from Morley.
The Kelletts can be traced back to at least 1804 when Charles Kellett was born in Poole. Charles had two sons – William (born about 1838) and John.
John Kellet’s grand daughter (though his son George Edward b. 1868) was Barbara Kellett who married Ernest Hargraves.
John’s son William married Elizabeth Wadsworth of Brotherton in 1858 and had two sons – George Edward born in 1862 and Charles (1867).
Charles married Susannah Wood in 1892 and went on to have 9 children of which one died.
These children included Charles William (1894), Elizabeth (1895), George (1898), Pricilla (1900), Alfred (1902), Caroline (1904), Mary (1907) and Emily (1910).
In 1901 the family lived in the High Street and Charles was described as a ‘Coalpit worker - below’. However, by 1911 Charles had left the ‘pit ‘and become a ‘Farm Labourer’ and the family were resident in Nancy Taylor Yard.
After the war Charles William returned to Brotherton after the war and in 1926 married Frances Elizabeth Bromley.
They had three children - John B (1926), Norman (1931) and Jean M (1933).
Charles William died in 1945 having been preceded by his father, Charles, only 4 years earlier. Frances died in 1979.