Date of Birth
12 October 1886
College
Borough Road College
Job(s)
Stephen Street, Marylebone
Service number
300335
WW1 rank
Sergeant
London Rifle Brigade, London Regiment, 5th Battalion
Theatre of war
Balkans, Europe
Date of death
16 April 1918
Buried/memorial
Etaples Military Cemetery, France (Grave/Memorial reference: XXIX.D.7)
Awards/Honours
Military Medal - for repairing signal lines under intense bombardment at Cambria in December 1917
Biography
Sergeant Charles Alfred Dearing attended Borough Road College for two years, competing in rugby for the college and leaving with an Intermediate Science. He got a second division degree from the University of London in 1905. He joined the war effort on 1 April 1915 when he signed up with the 1st Battalion London Rifle Brigade. Initially he was sent to the Balkans on 14 July 1915, but he returned to France. He earned his Military Medal repairing signal lines at the battle of Cambria, where he tirelessly repaired lines to keep communications between the front line and HQ throughout the day, all through intense bombardment. Dearing was wounded on 23 March 1918 and died of these wounds on 16 April the same year.
Sources
Entry on p.83, BFSS/2/9/14/3 [BRCRU003], Borough Road College 903(continued)/04 applications, Secondary source information provided by Douglas Craik (taken from Commonwealth War Graves Commission), 1908 Annual Report, The O.B.’s War Hum and Roll of Service (1918, 4th Edition)