Soldier Record

Gunner Charles Oxtoby, reg no 99434, 733 West Riding Heavy battery (RGA-TF) Royal Garrison Artillery, was born in Barkstone Ash, near Selby, and enlisted in York. He was my grand-uncle Charlie, the eldest brother of six children to Robert W and Martha J Barker, and was 23 when war broke out.

Official records say he 'died at home'.

My grandfather said Charlie was thrown from a horse while serving as a gunner with the RGA. Unfortunately, I don't know where he was posted, served and fatally injured. Official records say he 'died at home'. This was the term used for a soldier wounded in action, but died in a hospital in England (out of the battle area, in Blighty). The Commonwealth War Graves Commission gives his date of death as 21 February 1916 and Soldiers Died in the Great War gives his date of death as 1 March 1916. He is buried in the graveyard north-east of the Church at St Luke's, Clifford, West Yorkshire. Interestingly, the church is Catholic, yet he was not.

His medal index card (which lists his name as Charles Oxtoby, not Charles Barker) can be found at the National Archives and a copy is online. He was awarded the Victory Medal and the British Medal.