Shropshire regiment soldier remembered 100 years on
A Shropshire regiment soldier who was killed 100 years ago in a battle in which another member of his battalion – Oswestry’s Private Harold Whitfield – won the Victoria Cross, is being remembered in a series of wreath-laying ceremonies.
Private Charles Edward Griffiths of the King's Shropshire Light Infantry was 28 when he died on March 10, 1918, in Palestine, and is buried in a military cemetery in Jerusalem.
To commemorate his death St Oswald's CofE School at Worleston, near Nantwich, is laying a wreath on the church war memorial on Friday, March 9, at 10.30am and at 1.30pm Malbank School and Sixth Form College at Nantwich is laying a wreath on its memorial to former pupils who fell in the Great War.
In attendance at both events will be Private Griffiths' granddaughter, Mrs Julia Ray, the eldest of his 37 direct blood relatives. Afterwards she will lay a wreath at Nantwich war memorial, on which her grandfather's name appears. Then on Saturday, March 10, a wreath will be laid at the Cheshire Regiment roll of honour in Chester Cathedral by members of the family.
At 10.45am on April 7, at St Boniface's Church, Bunbury, a memorial service will be held 100 years to the day of his first memorial service. Wreaths laid at this service will be taken to Jerusalem on Armistice Day and placed on Private Griffiths' final resting place.
