Captain Charles Fitzgerald Hamilton TRUEMAN
A Company, 2nd Battalion Manchester Regiment

Date of birth: 22nd March 1877
Date of death: 26th August 1914

Killed in action aged 37
Buried at Le Cateau Military Cemetery Plot III Row A Grave 3
He was born in the parish of Stoke Damerel in Devon on the 22nd of March 1877 the eldest son of Lieutenant Colonel Charles Hamilton Trueman JP (OKS), East Kent Regiment (The Buffs), and Dorethea Magdalena (nee Fitzgerald) Oakwell-in-the-Blean, Tyler Hill near Canterbury.

He was educated at King’s Canterbury from January 1889 to July 1893.

He was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the 3rd Battalion East Kent Regiment (The Buffs) (Militia) on the 6th of March 1895 but resigned his commission on the 10th of April 1895.

Deciding to make a career in the army he went on to the Royal Military College, Sandhurst from January 1896 to 1897. He was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Manchester Regiment on the 8th of September 1897 and served with the 2nd Battalion in Aden from the 1st of November 1897 until he returned to England with the battalion on the 7th of November 1898. He was promoted to Lieutenant on the 17th of August 1898 and qualified as 1st Class in gymnastics at Aldershot in 1899.

Following the outbreak of the South African War he sailed with his battalion on the 16th of March 1900, arriving there the following month. He served with H Company which was converted to mounted infantry shortly after they arrived. He was present at operations at Wittebergen in the Transvaal in July 1900 and at Orange River Colony. He was promoted to Captain on the 5th of January1901. He received the Queen’s Medal with four clasps and returned to England on the 9th of November 1901 when he was transferred to the 4th Battalion of his regiment based at Kinsale in Ireland. He underwent a musketry course at Hythe in June 1902 where he qualified as a shooting instructor. On the 11th of July 1904 he represented Ireland against Cambridge University in a three day cricket match at Markdyke in Cork which Ireland lost by five wickets. He played regularly for County Cork while he was stationed there, opening the batting, with notable matches against Na Shuler and Dublin University. In October 1904 the 4th Battalion returned to England to Aldershot and it was disbanded in 1906 when he returned to the 2nd Battalion who were based in the Channel Islands at the time. The battalion returned to England in 1907 when they were based at Portsmouth. From the 23rd of April 1908 to the 10th of September 1909 he was seconded as Superintendent of Gymnasia for Aldershot Command and from the latter date to the 8th of May 1912 he served as Assistant Inspector of Gymnasia, also based at Aldershot. When he returned to the 2nd Battalion they were based at Curragh Camp at Kinsale in Ireland; he was appointed as the Commanding Officer of A Company. He was a member of the team that won the Inter Regimental Golf Cup in 1913 and was a member of the cricket team.

Following the outbreak of war the 2nd Battalion Manchester Regiment sailed for France from Dublin on the 14th of August 1914 and landed at Le Havre at 7pm on the 17th where they disembarked at 11.30pm. By the 23rd of August they were in positions along a canal at Mons where they fought their first action and suffered casualties before retiring with the rest of the army.

At 6.30pm on the evening of the 25th of August 1914 they arrived at Le Cateau and took up positions on high ground to the north of the town, in heavy rain, in support of a battalion of the Suffolk Regiment. At 11pm orders came through for the retirement to continue and the exhausted men were roused and were on the move again in the early morning of the 26th of August. At 6.30am, as the battalion was moving through Le Cateau, a volley of shots rang out from the windows of nearby houses taking the men completely by surprise. They ran at the double to some nearby high ground on the outskirts of town where they quickly reorganised themselves. It soon became clear that the enemy were present in some force. Accordingly, at 11am, Colonel James the Battalion's Commanding Officer, sent A and B Companies to reinforce the nearby Suffolk Regiment line. A Company, under the command of Charles Trueman, was sent to the right of the line where it came under intense fire from artillery, machine guns and rifles. They were thrown back on more than one occasion and eventually only a small portion of the Company made the Suffolk line. By late morning the Manchesters had been forced to fall back with heavy casualties and the situation was regarded as “critical” by Colonel James. The battalion received the order to retire at 3.30pm. Charles Trueman had been seen to be wounded during the action and was posted as missing.

Casualties during the engagement were six officers and one hundred and eighty five men killed, wounded or missing although some ninety men found their way back to the battalion over the next few days.

He was fond of all sports and athletics, especially cricket and shooting and was member of the Army and Navy Club.

He is commemorated on the war memorial at Blean and on the memorial in the chapel of the Royal Military College at Sandhurst. His medals were donated to the Manchester Regiment museum in January 1989.

His brother, Lieutenant Colonel Arthur Phillip Hamilton Truman (OKS) OBE 8th Battalion East Kent Regiment, died on the 26th of November 1918.
 

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