First Contingent 1899 · Boer War · Samoa 1914 · Killed on the Somme 1916
Warrant Officer Class 1 (Sergeant-Major) Charles Bould
Charles Bould was a Wellington soldier from boyhood, a Wellington Guards man from the age of 16 who sailed with the First Contingent as a corporal and worked as a signalling and Maxim gun instructor in South Africa. He was invalided home from Cape Town in August 1900.
When the First World War began he was among the first to enlist, serving as a warrant officer in the Samoa advance party in 1914. He sailed again with the 11th Reinforcements in April 1916 and was killed in action on the Somme on 27 September 1916. He is commemorated on the Caterpillar Valley (New Zealand) Memorial.
His story
A Wellington volunteer
Charles was born on 11 April 1873, the son of Thomas and Georgina Bould; his father's address was the Johnsonville Hotel, Wellington. He joined the Wellington Guards at 16, according to a 1916 obituary, and was said to have represented New Zealand at the inauguration of the Australian Commonwealth. He was a labourer at Pauatahanui when he enlisted.
Source: Online Cenotaph record C1403; Papers Past, Evening Star 3 Nov 1916Corporal, First Contingent
Bould sailed as Corporal C. Bould of the Wellington Guards, number 9, aged 26. The Evening Star's contingent list of 24 October 1899 names him alongside the other corporals. He embarked on the Waiwera on 21 October 1899.
Source: Online Cenotaph record C1403; Papers Past, Evening Star 24 Oct 1899South Africa: Paardeberg to Diamond Hill
The Cenotaph lists Paardeberg, Kimberley, Driefontein, Johannesburg and Diamond Hill among his campaigns. He was a signalling instructor and an instructor for the Maxim gun detachment of the 2nd NZMR. He was invalided from Cape Town aboard the Kumara on 28 August 1900. A 1916 newspaper says he received the South African medal with five clasps.
Source: Online Cenotaph record C1403 (citing Stowers, p.152); Papers Past, Evening Star 3 Nov 1916Wellington Guards
Back in Wellington he returned to the Wellington Guards and rose to colour-sergeant. He later served in the 5th (Wellington) Regiment, the Territorial regiment that succeeded the volunteer corps.
Source: Online Cenotaph record C1403Samoa advance party
As one of the first to enlist, Bould went with the Samoa Advance Party as a warrant officer of B Company, 5th (Wellington) Regiment, number 1/445. The party left Wellington on 15 August 1914 aboard the Moeraki and Monowai and landed unopposed at Apia on 29 August 1914. The Cenotaph does not say which of the two ships carried him.
Source: Online Cenotaph record C1403; Papers Past, Evening Star 3 Nov 1916; NZ War Graves Project and NZETC Samoa histories (voyage dates)Marriage
In 1915 Charles married Emmie May Trezise. She was living at 27 Plunket Street, Kelburn, when he was killed. No children are recorded in the sources we read.
Source: Online Cenotaph record C1403Sailing with the 11th Reinforcements
Bould enlisted again as a packer from Johnsonville (number 10/4439) and went with B Company, 11th Reinforcements, Wellington Infantry Battalion. The reinforcements left Wellington on 1 or 2 April 1916 (sources differ) aboard the Maunganui (HMNZT 49) or Tahiti (HMNZT 50). The NZ War Graves Project records Maunganui for him. Per the 1916 obituary he went almost directly to France.
Source: Online Cenotaph record C1403; NZ War Graves Project (Bould record); NZEF Project note on the 11th Reinforcements; Papers Past, Evening Star 3 Nov 1916Killed on the Somme
Bould was killed in action on 27 September 1916, during the New Zealand Division's fighting on the Somme. Newspapers reported the news in early November 1916. He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Caterpillar Valley (New Zealand) Memorial at Longueval.
Source: Online Cenotaph record C1403; Papers Past, Sun (Christchurch) 2 Nov 1916 and Evening Star 3 Nov 1916
Rank and insignia
The rank he held, and the badge a soldier of that rank wore. These are simplified illustrations.
His medals
“Documented” means a source we name says he received it. “Listed on the Online Cenotaph” means the museum’s record lists the medal but we could not confirm it elsewhere. “Entitled” means his service dates qualified him, but we have not seen a record of the medal itself. The drawings are simplified illustrations.
His ships
Afterwards
Charles Bould did not come home. His widow Emmie May remarried in 1920. He is remembered on the Caterpillar Valley (New Zealand) Memorial at Longueval on the Somme, which names New Zealanders killed in that area in September-October 1916 who have no known grave.
His sign
This is the Service Record sign as we would make it from his record: his rank, name, regiment, number and date of embarkation. The medals on the sign are worked out automatically from the embarkation date, so the medals listed above are the ones to rely on.
Photograph
We haven’t hosted a photograph here
Rather than copy someone else’s image onto our own site, we’d rather send you to see it where it’s properly held: his full record at the Auckland War Memorial Museum’s Online Cenotaph.
Sources
- Charles William Hensman Bould, Online Cenotaph, Auckland War Memorial Museum.
- NZ War Graves Project: Charles William Hensman Bould
- NZ War Graves Project: Bould, South African War entry (Cenotaph 34783)
- Papers Past: Evening Star, 24 Oct 1899 (contingent list)
- Papers Past: Evening Star, 3 Nov 1916 (Men who have fallen)
- Papers Past: Sun (Christchurch), 2 Nov 1916 (Casualties)
What we could not confirm
Birth year: the Cenotaph gives 11 April 1873 (age 26 at enlistment in 1899 fits); the NZ War Graves Project / CWGC-style record gives 11 April 1878 at Pahautanui. We follow 1873.
Rank at death: the Cenotaph and 1916 newspapers say Warrant Officer / Sergeant-Major, but CWGC and the NZ War Graves Project list him as a Private. He may have reverted in rank to go to France; not confirmed.
Boer War service: Cenotaph says he was invalided from Cape Town on 28 August 1900; the 1916 Evening Star says he stayed with the Contingent until it returned. The Cenotaph's source (Stowers) is more specific, so we follow it.
The claim that he represented New Zealand at the Commonwealth inauguration (January 1901) comes only from the 1916 obituary; not checked.
The Cenotaph lists 'Colour-Sergeant of the Wellington Guards' and 'Sergeant' variously; dates of promotion unknown.
11th Reinforcements departure date: Cenotaph record says 1 April 1916 (date range to 3 May); NZEF project says 1 April nominal roll, 2 April harbour records.
Which memorials in Wellington carry his name was not checked. Archives NZ file R20518711 could not be opened (JavaScript catalogue).