His date of birth is somewhat inconsistent through his life. 1879 in RIC register, 1882 on his marriage cert (it is the right marriage as the date is exact with RIC Register) , death cert gives 1880, his army enlistment gives 1877
My feeling is that he was in Intelligence in Ireland, and was probably on that sort of work when killed. The inquest is not available, which is a good sign that he was a spy. And the details of his death given by Dublin Castle were opaque - his age in their press release does not tie with the death cert (I would go by the death cert in this sort of case). The Castle release does say he won DCM twice over (in fact he got 1 DCM and 1 MID) and that he had two children and a wife in Manchester (which is true). And he had been a Bandmaster in the Army
1879 Dec 26 . Born London on RIC register
There is a void here which is unusual. I cannot get a birth in London . The first provable reference to him is when he enlists in 1915. His 1919 marriage is correct . And his death cert is there. But really nothing else. Either he lived his entire life abroad until 1915, or "Charles Patrick Anderson " is an alias, which he proceeded to use for his marriage.
His 6 years claimed with the Nagpur Rifles could have been about 1898 to 1904 and means he would have had to spent time in India
One can infer that he worked for Midland Furnishing Coy, Southampton Row, Holborn, from the 1921 letter below
And one can infer that he was musical before enlisting, and he was a bandmaster both in Army and RIC
1915 Dec 10 Enlists as #4502 in London Regt. 101 Kings Rd, Kings Cross. age given as 38 years 9 months (points to dob Mar 1877). He had previously served 6 years with Nagpur Vol Rifles and had left time expired. The Nagpur Volunteer Rifles was a volunteer auxiliary regiment formed in December 1860. In 1904 the unit absorbed the Berar Volunteer Rifle Corps. It was renamed the 2nd Nagpur Rifles on 1 April 1917. These units were made up from Europeans and middle class Anglo-Indians who worked on the railways or as civil servants. They were the Indian equivalent of the Volunteer Force in Britain.
His nok is his brother William in 1915, and changes to Miss D Broadhurst later in the war. But he was not in UK from leaving in Mar 1916 until returning in Mar 1919, so he must have known her, and known her quite well , before he left England in order to make her NOK. Then he married Emily Wright withing a few weeks of his return to UK in 1919, so he must have known her too before he left UK
1916 Mar 1 Embarked in UK for Alexandria, Egypt
The movements of the 1/11 London are on the war diary on this web site
1916 Apr 22 Promoted Acting Corporal
1917 Feb 26 promoted substantive L/Sgt
1917 Sep 17 Promoted CSM
1918 Jan 12 MID Gazetted. His service record shows that #451890 and #4502 were the same man
1918 Feb 18 DCM Gazetted
1918 Jun 17 medically reclassified B1 (debility)
1918 Jul 5 Transferred as #243054 in 1st Garrison btn Liverpool Regt in Alexandria. His COs note shows he worked as Bandmaster here
1918 Jul 9 Posted to DAG, GHQ, EEF
1919 Apr 2, The start of his 28 days pre-disembodyment furlough
1919 Apr 30 Disembodied . 6 Ferndale Rd . Clapham. Gives dob as 1871 on discharge
The inhabitants of 6 Ferndale Rd are in 1919, 1920, 1921, 1923, 1924
His address is given as 6 Ferndale Rd, Clapham
Electoral Rolls for this address show that for both 1919 and 1920 the occupants were a family called Pickwick
1919 Apr 26. Married Emily Elizabeth Wright in Dorset. indicates dob of 1882. He signs himself with his DCM. He gives his father as Arthur Anderson, Lt in Royal Navy, which I cannot verify
1920 Apr 11 Son Charles P Anderson born Bromley. There was a second son born shortly before his fathers death
1920 Dec 10 enlisted with RIC no 76493. ex-Soldier & Caretaker
1921 May 2 A second child John H Anderson was born
1921 May 21 Shot at Hampton, Balbriggan, Co. Dublin
WS1398 by a local IRA O/C Michael Rock said of the shooting. It was apparently done by 2 IRA men and was not planned. In other words they were not targetting Anderson
There is no Death Cert for a "Joseph Anderson" in 1921 whom most commentators name as the Sgt Anderson who was shot. The RIC Register only gives one possible man, Joseph Anderson, joined RIC in 1882 aged 20, ie born 1862, so would have been 59 in 1921. There is no record of when Joseph Anderson left the RIC. My conclusion is that it was not Joseph who died in 1921 near Balbriggan.
Charles' widow got a small pension of £44 a year (including an allowance for the 2 children). Her address was given as Field Barn Cottages, Tarrant Monkton, Blandford, Dorset
The widow later re-married
It looks as if the company were after him legally, but by then he was dead
