Private 20241 5th Battalion, Wiltshire Regiment
Died Thursday 20 April 1916 of wounds received the previous day aged 17
Remembered on Ash War Memorial
Buried in Amara War Cemetery in Iraq
Remembered on the Memorial to the Men of Ash Vale in St Mary’s Church
Remembered on the Ash Vale School Memorial

Private Bond was the son of Jane Ann Bond of St Elmo in Vale Road Ash Vale, and the late Thomas Bond.

He was formerly 87408 Royal Field Artillery. Soldiers Died records that he enlisted at Hartley Wintney; and his medals card records that he was awarded the 1914/15 Star, qualifying date 11 November 1915.

The Surrey and Hants News 1 June 1916 reported that Charles Bond was the youngest son of the late Thomas Bond, an ex-police constable. He died of wounds sustained whilst taking part in the Persian Gulf Expedition. Charles was over 6 feet tall when he was 16 and looked much older. Not old enough to get into the Navy, he enlisted in May 1915 in the RFA and was transferred to the Wiltshire Regiment. Although young he was a very capable soldier. On leaving school Charles had worked for Mr McLaren (who ran the Glue Factory) at Firacre, and after that he had been a messenger at Pinehurst in Farnborough. He had seen service in Egypt before going to Persian Gulf. Thomas Bond, his father, had been a PC at Dorking, Leatherhead, Weybridge and Godalming before retiring, and had died in 1911.