Before he died on September 27, 1918 Charles Godfrey Montague Deacon had his family firmly on his mind.
Charley was born in 1886, one of William and Rose Deacon’s seven children. He grew up at 4 Western Street where William worked as a brickmaker. When Charley left school he became an assistant in an ironmongers.
Like so many others, Charley’s military records are lost, but we know that he served as a private in the 15th Battalion Lancashire Fusiliers and that he died of his wounds (Gas) in one of the Exeter War Hospitals. He was 33 years old.
The UK Army Register of Soldiers’ Effects 1901-1929 reveal an account of Charley’s money and where he wished it to go.
He left £35 3s 9d (about £35.15) and with no wife or children he divided his money between members of his family. To his widowed mother Rose he left £5 0s 7d (about £5.03). He left the same amount to each of his two surviving brothers, Irving Tom and Percival Oscar. To his sisters Daisy, Flossie and Hilda (the wife of Thomas Mott), he left £5 0s 6d each (about £5.02).
His last two bequests reveal another family tragedy. In the autumn of 1916 Charley’s brother Louis Stanley Deacon was ‘found drowned.’ He left a wife and several children. Charley left £3 7s (about £3.35) to ‘GW Bizley Guardian of children of Bro Louis’ and £1 13s 6d (about £1.67) to his nephew Sidney.
Charley gave his life for his country and the money he had saved to his family.
Charles Godfrey Montague Deacon was buried on October 2, 1918 in plot number B2819 which he shares with his brother Louis, his father William and his mother Rose.
Radnor Street Cemetery 