From Midshipman to Yeoman: Charles Morgan Hoare

Charles Morgan Hoare was the son of Charles Twysden Hoare of Bignell Park, Bicester, and the Hon. Blanche Frances Hoare, daughter of the 1st Baron Tredegar. He was educated at Osborne and Dartmouth, with the intention of him joining the Royal Navy, but he elected for the Army, being Gazetted into the Queen’s Own Oxfordshire Hussars in 1911 and then the 15th Hussars in 1913. He was fond of polo, hunting, and point to point racing.

Profile

Charles Morgan Hoare

Born:

2 February 1893 (Register: Vol. 1a, Page 404. Q1. Jan-Feb-Mar 1893)

Education:

Royal Naval College, Osborne and Royal Naval College, Dartmouth

Osborne Royal Naval College

Rank / Commission:

Naval Cadet – 15th January 1906 – HMS Racer (College Tender)

HMS Racer (College Tender)

Midshipman – 15th September 1910 – HMS Cornwall and later HMS Drake

2nd-Lieutenant – 11th August 1911 [London Gazette 5th January 1912] (Yeomanry) – Regiment or corps: Oxf. Yeo. (Oxfordshire Yeomanry) Queen’s Own Oxfordshire Hussars

2nd-lieutenant – 24th December 1913 [London Gazette 9th January 1914] (Cavalry) – 15th (The King’s) Hussars

Lieutenant  – [Medal Index Card] Regiment or Corps: 15th (The King’s) Hussars

Military Service:

First World War

Theatre of war first served in:

France

Orders, decorations and medals awarded:

1914 Star – Roll. Off 69. Page. 03 (Lieutenant)

British War Medal, Victory Medal – Roll. Off 85 page. 27 (Lieutenant)

Address:

Bignell Park, King’s End, Bicester, Oxfordshire

Family:

Father, Charles Twysden Hoare DL JP (Deputy Lieutenant to Child-Villiers and Justice of the Peace) – Gentleman – Own means

Mother, Hon. Blanche Frances Morgan, daughter of Hon. Frederic Courtenay Morgan and Charlotte Anne Wilkinson

Army Service

On 11th august 1911 Charles applied for a commission in the Queen’s Own Oxfordshire Hussars (Oxfordshire Yeomanry).

He gave his discharge date from the Royal Navy as December 1910 and his record states ‘Released’. His application was supported by a certificate of ‘good moral character’ from the Navy from September 1910 to January 1911, given on 24th August 1911.

The Colonel commanding the 2nd South Midland Brigade recommended acceptance on 7th November 1911. Charles’s appointment as 2nd Lieutenant to the QOOH from 24th October 1911 was announced in the London Gazette on 5th January 1912.In the London Gazette of 23rd April 1912, page 2893, it was announced the transfer of Charles from the Oxfordshire Yeomanry to be 2nd Lieutenant (on probation) to the 15th (The King’s) Hussars,  dated 23rd april 1912. In the London Gazette of 9th January 1914, page 259, it was announced that Charles was confirmed as a 2nd Lieutenant in the 15th (The King’s) Hussars with effect from the 24th December 1913.

FRONT OF MEDAL INDEX CARD (MIC)

Lieutenant Charles Morgan Hoare was killed in action during the early stages of the First World War, on the 24th August 1914. He was leading his men of “A” Squadron, 15th (The King’s) Hussars, part of 3rd Division, during the retreat from Mons, while covering the infantry near Blangies.

For his service in the First World War 1914 he was awarded the 1914 Star, British War Medal and the Victory Medal. He is commemorated in perpetuity on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission memorial at La Ferte-Sous-Jouarre.

He is also commemorated on the war memorial at St Michael’s Church, Yeovil, Somerset. His mother, Blanche Frances Hoare, dedicated a large statue to him there.
Other commemorations of Charles can be found on the Surrey County Cricket Club’s WW1 roll of honour (WMR 12162), Kennington, Greater London, and in Oxfordshire on a First World War memorial tablet on the north wall of the nave at St Mary’s Church, Alchester Road, Chesterton, Cherwell, Oxfordshire.

OBVERSE OF 1914 (MONS) STAR, BRITISH WAR MEDAL AND VICTORY MEDAL