241664 Pte Charles Dudman, 8th Middx Regt

C Dudman first appears in Chailey Parish Magazine in June 1916 where he is noted as: Dudman, Pte C, 3/8th Royal Sussex, England.  In August 1918 he appears as Private C Dudman, 8th Middlesex and it is also noted that he has been wounded.  His final entry is in the July 1919 issue of the parish magazine which repeats the previous information, namely: Dudman, Pte C, 8th Middlesex.  Wounded. 

Chailey resident Reg Philpott remembers a Charlie Dudman and there are two possibilities for Charles Dudman amongst the medal index cards at the National Archives in Kew.  The first is 241664 Private Charles Dudman of the Middlesex Regiment, formerly 6143.  The second is G/19527 Private Charles R Dudman of the Royal Sussex Regiment.  

The number 241664 falls within the batch of numbers allotted to the 8th Middlesex Regiment when this Territorial Force Battalion was renumbered in early 1917.  This suggests that Charles did not actually serve abroad until then; information that is consistent with his entry in the parish magazine as serving with the third line formation of the 8th Middlesex in 1916.  

 

The medal index card above is of the type that was primarily intended for silver war badge recipients, the actual medal entitlement recorded by way of a stamp rather than pre-printed forethought. Nevertheless, from this alone we can see that Charles was discharged as a result of wounds, whilst his entry in the silver war badge roll gives us a date of enlistment: 6th March 1916. We also see date of discharge on the same roll, 21st September 1918.

The 1911 census only really records one possibility for Charles Dudman and that is the 16-year-old born in Hamsey, Sussex and living with his parents and siblings at 42 Beechwood Lane, Offham, Lewes. Charles's trade is listed as "cowman".