CHARLES MARKHAM WESTBROOK

Charlie’s portrait and profile will be displayed at a V.J. Day exhibition, “Be Ye Men of Valour“, from Saturday, 9th August to Monday, 25th August (Bank Holiday) 2025, at St. Margaret’s Church, Ipswich, IP4 2BT.

Laid to rest at the Field of Honour

CHARLIE

Born: 13^th November 1923, 2, Balkan Terrace, St. Andrew’s Road, Felixstowe, Suffolk.

Died: 20th March 1943; age: 19; died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the chest, at 42, The Plain, Epping, Essex. Killed himself whilst the balance of his mind was disturbed.

Post-mortem ordered. Inquest held on the 24th March 1943.

Residence: 28, Richmond Road, Ipswich.

Occupation: Lorry Driver.

Rank: Rifleman; Service Number: 6923707.

Regiment: The Rifle Brigade, Prince Consort’s Own, 70th Battalion.

Grave Reference:

C.31.31.

Ipswich Old Cemetery,

Ipswich.

Relatives Notified & Address: Son of Charles Westbrook & Mabel Westbrook, of Ipswich.

Father: Charles Westbrook, born 1881, Fulham, Middlesex – died 1935, Ipswich, a Master Boot Repairer.

Mother: Mabel Maud Mary Westbrook (nee Markham), born March 1887, Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk.

ENGLAND & WALES REGISTER 1939

Charles lived with his widowed mother and siblings at their family home – 125, London Road, Ipswich.

Mabel Maud Mary Westbrook, unpaid Domestic Duties.

Albert Edward Westbrook, a Master Boot Repairer, born June 1914, Felixstowe.

William Harry Westbrook, a General Labourer – Agricultural Engineers, born December 1917, Ipswich.

Mabel Maud Westbrook, a Domestic Help, born November 1920, Ipswich.

Irene Joan Westbrook, born September 1922, Felixstowe.

Phyllis Joan Westbrook, born March 1928, Felixstowe.

June Doreen Westbrook, born June 1933, Ipswich.

Photograph and family information courtesy of Gillian:

The day they got the news. My grandmother, who had been widowed in 1935, was at a family wedding reception of a cousin at the Westgate Ward Social Club in Prospect Street Ipswich. My mother, then 15, was also at the wedding as were, I am sure, other sisters. My mum remembers either a policeman or someone from the army coming to call my mother out of the party to tell her Charlie had been killed at his barracks by the ‘accidental discharge of a firearm’. To this day, we do not know what happened. My grandmother, like too many others, never got over it.