Charles Frederic Wykeham Chancellor was born and brought up in Chelmsford, the grandson of seven-times mayour of the town, Frederic Chancellor. He served with the Royal Corps of Signals and was killed in action in Greece in April 1941. His home was in Maltese Road, Chelmsford.
Charles was born on 5th July 1915 at Congresbury (later number 15), Maltese Road in Chelmsford, the son of the architect Frederic Wykeham Chancellor and his second wife Mabel Alys Chancellor (nee Long).
Charles was baptised at St. Mary’s Church, Chelmsford (today’s Cathedral) on 31st July 1915. At that time his father was an architect living at Congresbury in Maltese Road.
Charles' father had been born in Chelmsford in 1865; his mother at Congresbury, Somerset in 1876. The couple had married at St. Andrew’s Church in Congresbury on 19th September 1905.
Charles had a brother, Frederick William Wykeham Chancellor (born and died in 1908), and a sister, Margaret Alys Maud Chancellor, born in 1910.
Charles' grandfather, the architect Frederic Chancellor, was Mayor of Chelmsford on seven occasions between 1888 and 1906.
Charles played in goal for Chelmsford's hockey team.
During the Second World War Charles served as Lance Serjeant 2585238 in the 2nd Armoured Division Signals of the Royal Corps of Signals. He had been advised to take a commission but he referred to be with 'the boys' in his unit.
Charles Frederic Wykeham CHANCELLOR, Lance Serjeant, Royal Corps of Signals
Killed in action in Greece. Aged 25
On 13th April 1941 he went missing in action in Greece and was subsequently presumed to have been killed in action. He was aged 25
Charles has no known grave and is commemorated on the Athens Memorial in Greece.The memorial stands within Phaleron War Cemetery and commemorates nearly 3,000 members of the land forces of the Commonwealth who lost their lives during the campaigns in Greece and Crete in 1941 and 1944-1945, in the Dodecanese Islands in 1943-1945 and in Yugoslavia in 1943-1945, and who have no known grave.
At the time of his death Charles' architect father Wykeham was living with Charles' mother at 15 Maltese Road, Chelmsford. Charles had been engaged to marry Miss Yvonne Barrett.
He left an estate valued at £6,102 11s. 9d.
Charles' father died in Chelmsford in 1945, aged 80. His mother died in 1955.
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