In the 1911 census 15 Grenade Street, Limehouse was a sub-divided, 2 household home. Living in 5 rooms were head of the household 41 year old James Cappaert, his 41 year old wife Hannah and their 7 children; Hannah 20, James 18, Fred 15, William 12, Ethel 10, Louie 6 and Joseph just 1 year old. James senior was a dustman working for Stepney Borough Council having previously been a carman (a deliveryman driving a horse-drawn cart), daughter Hannah was a packer in a granary, James and Fred were labourers in a ‘custard works’ while William, Ethel and Louie were all at school.

Living in the other room in the house were 21 year old Charles Alfred Cappaert, a packer in a ‘custard works’ and his recently married wife 21 year old Mary. They had no children in 1911 when the census was compiled.

St Peter’s Church Garford Rd

                          Garford Road

Charles and William were both baptised at St Peter’s Church, Garford Street and both attended Northern Street School (later renamed Cyril Jackson School). Charles was admitted aged 2 on 24th March 1892 while William joined the school at the more advanced age of 4 on August 25th 1902. In 1892 the family was actually living on Northern Street, at Number 40 but by 1902 they had moved to 37 Gill                                                                                           Street.

In 1911 Charles, a packer at a custard works might have worked at C and E Morton’s factory on Morton’s Bonded Sufferance Wharf on the dockside at Limehouse. Morton’s was famous for its preserved jams and jellies but it also produced custard. During WW1 it was one of the principal suppliers of canned food for the Armed Forces. The factory on Cuba Street off the South Dock was a short 15 minute walk from  the family’s 1911 home on Grenade Street.

Charles Alfred enlisted on 2.9.1915 as a Gunner in the Royal Horse and Filed Artillery, B Battalion 75th Division. On 4th September 1915 this Division joined with the Guard Division and saw action during the Battle of the Menin Road (20th– 25th September 1917), Poelcapelle (9th October 1917) and the 1st Battle of Passchendaele (12th October 1917). All of these took place near the pivotal town of Ypres, around which so much intensive fighting took place.

              Canada Farm Cemetery

Charles died on 27-10-1917 and is buried at the Canada Farm Cemetery, Elverdinge, Belgium. The farmhouse at the site near Ypres was used as a dressing station during the 1917 offensive and most of the 907 burials in the Cemetery are of men who died at the station between June and October 1917.

 

 

 

William Henry, Charles’ younger brother by 8 years, enlisted at the age of 18 in London. He attested on 2-6-1916, joined on the 8th and formally enlisted on 24-11-1916. He joined the Royal Berkshire Regiment as a Private, was transferred to the Oxford and Bucks Light Infantry on 1-7-1917 and transferred again on 17-7-1917 to the Devonshire Regiment Cyclist Battalion.

                       A cyclist battalion

The Battalion was based in Exeter and during 1914-16 was stationed along various parts of the east coast of England from Scarborough to Sussex, defending the coastal ports and sea defences. Members of the Battalion helped rescue survivors of the hospital ship ‘Rohilla’ sunk off Scarborough (November 1914) and were present when the German fleet bombarded Hartlepool (December 1914). Men were sent overseas but the Battalion remained stationed in the UK and according to his medal record card William did not see action on the continent.

 

Following the Armistice and the long awaited end to hostilities along the Western Front, William remained in uniform until he was discharged on 1-1-1918 as ‘no longer physically fit for war service’. William had apparently been a long-time sufferer of ‘choroiditis’ which is an eye disease causing inflammation of the retina and results in white dots in the posterior inner part of the eye. The condition had been ‘aggravated by service during the present war’ and his medical records state that he been a bugler for 2 years which had caused vitreous haemorrhages.

William died just over a month after his discharge on 14-2-1919 and he was buried at Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park. He is one of the men commemorated on the War Memorial.

Of the two other brothers of an age to have enlisted, James (b. 1893) apparently did not serve in the regular armed service. Fred (b. 1896) did enlist, serving in the Royal Field Artillery and surviving the conflict. His medal card states that he served in France from 28-11-1915.