Charles James Critchley Blackburn was born on 9th November 1886 at Bramley, Leeds, one of eight children born to William and Maria Blackburn. At the time of the 1911 Census he was living with his widowed mother and four siblings at 25 The Towers in Armley and employed in the family's wholesale clothiers business of William Blackburn and Co.
Charles received a commission with the West Yorkshire Regiment on 5th August 1916 and, as a second lieutenant, was posted on 22nd September 1916 to the British Expeditionary Force in France where he joined the regiment's 1/5th battalion. On 3rd December 1917, he was appointed to the acting rank of captain with the battalion's D Company.
On 25th April 1918, the German Lys offensive that had begun sixteen days earlier was renewed in the Bailleul-Ypres area. 1/5th West Yorkshire had been in the line opposite Wytschaete since the evening of the 21st. The 24th was an unusually quiet day, though enemy aircraft were more active than usual and a fair amount of activity in the enemy lines after dusk was noted. The events of the following day in which the battalion's companies in the front line were surrounded and effectively wiped out are recorded in its war diary:
At 2.45am the enemy put down a gas barrage and some H.E. on the battalion front and also on the back areas, he also used a considerable amount of smoke shells. The bombardment lasted for over an hour but gas respirators were removed at 4.50am as the gas appeared to have cleared although the atmosphere was still very thick from the smoke shells. Companies all reported O.K. up to this time. At 5am the enemy put down a very heavy barrage on the battalion area and round Battalion H.Q. making movement there almost impossible. Telephone wires were soon cut and touch was lost with the companies. S.O.S. signals were sent up from Battalion H.Q. at 5.15am as it was evident that the enemy was about to carry out an action on the battalion front. The enemy apparently attacked the battalion front and on the fronts of the battalions on either flank between 5 and 6am. Messages were received from B and D companies at about 7am stating that the enemy had attacked but had been driven off up to the time of despatching the messages. No further communication at all was received from the front line companies. At 6.40am a message was received from the 1/6th Battalion West Yorkshire Regiment that one of their companies was fighting a rearguard action near ZERO WOOD. Lt. P. Cheesman was sent out with the two reserve platoons of D Company to form a defensive flank to the north of GRANDE BOIS where his party was seen later holding a position and then fighting a rearguard action. At 7am the enemy appeared at the Northern Brickstacks south-east of GRANDE BOIS. This prevented communication with the front line by runners. The enemy appeared to have come right round the right flank of the battalion front and were working along the valley of the Wytschaetebeek in a northerly direction in rear of Battalion H.Q. It was decided to withdraw Battalion H.Q…
...There is practically no information regarding the fighting in the front line, as the enemy appear to have broken through well astride the flanks of the battalion and worked round to the rear of the front line companies. Apparently there must have been a strong resistance by the battalion as the enemy did not come forward down the Wytschaete Ridge until about 9.30pm [sic] or about four hours after the attack commenced. The casualties suffered by the battalion were 18 officers and 548 other ranks killed, wounded and missing.
Charles Blackburn was reported as wounded and missing on 25th April; his body could not be identified and he is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial.
Although Charles Blackburn was not among the local men commemorated in the Pannal Memorial Institute, he is included on the memorial in St. Robert's Church, Pannal. According to his entry in the National Probate Calendar, his home address was Rosslyn, Harrogate.