Caney, C

2nd Lieutenant Charles Caney

Bobbie, as he was known, was born on August 6th 1897, the only child of auctioneer Charles Caney and his wife Florence. Having begun his education at Quernmore School, Bromley, he spent a year at Dulwich before going to Tonbridge, where he was a boarder. He had intended to become a barrister after school, and indeed had a place at Lincoln College, Oxford, but, as a result of the war, he turned this down in order to attend Sandhurst.
In May 1917 he passed out of Sandhurst and took a Commission with the East Kent Regiment, being based at Dover for a short time before going out to France to join the 6th Battalion. In March 1918 Bobbie was engaged in the fighting near Aveluy Wood when he earned the M.C.; he had been in command of a gun post which came under heavy assault from German forces, and, despite taking a bullet through the shoulder, personally oversaw the repulsion of the enemy until a British counterattack was able to relieve the post. As a result of the wound he was invalided home for a short period, before returning to the front again, this time with the 7th Battalion. On August 23rd he took temporary command of his company when his superior was wounded, however three days later he was himself seriously wounded near the road from Montauban to Bazentin-le-Petit. He passed away in a casualty clearing station another three days later, on August 29th 1918.