Doust, CB

2nd Lieutenant Charles Bowden Doust

Born on October 26th 1887, Charles was the elder of two sons of a shipping merchant, also called Charles Doust, and his wife, Laura. He came to the College from the Prep, and after being a pupil for three and a half years left at Christmas of 1903, afterwards taking up a position working at a textile factory in Hilbersdorf, Germany, for a year. In 1906 he took up a position abroad once more, this time spending three years working at a commercial house in Paris, this time on his return he joined his father’s firm back in London.
On August 6th 1914, two days after the declaration of war, both Charles and his younger brother Norman, a fellow OA, signed up as privates in the London Rifle Brigade, and were sent to Flanders in November of that year, spending the winter in the trenches. In May 1915 he was wounded by shrapnel at the Battle of Ypres and forced to return to England, where, during his recovery, he took up a commission in his regiment, returning to the front after training during the early part of 1916. On July 1st, the first day of the Somme, he was leading what would ultimately prove to be a successful advance, near Gommecourt, when he was shot in the head, dying shortly afterwards, making him one of seven OAs to die during the first day of the Somme. His younger brother Norman, by then a member of the Royal Flying Corps, would go on to succumb to TB in the summer of 1918.