8th December 2015 Charles was born in 1895 in Stamford. In 1911 he was living at 5 and 6 Laxton’s Court off St Leonard’s Street with his parents Charles and Mary Jane (nee Groom) Sismore and his 5 brothers and 6 sisters. Charles was the eldest at 16 years old, all the family were born in Stamford. His father was a gas stoker and Charles was employed as a labourer for a fitter at an agricultural implements works. His sister, Annie, who was 14 was a domestic servant and Fred (12) and Arthur (10) were at school. The other siblings were Mary (15), Harriet ( 11), Arthur (10), Catherine (9), Helen(7), Joe(5), Matthew(4), Emily(2), and Stanley(1). The family shared 6 rooms in the two adjoining houses in Laxton’s Court. (Harriet appears on 2 Census returns in 1911 as she was actually staying with her widowed grandmother Harriet Groom at 7 Tenter Lane.) In 1901 the family was living at 3 Mallory Lane his father was already working as a stoker at the gas works. During June 1912 Charles joined the 4th Lincolnshire Territorials. Stamford was the HQ for one of the companies. Many others in Stamford joined, probably a social outlet for young men. It included a two week annual camp. Private Charles Sismore (1715) enlisted in Stamford joining the 4th Battalion Lincolnshire Regiment. He disembarked in France on 1st March 1915. His military service was short. He died in action aged 20 on 13th October 1915 in France in the Western European theatre of war. Charles’ battalion was part of the 138th Brigade (Lincoln & Leicester) Part of 46th North Midland Division. Loos Memorial, Pas de Calais, France Charles’ death was during the Battle of the Hohenzollern Redoubt which took place during the Battle of Loos (25 September – 15 October 1915) near Auchy-les-Mines in France on the Western Front. The British 9th Division captured the redoubt and then lost it to a German counter-attack. The final British assault on 13 October failed and resulted in 3,643 casualties, mostly in the first few minutes. In the British Official History, J. E. Edmonds wrote that “The fighting [from 13–14 October] had not improved the general situation in any way and had brought nothing but useless slaughter of infantry”. He was awarded the Victory, British War Medals and 1914/15 Star He is commemorated and buried at the Loos Memorial in the Pas de Calais, France. His name is also on the Stamford War Memorial and St George’s Church Memorial