A History of Preston
in Hertfordshire
Charlie Wray was Alfred and Emily’s second son, was born in the summer of 1884.
There is a note in Preston School log book, dated 11 April 1895, that he failed his writing examination on 11 April 1895.
In 1901, he was a ploughman on a farm. Ten years later, in 1911, he was a groom living in one room at Hedge Grove Stables, Alderham, near Watford.
About three weeks after the outbreak of World War One, Charles enlisted as a private
in the Bedfordshire First Regiment (Reg No. 7708) on 16 August 1914. In September
1915, The Hitchin Parish News reported that he was ‘now in England, having suffered
terribly from gases, and is still very ill’. He was transferred to the Bedfordshire
Territorial Force (Reg No. 201481) where he served as an Acting Corporal. He was
demobbed on 20 February 1920 after receiving the 1914-
In the meantime, Charles had met and married Annie Martin in the summer of 1919. The couple settled in Abbots Langley, near Watford, Herts where they had a daughter, Blanche E Wray (born 1920) and a son, William C Wray (1923).
Charles died in the Watford area in the summer of 1944.
