Passchendaele 29 October 1917. Frank Hurley.
Australian War Memorial A.N. E01220
Private Launcelot Edward Carter
43rd Battalion, Manitoba Regiment, Canadian Infantry
Killed in Action
Date of Birth: 27 July 1885
Place of Birth: Camden Town, London
Date of Death: 14 November 1917 aged 32
Buried: Remembered on Ypres (MeninGate) Memorial
Private Launcelot Edward Carter age 32.
Born 27 July 1885 in Camden Town and registered at St. Pancras, London, the son of John and Lucinda Carter.In 1891 he was living in St. Pancras with his two sisters and brother, his father is a surgical appliance maker. By 1901 his parents are living at Ferndale, Teignmouth, Devon and Launcelot is a trainee warehouse assistant boarding in St. Giles Lane, Cripplegate, London. His parents are at Sparrow's Nest, Ringmore, by 1911; there is no trace of Launcelot.
His Canadian military record records that he previously served with the Middlesex Regiment. Next of kin noted as his wife Pearl Melissa living in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. It appears that his brother, Victor, is also living in Canada. It is noted that he is the son of Mr and Mrs John Carter of Teignmouth.
Serving with 43rd Battalion, Manitoba Regiment, Canadian Infantry, service number 782087, when he was reported missing during operations on Passchendaele Ridge he was later confirmed as killed in action on 14 November 1917.
Remembered on Ypres (MeninGate) Memorial.
Clipping from the Western Times, 7 December 1917
The Third Battle of Ypres (Passchendaele)
This was one of the bloodiest campaigns fought on the Western Front.
It was made up of a series of battles and attacks between 31 July to 10 November 1917.
It started to rain heavily during the afternoon of the first day of the battle.
The rain then continued, quickly turning the war-torn landscape into a quagmire, thousands of men and animals drowned in the mud.
I died in hell, They called it Passchendaele.
Soldier poet Siegfried Sassoon
Hundreds of thousands of men died on both sides.
The bodies of more than 35,000 men from the battle were never found, they were lost in the mud.
