Charles Dorsett Ward was born in Aylesbury on 14th January 1891 the son of William Ward and Elizabeth (nee Dorsett). His father was a hairdresser but was later described as an accountant.

Charles attended the National School in Aylesbury and in 1902 moved to Lord Williams’s school Thame. After leaving school he emigrated to Winnipeg, Canada in 1908, where he studied law.

He joined the 27th (City of Winnipeg) Battalion of the Canadian Infantry on 28th October 1914. His father at that time was living in Felixstowe, Suffolk.

The Battalion moved to the trenches on 14th September 1916 to take part the following day in the Battle of Coucelette in support of the Battle of the Somme.  By the time the battalion left the trenches on 17th September 2016 they had taken the German front line but had lost 364 men from the battalion including Charles Ward whose body was never found.

He is commemorated on the Vimy Memorial near Arras in France, and is remembered in Thame on Lord Williams’s school memorial board and in Aylesbury on the Methodist Church memorial plaque.