Charles Iliffe Rudkin was born at Ridlington on 30 December 1883, the son of Roth and Sarah Rudkin. Charles was a gardener at the Rectory before enlisting on 16 March 1916 into the Leicestershire Regiment eventually serving with the 1st Battalion. He went out to the Western Front at the end of August 1916 and fought in Belgium and France. He died during the Second Battle of the Somme when his battalion was attacking German positions at Heudicourt, 13 kilometres from Peronne. On 10 September the Leicestershires captured 50 prisoners and six machine guns for the loss of 50 men killed wounded and missing. One of them was Charles who was taken to the 41st Casualty Clearing Station but died on 14 September 1918 from a stroke. He is buried in Heath Cemetery, Harbonnieres, grave IX.B.5. Before joining the army, Charles was a member of his local church. He sang in the choir, was a bellringer and served in various other capacities. He is remembered on Ridlington's war memorial in the church he knew so well and he is also named on his parents' gravestone in the churchyard. Charles was 34 years old although the Commonwealth War Graves Commission has his age as 33 and his age on his parents' memorial is given as 35.