Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Victory Medal 1914-19 (Lt. Col. C. P. Marten) extremely fine £70-£90

Charles Peter Marten was born in Canterbury on 12 September 1880, the eldest son of Captain Stephen W. Marten, East Kent Militia, and was educated at Tonbridge School and Clare College, Cambridge. He was commissioned Second Lieutenant in the West Yorkshire Regiment (Prince of Wales’s Own) on 4 December 1901, and was promoted Lieutenant on 3 October 1906. Appointed Adjutant of the 1st Battalion in 1907, he served with them during the Mohmand Expedition of 1908. Promoted Captain in January 1911, he was appointed Adjutant of the 3rd Battalion in 1912, and was promoted Major in 1916.

Appointed Second in Command of the 32nd Battalion, Royal Fusiliers, Marten served with them during the Great War on the Western Front from 4 May 1916, before being given the command of the 18th Battalion, King’s Royal Rifle Corps, with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel, on 24 June 1916. He was killed in action on the Somme on 15 September 1916, on which date the Battalion was ordered to attack Flers, and to ‘push home their attack with the utmost vigour. Just before zero hour, one shell hit the Battalion killing their Commanding Officer, Lieutenant-Colonel C. P. Marten, his Adjutant, and two other Officers. Nevertheless, the attack went on, with the Battalion doing all that was asked of it, and suffering total casualties of over 350.’ (British Battalions on the Somme, by Ray Westlake refers).

Mentioned in Despatches (London Gazette 4 January 1917) for his ‘gallant and distinguished services in the Field’, his Brigadier-General wrote of him: ‘He has done splendid work out here.’
The Commanding Officer of his parent unit, the West Yorkshire Regiment, wrote: ‘As an all-round sportsman, whether in the hunting field, in polo, cricket, or as a soldier, the loss to the Regiment and the Army at large cannot be overestimated. He was a fine rider, and always in the first flight in the hunting field. The old XIV has lost one of its most popular officers, one who endeared himself to all by his cheerfulness, sportsmanship, and his high sense of duty.’
Other officers wrote: ‘It is no easy task to take command of a battalion of another regiment, where one knows nobody; but to show with what success he did it, I need only say that he was universally popular with both officers and men. The battalion had the most complete confidence in him, and his death can only be a terrible loss... His influence was a great power in the battalion, and his past work in all probability largely contributed to the success which we were able to win last week. The battalion has lost a fine soldier and one of the best of men; all ranks were proud to be led into action by such a leader.’ (The Roll of Honour, Volume III refers).

Marten is buried in Serre Road Cemetery, Somme, France.