Family background
Cyril Charge was born on 5 October 1895 in Richmond, Victoria, son of Henry Barkley Charge and Alice Mary Ann Kendall. He married Agnes Amelia Barlow on 27 February 1913 in Woollahra, NSW and there were two children, Leslie B (1913) and Margaret A (1914). Cyril Charge died 16 November 1963 in Campsie, NSW and he was privately interred. He lived at 229 Bourke Street, Waterloo.
Occupation & interests
A Labor alderman who worked as a government tram driver, Charge had strong links with the union movement. He was a disciple of J T Lang but in reality there was little difference in ideology between Official Labor and Lang Labor.
Community activity
Cyril Charge served in World War 1. He enlisted in Australian Imperial Force on 26 May 1915 and embarked 25 June 1915 with the 20 Infantry Battalion on ‘HMAT Berrima’. He returned to Australia on 11 May 1919 by the ship ’Borda’ and was discharged on 14 August 1919. Whilst on duty in France, Private Cyril Charge wrote a letter to The Sydney Morning Herald praising the work of the Red Cross both overseas and at home. Charge was the Honorary Secretary of the Waterloo Benevolent Society.
Local government service
Cyril Charge was an alderman on Waterloo Council in 1928-31.
References
‘Yesterdays Elections’, The Sunday Times, 2 December 1928, p. 2, http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/122812515
Charge, Cyril, Railway Personal History Card, State Archives NSW, NRS-12922-1-[11/16580]-[287], https://search.records.nsw.gov.au/permalink/f/1ebnd1l/ADLIB_RNSW113711670
Cyril Charge, First World War Embarkation Roll, Australian War Memorial, AWM8 23/37/1 – 20 Infantry Battalion (June 1915), https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/R1994770