LANCE CORPORAL CHRISTOPHER LANGE
20TH APRIL 1918 AGE 23
BURIED: AUBIGNY COMMUNAL CEMETERY EXTENSION, FRANCE
Priest: O send out thy light and thy truth: that they may lead me, and bring me unto thy holy hill, and to thy dwelling.
Server: And that I may go unto the altar of God, even the God of my joy and gladness: and upon the harp will I give thanks unto thee, O God my God
These words from Psalm 43 form part of the preparation for an Anglo-Catholic Mass. Christopher Lange had written them down, slightly altered, in his pocket book. These were books that soldiers carried with them at all times. They contained everything he needed to know about matters practical, procedural, organizational and legal to do with his military service. Lange had the book on him when he died of wounds at a Casualty Clearing Station at Aubigny.
Christopher Lange was the youngest of Henry and Ellen Lange's twelve children. Henry Lange was a cabdriver and groom at a private house in London. He died in 1899. After his death, Ellen went out to work as an office cleaner.
It's strange the social history that emerges from the censuses. Ellen was an office cleaner, most cleaners I've come across have been charwomen. Her daughter Annie was a police detective, and two other daughters were cigarette makers. Christopher Lange had been a solicitor's clerk.