LIEUTENANT CHARLES JOHN LAW
KING'S OWN SCOTTISH BORDERERS
19TH APRIL 1917 AGE 20
BURIED: GAZA WAR CEMETERY, ISRAEL
"Lieutenant Charles Law, second son of the Right Hon. A. Bonar Law, Chancellor of the Exchequer, who was previously reported wounded and missing, is now believed to have died of wounds on April 19. Lieutenant Law, who was 20 years of age, held a commission in the King's Own Scottish Borderers. On April 26 it was reported from Germany through Holland that he had been "captured by the Turks in the recent fighting in Palestine. ... Mr Bonar Law's indisposition, to which reference was made in the House of Commons yesterday, is due to the strain of overwork during the past few weeks, coupled with anxiety regarding the fate of his son."
Dundee Evening Telegraph
8 June 1917
"Mr Bonar Law's Son, a tribute from 'one who knew him':
He was the embodiment of all that is best in Public School life. He played all the games with enthusiasm and he loved the open air. He was modest, affectionate, and full of the joy of life. He was intensely popular with his brother officers, and, as I know from letters which have been received, he was beloved by the men he led. His death marks the breaking of yet another lamp which, having shone so brightly over the home, was surely destined to shed its radiance far afield."
The Times
8 June 1917
"Mr Bonar Law's Son
Mr. Bonar Law has received official confirmation from the Vatican of the fact that his second son, Lieutenant C.J.Law, King's Own Scottish Borderers, is a prisoner with the Turks. A Reuter message from Rome adds that the Vatican has ascertained that Lieutenant Law is being well treated, and that there appears to be no cause whatever for apprehension in regard to him."
The Times
14 June 1917
Cruelly, the Vatican was wrong. The telegram it received had omitted the vital word 'not'. Lieutenant Law was NOT a prisoner of the Turks. And even more cruelly, three months later, Mr Bonar Law's eldest son, Captain James Kidston Law RFC, was killed when his plane was shot down in France. His body was never identified and he is commemorated on the Arras Flying Services Memorial.
Bonar Law chose a brief, factual inscription for his son Charles' headstone, giving his address as 10 Downing Street. This means that he signed for it sometime between 23 October 1922 and 22 May 1923, the dates of his extremely short premiership.