(1910 - 1997)

The   third son of Thomas William and Susannah Line, Charles Edward was born at Fort George in Scotland on the 16th July 1910. Here he is seen in one of his many gardening hats. Following
a stroke suffered during a celebratory Mediterranean cruise to mark his retirement from the National Westminster Bank in 1970 , he was
less able to pursue his  passion for gardening. His daughters remember that growing dahlias was his speciality and, in winter, their  house was always full
of tubers brought in to avoid the frost. He completed his career in banking as the National Westminster`s most senior branch manager .

Charles` future bride was Leonie, the daughter of Dutch immigrant Theodore Johan Hubert and Ada Hendriks (nee Sattersthwaite). Theodore, a hairdresser by profession, arrived in Britain at the turn of the twentieth century with the equivalent of a guinea in his pocket and a pair of scissors. Within decades he had his own hairdressing business in London`s fashionable Bond Street. Amongst his customers were the Queen of Siam and the first internationally acclaimed stripper, Phyllis Dixie

Hendriks Family

The couple were married at St. Phillips Church, Norbury in South London on July 10th 1937 when he was 26 and she was 23.  On the
marriage certificate she was described as a spinster stenographer and had
worked in an office that produced the Daimler Diary. Best man at the wedding was brother Thomas who had also been best man to their brother George Henry.

At the outbreak of the war Charles volunteered for the Tank Corps, but like his brother George Henry, who had volunteered for the parachute regiment, he was turned down. Instead, because of his professional qualifications, he was posted to the Army Pay Corps where he refused a commission but eventually rose to the rank Staff Sergeant. In letters home his address was given as S/227630. Cpl. C.E. Line, R.A.S.C., Finance and Accounts Department. HQ British Military Administration, Tripolitania, M.E.F. Most were dated between 1943 and early 1944 - then, by August 1944, he seems to be in the Public Works Department. In August 1943 he says "I have just come back from a long journey to a place called Tunis where I spent my holidays. The country is not like England and everywhere you look you see sand instead of earth". In all a typically "Line" statement of the obvious.

1987 - Charles and Leoni's Golden Wedding, commemorated by a specially made slipware plate given to them by their daughters. In the mid 1970s they had moved from their South London home to Thorpe, a suburb of Norwich in Norfolk