Charles’ occupation and marital status on enlistment was detailed as a farmhand, who was single.
- Date of Birth – 4 March 1883, Araluen.1NSW Birth Death and Marriages, https://familyhistory.bdm.nsw.gov.au/ Birth – 13545/1883. Dempsey, Charles. Parents Cornelius and Emma, Registered in Braidwood. Accessed 7 May 2024.
- Parents – Cornelius and Emma Dempsey, 10 Orwell Street, Potts Point, New South Wales. Born at Araluen, New South Wales.2Commonwealth War Graves https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/108635/charles-dempsey/ Accessed 7 May 2024.
- Enlisted – 24 August 1914, Sydney, New South Wales. Unit embarked from Sydney, New South Wales on board Transport A19 Afric on 18 October 1914.3University of NSW AIF project https://aif.adfa.edu.au/showPerson?pid=77161. Accessed 7 May 2024.
- Regimental Number – 6944National Archives of Australia. https://www.naa.gov.au/. NAA: B2455, Dempsey Charles, Item ID – 3499857. Accessed 7 May 2024.
- Aged at embarkation – 31
- Military service – 1st Battalion. Rank – Private.5Virtual War Memorial Australia, https://vwma.org.au/explore/people/195111. Accessed 7 May 2024. Charles served in Egypt, and at Gallipoli and was awarded the 1914-15 Star, the British War Medal, and the Victory Medal.
- He died of wounds received at Gallipoli on 20 May 1915, aged 32.6Australian War Memorial https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/R1725139. Accessed 7 May 2024.
- Charles is buried at Alexandria Chatby War Memorial Cemetery (Row H, Grave No. 97), Egypt.7Find a Grave.com. Panel 28, on a monument at the Australian War Memorial, Canberra. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/249780683/charles-dempsey and https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/12073325/charles-dempsey. Accessed 7 May 2024.
Charles was the fifth son of Cornelius Dempsey (1839-1899), a grazier from Deep Creek, who married Emma Knaggs (1847-1925) on 19 June 1865 at St Bede’s Catholic Church in Braidwood. Cornelius and Emma had ten children – Jane (1869-1954)(Mrs. L. .J. Hickey. Reidsdale); Cornelius (1871-1964)(Lismore); Richard (1872-1948)(Araluen); Andrew (1875-1942)(Lismore); William (1877-1943)(Bangalow); Ada Dempsey, (1880- ) Sydney; Charles (1883-1915); Myles Albert (1885-1969)(Queensland); John (1888-1906) and Esther (1890-1914).8Braidwood Dispatch and Mining Journal (NSW : 1888-1889; 1895; 1897-1954), Friday 18 September 1925, p 2.
The Goulburn Evening Penny Post9Goulburn Evening Penny Post (NSW : 1881-1940), Tuesday 1 June 1915, p 4. reported ‘Amongst the Dardanelles wounded is Pte. C. Dempsey, of Araluen‘ on 1 June 1915.
In June 1915, the Sydney Morning Herald10Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842-1954), Tuesday 22 June 1915, p 10. reported ‘Private Dempsey (died of wounds) was the son of Mr Cornelius Dempsey, grazier, of Araluen, and Mrs. Emma Dempsey of Orwell-street, Potts Point. He was 29 [32] years of age, and prior to enlisting came to Sydney from Araluen.’