Worked under Marians in the Military propaganda unit
The plain "Charles Tower" born 1878 in Braintree seems the only candidate. Married 1906 in London
1881 census his father is rector of a Wiltshire Parish
Tower was educated at Marlborough and Oxford and was subsequently Berlin correspondent of the Morning Leader and later the Daily Mail.
1891. The family are still at the Wiltshire Rectory, but Charles is not there - one assumes at Marlborough boarding school
1901 census living at 36 Stanford Rd, Kensington He is a student. The head of household is his widowed aunt.
1906 He married Edith North Paddon (1879-1961) by whom he had a son, Charles H N Tower (1907-1928) born in Berlin, who was killed in a road accident on 11 April 1928, and four daughters including Kathleen Edith Amelia Tower (1910-1994), Irene Violet Tower (1917-1995) who married Major Eric William Drown in 1944, and Margaret Josephine Tower (1922-2006), born in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
1911 I cannot find him in 1911 census. His parents are now living in the Rectory at Shoreham by Sea, Sussex. He must have been in Berlin at the time. As the newspaper article below shows he was in Berlin in Jan 1911
1914 Aug 8 As a journalist, he was arrested in Berlin as an English spy in Adlon Hotel where he had been staying. Eventually allowed to leave by train to Holland.
1915 Apr 10. He writes an article for Daily Mail from Milan
1917 Jan 6 He writes an article from Holland about smuggling on the German border,Written by a friend of Tower's, Thomas Curtain. I tried to "fix it" with the British authorities in Rotterdam, but as they did not know me my progress was slow for a few days. Then I went to Amsterdam to my old newspaper friend, Charles Tower, correspondent for the Daily Mail, a man of broad experience, and in close touch with affairs in Holland, a country which war journalists have grown to look upon as an important link in the news chain between Germany and England. I realised that this move might confirm the suspicions of von Kuhlmann's spies who were on my trail. However, the free air of Holland was making me a little incautious, a little over-confident. "There is the man who is following you," said Tower, as we stepped in the evening from his home on to the brightly lighted street and made our way along the edge of the canals. The tall, round-shouldered German shadowed us through the crowded streets to the Amstel Hotel. Then we shadowed him, while he telephoned for help which came in the form of a persistent Hollander, who insisted in sitting at the table next to us, although it had just been vacated by diners and needed re-arranging, whereas many other tables were entirely free.... In all countries Germany considers certain telephone connections to be of great strategic importance. It is practically impossible to be connected with the British Consulate at Rotterdam, until the "interpreter" is put on. Mr. Tower experiences the same annoyance. Indeed, the Germans are extremely attentive to him, Although he needs only a small flat, since he lives alone, he has to protect himself by hiring the floor above and the floor below, as the Germans are continually trying to get rooms as close to him as possible. The German Government has for years been pouring out money like water to conquer the world.
1918 Feb 20 He is still writing for the Daily News. This is the only reference to "Charles A", and I do not know if it is correct
He must have been appointed a Captain to do the military press job in Dublin. I cannot find an earlier appointment as Lt.
1920 Aug 17. Appointed temp Captain on General List. He has no medal card, so he was never in the army during wartime
1920 Nov 13 . The undermentioned relinquish their commn. on, ceasing to be empld.: Temp. Capt. C. Tower, and retains the rank of Capt.
So by early 1921 Tower had moved on to Ceylon
He could not have stayed there long as there is another editor in 1923.
1923 He was leader writer for the Yorkshire Post from 1923 until the outbreak of war when he joined the Ministry of Information.
1926 When Northcliffe died in 1926 there was £100 legacy for Charles Tower in his will.
1932, He was working for the Yorkshire Post
1939 He joined the Ministry of Information.
1944 Mar 17. Charles Tower, died in England . His publications include The Moselle (1913) Germany of To-Day (1913) Along Germany’s River of Romance, the Moselle: The Little Traveled Country of Alsace and Lorraine: Its Personality, Its People, and Its Associations (1913) and Changing Germany (1915).