Charles Edwin Beaufoy was awarded the O.B.E. as Dover's Deputy Mayor during the Great War period, he became Chief Magistrate at its close. At the outbreak of world war two he became Chief Special Constable.

In 1941 he was blown from his bicycle when a shell exploded close to him, he spent months in hospital with shock and eye trouble. He was subsequently discharged blinded for life and incapacitated in other ways. He went staight back to Dover carrying out his duties on the Bench and serving on local committees. His business is ruined, and by many he might be excused for wishing to take life quietly in a more sequestered neighborhood.

He had to return to hospital, where he gave the following interview to Margot Beck which appeared in the Sunday Chronicle on June 28th 1942.

"Blinded by a German Cross Channel shell, Mr Charles Edwin Beaufoy O.B.E. former Chief Special Constable plans to return as soon as possible to his native Dover to take an active part in the front line town's A.R.P. organization. Not until Hell freezes will any Jerry keep me out of Dover, he said to me yesterday at St. Dunstan's country hospital. As soon as I have finished my training, I'm going back there. Of course he admitted I'm slightly handicapped, not only is Mr. Beaufoy blind in both eyes, but he is 73 years old. Mr. Beaufoy was on duty when a shell, fired from a battery on the French coast exploded near him. All he remembers about it now is a whistle and a crash people who saw it happen tell me that the explosion bowled me over like a ninepin," he chuckled. This cheerful old man seems to get a laugh out of everything that happens to him-even the loss of both eyes. I'll lead Victory March. Every step in his training is a necessary evil to the impatient Mr. Beaufoy. He wants to get back to Dover as quickly as he can. But he goes on taking those steps because he knows he has to before he can return to the Front Line. Braille for instance. The inventor of Braille should be hung drawn and quartered he laughed. But that's only my joke of course. I know that Braille is absolutely essential, and I'm working at it like a nigger.

I won't be able to go back to my old job as Chief Special Constable, but I've promised the boys that I'll lead them in the Victory March in full uniform. And I'm going to try and do my bit to bring that day nearer.