We’ve been delighted to have on loan to us for our ‘Solihull Remembers’ exhibition 2014, a wooden memorial plaque, which was rescued by Mr G. Bragg from floods at St James’s Church, Shirley.
Boy soldiers
It is known that about 250,000 boys served on the front line during World War I, whilst being under the age of 19. This was the official age at which overseas service was permitted. This BBC guide gives a useful introduction to some of the reasons for a conspiracy of silence around the enlistment of boys, which was especially prevalent before the introduction of conscription in 1916.
The youngest authenticated combatant of the First World War is Sidney Lewis, from Tooting, South London, who was able to join up at the age of 12 years and 5 months, and saw active service on the Somme for six weeks. A letter to the War Office from his mother demanding his return resulted in his being withdrawn from the front line, discharged from the Army, and sent home.
William Edward Shilvock Wright
In an article in the Birmingham Post 22nd November 1918 reporting the death of his eldest brother, Second Lieutenant John Shilvock Wright, it is mentioned that W. E. S. Wright served at Loos and on the Somme at the age of 15, returning home after being gassed, and then rejoining on attaining military age. He was training for a commission at the time of his brother’s death.
Paul Quinet, a former Belgian refugee
Paul Gustave Désiré Quinet (surname pronounced key-nay, or keeney by some) was born in 1899 in Koekelberg, Brussels. At the age of four and a half, he moved with his parents to Persia but returned to Brussels in 1906 to go to boarding school, where he remained until 1914.
His mother died in childbirth in Persia in 1908 and his father remained working there until returning to Brussels in 1913.
In 1914, after Paul proudly told his father that he had seen German troops in nearby woods, the family quickly gathered together belongings and left Brussels for the Belgian coast, taking the last train to leave before the entry of the German troops into the city.
Continue reading “Paul Quinet, a former Belgian refugee”Solihull Remembers
Our First World War exhibition is now on at the Heritage Gallery on the first floor at Solihull Central Library.
It’s on during library opening hours until 13th September 2014 so there’s plenty of time for you to come along and have a look round.
If you want to remember anyone who died in the war, or who served and survived, do fill in one of our remembrance cards and let us add it to our ‘wall of memory’. It doesn’t matter if the person wasn’t from Solihull, we’re happy for you to remember anyone you wish to include.
You’re welcome to fill in one of the cards when you visit or, alternatively, fill in the PDF form below and email it to us (you may need to save the file first, and then edit it). If you have a photo you’d like to include, please attach that to your email as well, and send it to us at heritage@solihull.gov.uk. We’ll then add it to the wall for you.
Tracey
Heritage & Local Studies Librarian
Belgian refugees
The Solihull Parish Magazine of October 1914 contains an appeal for people to loan furniture or “articles for domestic comfort, or to give food of any kind” to help the Belgian refugees now housed within the district. Gifts or promises of money were also sought and “suitable books in French for men, women and children” would also be acceptable.
The magazine refers to the “honour and privilege of welcoming in our midst some of the sorrowful Belgians who have not only lost their ‘all’ but have been ruthlessly driven out of the land they love.” It promised that the community would do “all we can to cheer them in their exile”.
By October 1919, the parish magazine reported that during the four and a half years of war, Solihull had the privilege of providing refuge for 45 Belgian men, women and children who had been compelled to leave their country and their homes.
If you have any information about Belgian refugees in Solihull, please let us know (email heritage@solihull.gov.uk or phone 0121 704 6934).
Tracey
Heritage & Local Studies Librarian
Solihull Life 