Leonard Adams was born in Knowle on 18th April 1897 to parents Thomas and Ada, and was baptised at Knowle parish church on 27th May 1897. He was the third of five children born to the couple and the last of their three boys to be born in Knowle. Leonard’s two younger sisters were born in Dudley and Stourbridge, and the family then moved to Droitwich and Worcester.
Leonard died in Gallipoli on 21st August 1915, aged 19, serving as a Private with the 2nd Battalion Welsh Borderers, having previously served with the Royal Army Medical Corps. He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Helles Memorial. He is not commemorated locally, as far as we know, and doesn’t seem to be included on the war memorials of any of the other places with which his family was associated.
By 1901 the Adams family had moved to Pensnett, Dudley and by 1911 they were living at Hadzor, near Droitwich, where Thomas was working as a stockman on a farm. Thomas and his wife were born in Somerset and Cheshire respectively and lived in Knowle for at least four years 1893-97. Presumably, there were no family members in Knowle after the war to add Leonard’s name to the war memorial.
Leonard’s eldest brother, Reginald Tom Adams (born in Knowle on 12th March 1893), is known to have worked for the Great Western Railway at Worcester station from 1909 until he enlisted in the Army in June 1915. It’s not known where he served, but his railway employment record notes his return to work in April 1919 after demobilisation.
If you have any more information about Leonard Adams or his family, please let us know.
Tracey
Heritage & Local Studies Librarian
tel.: 0121 704 6977
email: heritage@solihull.gov.uk
Solihull Life 
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