We’re not quite sure of the connection with Hockley Heath of Private Thomas Cecil Davies (also listed in some records as Davis) who died on 29th August 1915 serving as a Private with the Royal Warwickshire Regiment. He was born in Yardley in 1889 and lived there until at least 1901. His mother, Annie, died between 1901 and 1911. By 1911, his widowed father, Thomas, had moved to the Lodge, Chelmsley House, Marston Green, but Thomas Cecil was not listed with him.
It is likely that Thomas Cecil is the Yardley-born Thomas Davies, aged 21, recorded on the 1911 census as a gardener boarding at Impney Gardens, Droitwich (now Chateau Impney Hotel). According to his marriage certificate, Thomas Cecil Davies was a gardener before his enlistment in the Army. His marriage to Frances May Stevens took place on 5th April 1915 at Northleach, Gloucestershire, and Thomas’s abode was listed as Weston-Super-Mare.
Just over four weeks after his marriage, 25-year-old Thomas was killed in action.
The assumption is that Thomas moved to Hockley Heath sometime between 1911 and 1914/5. He is listed in Soldiers Died in the Great War as having been born in Yardley and living in Hockley Heath. However, his name doesn’t appear to be on any local war memorials, nor on the memorial at Northleach, which is listed as his home address when probate was granted to his widow in 1916.
If you know any more about Thomas’s connection with Hockley Heath, please let us know.
Tracey
Heritage & Local Studies Librarian
tel.: 0121 704 6934
email: heritage@solihull.gov.uk
Solihull Life 
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