7th July 1916

We don’t have very much information about Company Sergeant Major Arthur Callaghan who was killed in action on 7th July 1916 whilst serving with the 9th Battalion Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment). He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial. He is also commemorated locally on the Hockley Heath war memorial, as well as on memorials in St Thomas’s Church, Hockley Heath, and Umberslade Baptist Church.

Soldiers Died in the Great War indicates that CSM Arthur Callaghan was born in Hockley Heath. However, the 1901 census shows a 7-year-old Arthur Callaghan living as a boarder with the Eden family in Bandy Street, Hockley Heath but gives his birthplace as London. He enlisted in Hounslow and first served overseas on 1st June 1915, which entitled him to receive the 1915 Star.

We haven’t been able to find Arthur Callaghan on the 1911 census, nor do we know any information about his family or how he came to be a boarder in Hockley Heath. If you have any further details about him, please let us know.

Tracey
Heritage & Local Studies Librarian

tel.: 0121 704 6977
email: heritage@solihull.gov.uk