12th February 1919

Driver Reginald Cornelius Hall died in France at the 47th Field Ambulance on 12th February 1919 with A Battery, 70th Brigade, Royal Field Artillery. He was the second of two brothers to die in the war as his younger brother, Francis, died on 23rd February 1917. Both of the brothers served as Drivers with the Royal Field Artillery.

Reginald was born in Barston in 1893 and was the third of eight children born to parents William (a waggoner on a farm) and Sarah Ann (née Prentice) who had married at St Alphege Church, Solihull in May 1888. The couple set up home in Walsal End, Barston, and all of their children were born in the village. The family remained in Barston until at least 1911, with William and Sarah Ann moving to Balsall Common with their two youngest daughters by 1939.

Reginald was working as a farm labourer by the time he was 17 years old. We don’t know when he enlisted in the Army, but he doesn’t seem to have seen any overseas service before 1916. He is buried at Tournai Communal Cemetery Allied Extension in Belgium and is also commemorated at Barston.

Eldest brother, William, was killed in 1935, aged 43, after being struck by a train whilst crossing the railway line between Hampton-in-Arden and Balsall Common. He had just had a meal with his brother, John Henry, and left to walk across the railway line to the field where he was working as a farm labourer. According to his brother, William knew the crossing well and was familiar with the times of the regular trains but was hit by a special train running five minutes before the normal train.

If you have any further information, please let us know.

Tracey
Heritage & Local Studies Librarian

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