Capturing, preserving and sharing Solihull's history. Also commemorating local casualties from the First World War #SolihullRemembers
The unveiling and dedication of Solihull War Memorial in The Square, Solihull, took place on the afternoon of Sunday 19th June 1921 in a ceremony arranged by Brigadier-General Walter Robert Ludlow (1857-1941) whose youngest son had been killed at the Battle of Beaumont Hamel in 1916. This was not the first memorial to the fallen that Solihull parish had erected – a Calvary shrine had been unveiled at Easter 1917.
Continue reading “Solihull War Memorial”
At 5pm on Trinity Sunday, 22nd May 1921, the Bishop of Birmingham dedicated the war memorial at Catherine-de-Barnes mission church, five years after a war memorial fund was begun.
Continue reading “Catherine-de-Barnes War Memorial”
The 30-ft tall granite ashlar obelisk was unveiled by the then Lord Chancellor, Lord Birkenhead, on Saturday 21st May 1921 in the presence of between 10,000-20,000 cyclists. In 1963, a plaque was added to commemorate cyclists who died in the Second World War. The memorial was given a Grade II listing by English Heritage in 2001.
Continue reading “National Cyclists’ Memorial, Meriden”On 11th April 1921, Patrick Larkin, formerly a Private with the Royal Army Ordnance Corps, died of tuberculosis at 6 Back 60, Bordesley Street, Birmingham. He was 25 years old and, according to his death certificate, had had TB for 12 months before his death. The local connection with Solihull is that he is buried at Olton Franciscan Friary.
Continue reading “11th April 1921”Former Private Leslie William Lively died at home in Shirley on 18th February 1921, aged 29. He was born in Birmingham on 28th May 1891 and was baptised at the parish church of his mother’s home town, Snitterfield, Warwickshire on 2nd August 1891. His parents were William (a painter and decorator) and Ellen (née Tallis), who had married in Hockley in 1890. The parish register lists William and Ellen’s abode at the time of their son’s baptism as Soho parish, Birmingham.
Henry James Fell, a former Private with the 1/8 Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment, died on 12th February 1921 as a result of pneumonia following malaria. Known as Harry, he was born in Knowle in 1892 and was the only child of parents Stephen Henry Fell, a jobbing gardener, and Fanny Rebecca (née Fisher), a charwoman.
Continue reading “12th February 1921”Hubert Lindsay Kearne, formerly a Private with the Devonshire Regiment, died on 11th February 1921 having drowned at Hastings. The coroner recorded a verdict of death by drowning, declaring that there was insufficient evidence as to how the young man came to be in the water.
Sergeant Robert Lyford Radford died in Birmingham on 6th October 1920 and is buried at Robin Hood Cemetery, Solihull. He was born in Bridgwater, Somerset in 1890 and was the fourth of six children of parents Robert Job (a clay worker/potter) and Frances Eliza (née Lyford) who had married in Cheltenham in 1880. Tragically, two of the children – Frances Eliza (1885-1885) and Percy Norman (1894-1895) died as infants.
Lieutenant Ralph Heaton Ward, King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, died in Durham on 30th September 1920. aged 38. He was born in Solihull on 1st June 1882 and was baptised at St Alphege Church, Solihull exactly one month later. His parents were Henry Arthur Ward, a master gunmaker, and Fanny Jane (née Heaton) who had married in Solihull in 1878.
On 26th August 1920, 23-year-old farmer’s assistant, George White, died of tuberculosis in Bramcote Sanatorium, near Nuneaton, two years after the death of his younger brother on active service.
Bramcote Hospital had opened in 1907 as a smallpox hospital but, as there had not been a case treated there by 1912, it was converted in 1913 into a sanatorium for the treatment of those with consumption.
