We’ve been delighted to have on loan to us for our ‘Solihull Remembers’ exhibition 2014, a wooden memorial plaque, which was rescued by Mr G. Bragg from floods at St James’s Church, Shirley.
Boy soldiers
It is known that about 250,000 boys served on the front line during World War I, whilst being under the age of 19. This was the official age at which overseas service was permitted. This BBC guide gives a useful introduction to some of the reasons for a conspiracy of silence around the enlistment of boys, which was especially prevalent before the introduction of conscription in 1916.
The youngest authenticated combatant of the First World War is Sidney Lewis, from Tooting, South London, who was able to join up at the age of 12 years and 5 months, and saw active service on the Somme for six weeks. A letter to the War Office from his mother demanding his return resulted in his being withdrawn from the front line, discharged from the Army, and sent home.
William Edward Shilvock Wright
In an article in the Birmingham Post 22nd November 1918 reporting the death of his eldest brother, Second Lieutenant John Shilvock Wright, it is mentioned that W. E. S. Wright served at Loos and on the Somme at the age of 15, returning home after being gassed, and then rejoining on attaining military age. He was training for a commission at the time of his brother’s death.
Paul Quinet, a former Belgian refugee
Paul Gustave Désiré Quinet (surname pronounced key-nay, or keeney by some) was born on 7th April 1899 in Koekelberg, Brussels. At the age of four and a half, he moved with his parents to Persia but returned to Brussels in 1906 to go to boarding school, where he remained until 1914.
His mother died in childbirth in Persia in 1908 and his father remained working there until returning to Brussels in 1913.
In 1914, after Paul proudly told his father that he had seen German troops in nearby woods, the family quickly gathered together belongings and left Brussels for the Belgian coast, taking the last train to leave before the entry of the German troops into the city.
Continue reading “Paul Quinet, a former Belgian refugee”Solihull Remembers
Our First World War exhibition is now on at the Heritage Gallery on the first floor at Solihull Central Library.
It’s on during library opening hours until 13th September 2014 so there’s plenty of time for you to come along and have a look round.
If you want to remember anyone who died in the war, or who served and survived, do fill in one of our remembrance cards and let us add it to our ‘wall of memory’. It doesn’t matter if the person wasn’t from Solihull, we’re happy for you to remember anyone you wish to include.
You’re welcome to fill in one of the cards when you visit or, alternatively, fill in the PDF form below and email it to us (you may need to save the file first, and then edit it). If you have a photo you’d like to include, please attach that to your email as well, and send it to us at heritage@solihull.gov.uk. We’ll then add it to the wall for you.
Tracey
Heritage & Local Studies Librarian
Belgian refugees
According to the Birmingham Daily Post, Thursday 29th October 1914, the first group of Belgian refugees to be housed in Solihull arrived the previous Saturday. Residents had responded to appeals for funds, as well as offering meat, milk and vegetables. As well as a house being set aside to accommodate the refugees, several residents took refugees into their own homes.
Continue reading “Belgian refugees”Brothers in Arms
In an age of larger families, it wasn’t unusual for a couple to have more than one of their children serving in the Armed Forces and, indeed, to have more than one child killed.
Local families we know of where several siblings served are: Continue reading “Brothers in Arms”
Auxiliary Hospitals
In 1909, the British Red Cross was tasked with helping the Territorial Forces Medical Service in the event of war. It set up local units called ‘Voluntary Aid Detachments’, and members were trained in first aid and nursing.
Auxiliary Hospitals, attached to military hospitals, were established – the following are known to have operated in Solihull:
Captain Robert Jacobs
Captain Robert Jacobs of the Royal Army Medical Corps died of wounds on 20th July 1918, aged 39, after an enemy bomb fell on his billet.
He was born in London (his family moved to Solihull between 1901-1911) and he enlisted as a Private in the City of London Sanitary Company two days after the war began. He rose to the rank of Captain within 10 months, and served on the front continuously from his arrival in France on Christmas Day, 1914.
Robert Jacobs’ father, James, died in Spring 1911, so the War Office’s telegram advising of Robert’s death was sent to his mother. She also received a photograph of his grave, marked with a wooden battlefield cross, which was replaced by a Portland Stone memorial in the 1920s/30s.
Captain Jacobs is commemorated on the RAMC in the Great War website.
His family gave his medals, and the next-of-kin memorial plaque and scroll they received to Solihull Central Library, as well as the photo of his grave and the telegram sent to his mother notifying his death. These will all be on display in our forthcoming ‘Solihull Remembers’ exhibition.
If you have any more information about him, we’d be delighted to hear from you – please do let us know (email heritage@solihull.gov.uk or phone 0121 704 6977).
Tracey
Heritage & Local Studies Librarian
More September 1914 casualties
Three more men from places now within the Solihull Borough are known to have died in September 1914. They were:
- Private Albert Newell, of West Yorkshire Regiment (Prince of Wales’s Own), died 20th September 1914. He’s commemorated at Bickenhill and Marston Green.
- Private George Edward Paston, of King’s (Liverpool Regiment), died 21st September 1914, aged 32. He was apparently born in Berkswell but was living with his wife and his son at his father-in-law’s home in Leicester. His peace-time occupation was a brick-burner. As far as we know, he’s not commemorated in the Solihull Borough, so please tell us if you know differently.
- Corporal Claude Percival Wilks, of the 2nd Battalion, King’s Royal Rifle Corps, died 26th September 1914. He’s commemorated on memorials at Catherine-de-Barnes, Elmdon and Solihull.
If you have any information about any of these soldiers, please let us know – email heritage@solihull.gov.uk or phone 0121 704 6977.
Tracey
Heritage & Local Studies Librarian
War memorials in the Borough of Solihull
As part of the commemorations marking 100 years since the outbreak of the First World War, we’re trying to get together a definitive list of individuals from places now within the Solihull borough (or in the former Solihull Rural District) who died as a result of war service.
Continue reading “War memorials in the Borough of Solihull”
Solihull Life 