Coronation Day 1937

Wednesday 12th May 1937 saw the coronation at Westminster Abbey in London of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. The date had been chosen for the coronation of King Edward VIII who had become king on the death of his father George V in January 1936. Although, Edward VIII’s abdication in December resulted in a new king and queen on the throne, the coronation date of 12th May was retained.

In Solihull, the event was marked by a three-day carnival, which ran into the Whitsuntide weekend, and many of the villages now in the borough held their own celebrations.

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12 May 2020 0

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.

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12 February 2019 0

16th August 1918

Captain (Temporary Major) George Christopher Samuel, 9th Battery, 82nd Brigade, Royal Field Artillery, died in France on 16th August 1918 as a result of wounds received in action on 10th August. Born in 1881 in Penge, Surrey, he was the eldest son and the second of the five children of parents George (a Baptist minister) and Mary (née Onions) who had married in 1878. Their eldest daughter, Elizabeth Webb Samuel (1879-1967) was born in Penge.

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16 August 2018 0

17th June 1918

Private Henry Francis Cleaver, known as Frank, died at 32 Casualty Clearing Station, France. He was serving with the 10th Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment, and was aged 40.

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17 June 2018 0

24th April 1918

Two local men lost their lives on 24th April 1918 whilst on active service – Corporal William Henry Harrison, 1st Battalion Cheshire Regiment, and Private Arthur Ronald Prentice, 14th Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment.

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24 April 2018 0

12th April 1918

Two local men died on active service on 12th April 1918 – 20-year-old Private James Prentice, 1st Battalion, Wiltshire Regiment and 19-year-old Lance Bombardier Harvey Walter Watts, 378th Battery, 169th Brigade, Royal Field Artillery.

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12 April 2018 0

23rd March 1918

Four local men were killed on 23rd March 1918:

Private Sidney Bickley, 1st Battalion, Royal Berkshire Regiment
Private Clark(e) Middleton, 5th Battalion, Oxford and Bucks Light Infantry
Private Harry Prentice, 11th Battalion, 11th Battalion, The Queen’s (Royal West Surrey Regiment)
Private Albert White, 10th Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment

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23 March 2018 0

22nd March 1918

Two local casualties lost their lives on active service on 22nd March 1918. Private Edward Vernon Barker, 10th Battalion Royal Warwickshire Regiment, and Private Joseph Beecham, 2nd/6th Battalion Royal Warwickshire Regiment.

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22 March 2018 0

Hemlingford

Solihull was the only former Rural District Council to become a Metropolitan Borough Council in its own right under the 1972 Local Government Act, which came into effect on 1st April 1974. A little more than 40 years before, workers were taking up the cobbles in Solihull’s High Street – a graphic illustration of the incredibly rapid growth of the Borough. The population had more than doubled in 7 years, from just over 25,000 in 1932 to 52,610 by 1939.

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1 April 2014 0

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