Capturing, preserving and sharing Solihull's history. Also commemorating local casualties from the First World War #SolihullRemembers
Former Private Stephen Henry Kettle, aged 44, died on 26th January 1922 at St George’s Hospital, Doncaster, where he was receiving treatment for injuries received on active service in France. He is buried at St James’s Churchyard, Shirley, Solihull.
Continue reading “26th January 1922”
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.
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.
Three local men lost their lives on 25th September 1918 – Second Lieutenant Clive Marston Beaufoy, 10th Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment; Lieutenant Leonard Stopford Brooke, 110th Squadron, Royal Air Force; and Private John Simpson, 11th Battalion, Worcestershire Regiment.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Four local men were killed on 23rd 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.
Solihull Life 