Two local officers died in France on 6th July 1917: Captain Cyril Arthur Mecrate Butcher 10th (Service) Battalion, Yorkshire Regiment (attached 62nd Trench Mortar Battery) and Second Lieutenant Henry Joseph Watlington, Royal Flying Corps.
24th June 1917
Three local men are known to have lost their lives on 24th June 1917 whilst on active service: Second Lieutenant Rupert Edward Everitt, 299th Siege Battery, Royal Garrison Artillery; Private William James Leake, 1st/7th Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment; and Gunner Henry Smith, 207th Siege Battery, Royal Garrison Artillery.
20th June 1917
Regular soldier, Sergeant George Holtham, was killed in action on 20th June 1917 serving with the 1st Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment. He was 26 years old and had worked for a firm of manufacturing chemists before joining the Army in February 1909.
8th June 1917
Private Norman Philip Barlow, 102nd Battalion, Canadian Infantry and Second Lieutenant Lucien Herbert Higgs, Royal Flying Corps both died on 8th June 1917 whilst on active service.
10th April 1917
Corporal Clifford Newton Ryder, of the Australian Flying Corps, died on 10th April 1917 and was buried at Castle Bromwich churchyard on 13th April 1917.
23rd March 1917
32-year-old Second Lieutenant William Moorwood Staniforth, Royal Flying Corps (RFC) was killed in a flying accident in Coventry on 23rd March 1917. Born in Hackenthorpe, near Sheffield, on 25th October 1884, he was the youngest child and second son of parents William and Sarah Hannah (née Moorwood), having three older sisters – Gertrude Mary (born 1872), Margaret Emily (born 1874) and Harriette Elaine (born 1875) – as well as an older brother (Thomas, born 1877).
29th January 1917
Private George William Irons of 11th Battalion, The King’s (Liverpool) Regiment, died in France on 29th January 1917. He was the second of three brothers from Castle Bromwich to die in the war.
12th January 1917
Two local men died on 12th January 1917 whilst on active service – Private Philip Hugh Gwyther, who was born in Castle Bromwich, and Private William Thomas Price. Private Gwyther was serving with the 1st Battalion, North Staffordshire Regiment, whilst Private Price was with the 10th Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment.
9th January 1917
Two local men lost their lives on 9th January 1917 whilst serving in the Armed Forces.
Commander The Hon. Richard Orlando Beaconsfield Bridgeman RN, DSO, the son of the 4th Earl of Bradford of Castle Bromwich Hall, drowned whilst on active service in East Africa (modern Tanzania) with the Royal Navy. Second Lieutenant Arthur Gordon Robinson died in France whilst serving with the 2nd Special Company, Royal Engineers.
6th January 1917
35-year-old Private John Harvey from Castle Bromwich died of epilepsy on 6th January 1917 whilst serving with the Reserve Battalion, Coldstream Guards.
John was the fifth child and eldest son of the eight children (three sons, five daughters) of parents Walter (a labourer) and Hannah (née Wilkinson), who had married at St Peter & St Paul’s Church, Aston in 1872. All of the children were born in Castle Bromwich, which was also their mother’s place of birth.
Solihull Life 