Old Silhillian, Private Albert Edward Else, was killed in action on 14th October 1918 whilst serving with the Army Service Corps, attached to the 251st Siege Battery, Ammunition Column, Royal Garrison Artillery. He was 21 years old and died at Remy Siding, Belgium.
12th October 1918
Three men with a local connection lost their lives on 12th October 1918 whilst on active service – Private George Thomas Oakes, Horse Transport and Supply, Army Service Corps; Private Percy Poole, 281st Company, Machine Gun Corps; and Corporal Frederick George Wicketts, 4th Battalion, Middlesex Regiment.
11th October 1918
Private Edward Victor Courtnell died on 11th October 1918 whilst serving with the 3rd Battalion, Worcestershire Regiment. He was born in Lapworth and baptised there a few months before his mother, Mary Charlotte (known as Lottie), married labourer William James Courtnell. His birth and baptism were registered under his mother’s maiden name of White.
10th October 1918
Two men with a local connection lost their lives on 10th October 1918 whilst on active service – 30-year-old Private Wilfred Harry Bayliss, 2nd Battalion, Wiltshire Regiment, and 29-year-old Gunner Arthur Sidney Pope, “B” Battery, 56th Brigade, Royal Field Artillery.
9th October 1918
Private Edmund Knight died in Belgaum (now Belagavi), India on 9th October 1918 whilst serving with the 9th Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment. He was born in Berkswell in 1888 and was the younger of the two sons of parents William (an agricultural labourer) and Harriet (née Tomes) who had married in the Rugby district in 1882.
Continue reading “9th October 1918”8th October 1918
19-year-old Private John Geoffrey Rowley was killed in action on 8th October 1918 whilst serving with the 2nd Battalion, Lincolnshire Regiment. Born in Solihull on 27th July 1899, he was baptised at St Alphege Church, Solihull on 20th August 1899.
6th October 1918
Two local men lost their lives on 6th October 1918 as a result of their war service. Charles Leonard Ball had been discharged from the Army so doesn’t actually appear on any official records as a casualty, although his name is recorded locally on Olton war memorial. Private Stephen Mumford MM, 50th Battalion, Machine Gun Corps died on active service in France, possibly as a prisoner of war.
5th October 1918
Two men with a local connection lost their lives on 5th October 1918 whilst on active service – Lance Corporal Thomas Cox Cranmer, 1st/8th Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment was killed in France and Private Albert Victor Wiles, 11th Battalion, Worcestershire Regiment died in Salonika.
3rd October 1918
32-year-old Private Joseph Adams, 15 Platoon, D Company, 6th Battalion South Wales Borderers, died on 3rd October 1918 as a prisoner of war. Born in London in 1886, he was the eldest of three children born to parents Joseph and Katherine Alice (née Pausey/Pawsey) who had married at St Giles Cripplegate in 1885. Joseph was a hotel manager and, sometime between 1891-1901, the family moved to Knowle, where Joseph managed the Greswolde Hotel.
2nd October 1918
Gunner Frank Owen, 108th Siege Battery, Royal Garrison Artillery, died of wounds on 2nd October 1918. Born in Berkswell in 1882, he was the youngest of the seven children (three sons, four daughters) of parents James (a bricklayer) and Ann (née Pullen) who had married in 1862 in Annie’s home parish of Stretton on Dunsmore. James died in 1915, aged 76, so was spared the knowledge of his youngest son’s death.
