Rifleman Thomas Clifford Williams died of wounds on 28th April 1918 whilst serving with the London Regiment (Queen Victoria’s Rifles). He was 27 years old and was born in Solihull in 1890.
25th April 1918
23-year-old Second Lieutenant Arthur George Ansell, 1st Field Survey Company, Royal Engineers, died of gas poisoning in No. 8 Red Cross Hospital, Boulogne, France on 25th April 1918, after being gassed at Passchendaele. He was the eldest of the three children of parents Arthur John (an agent for the Prudential Assurance Company at Solihull) and Emma (née Lynes) who had married in Notting Hill in 1893. Arthur John Ansell was a widower – his first wife, Kate Purvey (1867-1892) had died in childbirth in 1892, after just one year of marriage.
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.
18th April 1918
Private George Edward Houlston died of wounds on 18th April 1918 whilst serving in France with the 4th Battalion Machine Gun Corps. He was 20 years old and was born in Solihull in 1897.
10th April 1918
Two local men died on 10th April 1918. Second Lieutenant Percival Horace Batchelor, Royal Warwickshire Regiment attd. 2nd/6th Bn. North Staffordshire Regiment and Private Thomas Teerheege, 3rd Battalion, Worcestershire Regiment.
9th April 1918
Two local men lost their lives on active service on 9th April 1918. Captain Edward Grafton Herbert MC, Royal Warwickshire Regiment but attached to the Machine Gun Corps, and Pioneer Eric Stones, 3rd Special Company, Royal Engineers. Coincidentally, both men had worked for the same Birmingham brassfoundry.
6th April 1918
20-year-old Sapper Eustace Bertram Wagstaff (listed as Wagstaffe in some records) was killed in action on 6th April 1918 serving with the 69th Field Company, Royal Engineers. He was the second of the four children of parents William Charles (a coachman) and Harriet (née Freeman) who had married in London in 1891.
29th March 1918
On 29th March 1918 Private Philip George Powell, 28th Battalion London Regiment (Artists’ Rifles) died of wounds as a prisoner of war in Mons.
25th March 1918
Two local men lost their lives on active service on 25th March 1918. Fitter John Charles Clinton, “A” Battery, 84th Brigade, Royal Field Artillery and Private James Drew, 10th Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment.
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
