Private Frank Barker, 10th Battalion, Worcestershire Regiment died in Germany as a prisoner of war on 16th September 1918. The cause of death was given as “P.U.O.” (Pyrexia of unknown origin), which was usually the term given to trench fever – an unpleasant bacterial infection transmitted by body lice.
13th September 1918
22-year-old Corporal David Jelfs, 26th Battalion, Middlesex Regiment was killed in action in the Balkans on 13th September 1918. Born in Bretforton, Honeybourne, Worcestershire in 1895, he was the third of the eight children (two sons, six daughters) of parents Harry (a stockman on a farm) and Matilda (née Gillett).
12th September 1918
Two men with a local connection lost their lives on 12th September 1918 whilst on active service – Sergeant Allen Noel Birkett Barker, 66th Brigade HQ, Royal Garrison Artillery and Lance Corporal Philip West, 2nd/4th Battalion, Hampshire Regiment.
9th September 1918
18-year-old Percy John Evans died on 9th September 1918 whilst training at Hastings as a cadet with the Squadron Cadet Wing, Royal Air Force.
4th September 1918
Captain Joseph Oscar Muntz, aged 42, died of wounds on 4th September 1918 whilst serving with B Company, 16th Battalion, Devonshire Regiment. Born in Tanworth-in-Arden in 1876, Oscar, as he was known, was the youngest child of George Frederick Muntz (1822-1898) of Umberslade Hall and his second wife Sara Matilda (née Kell) who had married at Edgbaston in February 1866. The couple had six children following the death of his first wife Marianne Lydia (née Richardson) in 1864. There were also eight children from the first marriage.
3rd September 1918
Private Frank Bryan died on 3rd September 1918 whilst serving in France with the 1st Battalion, Royal Marine Light Infantry.
2nd September 1918
Private James Walter Brampton, 4th Battalion, Royal Welsh Fusiliers, died on 2nd September 1918, aged 26. He was married with one daughter, Phyllis Maud (1915-1997).
1st September 1918
Two local men lost their lives on 1st September 1918 whilst on active service. Private Hubert John Draper was serving with 4th Battalion, London Regiment (Royal Fusiliers) whilst Private Frank George England was with the Queen’s Own (Royal West Kent Regiment) attached to the 1st/20th Battalion, London Regiment.
31st August 1918
Captain Thomas St Pierre Bunbury died, aged 23, in an air battle on 31st August 1918 whilst serving with the 64th Squadron Royal Air Force. He was the elder of the two children of Captain (later Major-General) William Edwin Bunbury (1858-1925) and Eva Mary (née Gale) who had married in Bengal in 1893.
30th August 1918
Three local men lost their lives on 30th August 1918 whilst on active service – Private Henry Baughan, 1st Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment; Private Robert Woods, 15th Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment; and Private Alline Mountford Woollaston, 11th Battalion, Royal Fusiliers.
Solihull Life 