Two men with a local connection lost their lives on active service on 20th July 1918. Captain Robert Jacobs, commanding No. 8 Sanitary Section, Royal Army Medical Corps, died of wounds, aged 39, after an enemy bomb fell on his billet. Second Lieutenant Norman Edward Smith, 1st/2nd Battalion Lancashire Fusiliers, attached to 2nd/4th Battalion Hampshire Regiment, was killed in action, aged 28.
16th July 1918
Two men with a local connection lost their lives on 16th July 1918 whilst on active service – Private Percy Farmer Draycott, Royal Army Service Corps and Private Charles Henry Hiles, 18th Battalion, Lancashire Fusiliers.
15th July 1918
Two men with a local connection lost their lives on active service on 15th July 1918. Lieutenant Ronald John Gilman, Warwickshire Yeomanry, was 20 years old and he died of injuries received after enemy torpedoes hit his troop ship en route to France. On the same day, Old Contemptible, Private John Richmond, 2nd Battalion, South Lancashire Regiment, died in a German Prisoner of War camp.
2nd July 1938 – opening of Brueton Gardens
The official opening of Brueton Gardens on the corner of Warwick Road and Lode Lane, Solihull took place at 11am on 2nd July 1938.
The land, opposite Poplar Road, had previously been occupied by a house called The Poplars, which had been home to Doris Hamilton-Smith, an artist and pupil of Edith Holden (the “Edwardian Lady” whose nature diary was posthumously published in 1977).
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28 June 1968 – Solihull’s first Conservation Areas
The first two Conservation Areas in Solihull – the centres of Solihull and Knowle – were declared as such on 28th June 1968, with a declaration appearing in the London Gazette, 2nd July 1968.
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28th June 1918
Three men with a local connection lost their lives on active service on 28th June 1918:
- Private Harry Cross, 1st Battalion, Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry
- Private Robert Henry Smith, 15th Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment
- Private George Henry Taylor, 12th Battalion, Hampshire Regiment
17th June 1918
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.
15th June 1918
Private Arthur Sydney Neale died on 15th June 1918 whilst serving with 6th Battalion, Dorsetshire Regiment. He was born in Shirley in 1898 and was the seventh of the ten children (eight sons, two daughters) of parents George Henry (a farm labourer) and Sarah (née Bishop) who had married in Solihull in 1884. Arthur was one of four brothers to serve in the Armed Forces. He is pictured above (left) with two fellow soldiers.
Continue reading “15th June 1918”31st May 1918
Sergeant Ernest Harold Long DCM MM was killed in action on 31st May 1918 whilst serving with the 10th Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment. The battalion war diary for the day notes “Heavily shelled. Battalion compelled to withdraw about 11am under heavy barrage”.
30th May 1918
Two men with a local connection died on 30th May 1918. Captain Adie Wale, 186th Brigade, Royal Field Artillery, died after the hospital in which he was being treated for wounds was bombed by the Germans on the night of 29th/30th May. Private Henry Walker, 8th Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment died of wounds on the same day.
Solihull Life 