23-year-old Lieutenant Percy Lilico was killed in a flying accident at the Royal Flying Corps airfield at Northolt on 16th February 1918, as a result of his aeroplane nose-diving off a steep, low turn. He was born in Wooler, Northumberland, on 30th April 1894 and was the younger of the two sons of parents, Charles Gordon Lilico (1855-1912) and Emily (née Atkinson) (1864-1955) who had married in Edinburgh on 13th January 1890.
9th February 1918
Lance Corporal Thomas George Robinson died of wounds on 9th February 1918, serving with the 10th Battalion Royal Warwickshire Regiment. Known as George, he was born in Copt Heath on 10th May 1895 and baptised at St Alphege Church, Solihull on 4th August 1895.
23rd January 1918
Two Canadian officers with a local connection lost their lives on 23rd January 1918 whilst on active service. Second Lieutenant Ralph Gordon Hall, and Second Lieutenant Reginald Douglas Hamilton, both aged 19 and serving with the Royal Flying Corps, died in a flying accident at Castle Bromwich when their aeroplanes collided with each other.
15th January 1918
30-year-old Richard Lander Sale died of wounds on 15th January 1918, whilst serving as a Lieutenant with the Royal Horse Guards. He was born in Atherstone, Warwickshire in 1887 and was the second of the four sons of parents, Alfred (a solicitor) and Annie Gertrude (née Cheshire) who had married in Witherley, Leicestershire in August 1885.
5th January 1918
Two men with a local connection lost their lives on 5th January 1918. 29-year-old Private John Henry Bridges died of wounds at no. 19 Casualty Clearing Station whilst serving with the 3rd/10th Battalion Middlesex Regiment. 26-year-old Gunner Alexander John Prince was killed in action whilst serving with the 1st/2nd (Lancs) Battery, Royal Garrison Artillery.
Continue reading “5th January 1918”4th January 1918
34-year-old Lance Corporal George Johnson, 11th Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment, died of wounds in France on 4th January 1918. He was born in Marton, Warwickshire on 29th September 1883 and was the seventh of the twelve children of parents, William (a farm labourer) and Emma (née Hobday) who had married at Stretton on Dunsmore on Christmas Day, 1870.
3rd January 1918
Two local men lost their lives on 3rd January 1918 whilst on active service. Private Frederick Herbert Jones, aged 27, died at no. 12 Stationary Hospital, St. Pol, whilst serving with the 402nd Motor Transport Company, Army Service Corps. On the same day, Lieutenant John Francis Tryon‘s submarine, HMS G8, went missing.
31st December 1917
Solihull’s final casualty of 1917, Lieutenant Arthur Lewis Jenkins, Royal Flying Corps, was killed whilst night flying at Helperby, Yorkshire on 31st December 1917. Born in Bristol in 1892, Arthur was the eldest of the seven children (five sons, two daughters) of Sir John Lewis Jenkins, Indian Civil Service, and his wife Florence Mildred (née Trevor) who had married in India in 1890.
23rd December 1917
Two local men lost their lives on active service on 23rd December 1917 – Sergeant Walter Henry Mitchell, 111th Company, Machine Gun Corps, and Able Seaman John Henry Williams, Royal Naval Reserve, serving on HMS Surprise.
21st December 1917
Private Edward Richards died of wounds on 21st December 1917. Aged 42, he had been called up in June 1916 and, although expressing a preference to serve in the Artillery, he was posted to the Royal Irish Fusiliers. He was then transferred to the 87th Company, Labour Corps. 18-year-old John Shirley, lately a Private with the 7th Reserve Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment, died of rheumatic fever on the same day.
Solihull Life 