sharing Solihull's local history
Private Charles Haines, 4th Battalion, South Wales Borderers, died of pneumonia on 7th March 1919 at the University War Hospital, Southampton. His death certificate gives his age as 22, but his grave in Knowle churchyard gives his age as 21.
Lance Corporal Charles Harold Woodfield died at the 64th Casualty Clearing Station in Germany on 5th March 1919. He was 30 years old and was serving with the Royal Army Service Corps.
Captain Philip Dennis Bennett, 5th Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment, died at home in Edgbaston on 24th February 1919 as a result of influenza.
Henry Cecil Johnson, aged 31, died at home in Knowle on 22nd February 1919. He is buried in Knowle churchyard and his gravestone notes that he “died from injuries received in the Great War.” He served as a Private with the 1st/6th Royal Warwickshire Regiment T.F. from September 1914 until transfer to the Labour Corps in December 1917 and then to the Railway Transportation Service, Royal Engineers in June 1918.
The Tanworth-in-Arden war memorial includes the name of Alfred J. Brien as a war casualty from the parish. However, the only Alfred Brien on the Commonwealth War Graves records is actually Alfred O’Brien, who was from Liverpool and had a wife and children in Liverpool at the time of his death. It seems unlikely that he is the casualty commemorated at Tanworth.
Continue reading “Alfred J. Brien (or Arthur Brine)”Two local men lost their lives on 14th February 1919 as a result of their war service. Private Ernest William Ghent, 6th Reserve Company, Royal Veterinary Corps, died at home at Chadwick End, whilst Private Edgar Kibby, 3rd Field Bakery, Royal Army Service Corps, died of pneumonia at a Casualty Clearing Station in Cologne.
Driver Reginald Cornelius Hall died in France at the 47th Field Ambulance on 12th February 1919 with A Battery, 70th Brigade, Royal Field Artillery. He was the second of two brothers to die in the war as his younger brother, Francis, died on 23rd February 1917. Both of the brothers served as Drivers with the Royal Field Artillery.
On 1st February 1919, Captain and Quartermaster Nicholas Charles Harvey MBE, aged 53, took his own life at the Red Lion Hotel, Atherstone. He had been a regular soldier for about 23 years and served with the 19th Hussars in Egypt and India and with the 12th Lancers in the Boer War. At the time of the 1901 census he was stationed in Ireland.
Company Sergeant Major Frederick James Carless DCM died of pneumonia whilst serving with the 1st/5th Battalion, Lancashire Fusiliers. He was 22 years old.
Private Harold Clive Hope, 1st Battalion, Royal Berkshire Regiment, transferred to 736th Agricultural Company, Labour Corps, died at home in Moseley, Birmingham on 26th January 1919. He was born in Hampton-in-Arden in 1887, and was the son of the village schoolmaster, Thomas Hope, attending George Fentham School in the village.
Solihull Life 