Private William Paston, 2nd Battalion, Oxford & Bucks Light Infantry, was killed in action on 14th April 1917, aged 38. He was born in Stoneleigh, Warwickshire in 1880 and was the second of eight children (three sons, five daughters) born to parents, George (an agricultural labourer) and Ann (née Treadgold) who had married in 1876. All three boys were killed in the war.
29th March 1917
Two local men died on 29th March 1917 whilst serving with the Royal Warwickshire Regiment. Private Charles Henry Chamberlain, who was born in Temple Balsall, was serving with the 9th Battalion in Mesopotamia (Iraq), whilst Private William King, who was from Solihull, was serving with the 5th Battalion in France.
11th March 1917
Sergeant Humphrey George Moseley, “D” Battery, 23rd Brigade, Royal Field Artillery, was wounded in action in France on 2nd March 1917. He died at No. 6 General Hospital, Rouen, nine days later as a result of a gunshot wound to the head and thigh.
He was the eldest child and only son of parents George and Mary Ann (née Richards) who had married at Coleshill on 8th April 1890. The couple also had seven daughters: Ellen (born 1892); Bertha Mary (born 1894); Edith Annie (born 1895); Elsie Louisa (born 1897); Lilian Alice (born 1899); Blanche Fanny (born 1903); and Gladys May (born 1904).
16th December 1916
Company Quarter Sergeant Major Duncan Nicholl, aged 35, died of wounds on 16th December, serving with the 2nd/7th Battalion Royal Warwickshire Regiment. Born in Berkswell in 1881, he was the younger son of parents John William and Eleanor Nicholl (née Sumner), who were both schoolteachers at the elementary school in the village. John was born in Giggleswick, Yorkshire but had moved to Stafford by 1877, where he married Gloucester-born Eleanor, who was living in Wolstanton.
21st October 1916
Private Bernard George Wright, 13th Battalion Royal Sussex Regiment, died on 21st October 1916. He was born in Berkswell on 29th May 1879, where his parents Walter Henry and Catherine (née Merry) had been schoolmaster and schoolmistress respectively from at least 1871 until c. 1880. He was baptised at All Saints, Coventry on 29th October 1879. All of his siblings – Arthur Ernest (born 1870), Rose Edith (born 1871), and Frederick Walter (born 6th October 1873) were born in Berkwsell.
15th October 1916
Private Charles Basey, 9th Battalion Gloucestershire Regiment, died of enteric fever on 15th October 1916 and is buried at Salonika (Lembet Road) Military Cemetery, Greece.
Enteric, or typhoid, fever was spread by the ingestion of food or water contaminated by faeces, and was a significant problem given the poor hygiene and lack of sanitation in the trenches. The ever-present vermin and flies ensured that typhoid fever was a common affliction among First World War soldiers.
9th October 1916
Three local men lost their lives on 9th October 1916: Private Ernest Davis and Private Charles Thomas Field, both of the 6th Battalion, Oxford & Bucks Light Infantry; and Rifleman Reginald Henry Whorwood, 1st/9th Battalion London Regiment (Queen Victoria’s Rifles).
17th September 1916
Two local men died on 17th September 1916 whilst serving in the Armed Forces. 19-year-old Lieutenant John Cyril Hodges, Royal Flying Corps, was born in Lerwick, Shetland and was killed in a flying accident at Castle Bromwich aerodrome. 26-year-old Private John Frederick Lewis Hornsby died in France whilst serving with the Wellington Regiment, New Zealand Expeditionary Force.
25th August 1916
Berkswell-born Rifleman John Timms, 7th Battalion, King’s Royal Rifle Corps, died of wounds in hospital in France on 25th August 1916, aged 19, and is buried at Dernancourt Communal Cemetery Extension, France. He is also commemorated locally on Berkswell war memorial. An employee of the Rover works before the war, he enlisted in the Army in November 1915, five days after his 19th birthday, and embarked for France on 18th April 1916, just over four months before he was fatally wounded.
27th June 1916
Temporary Second Lieutenant Thomas Jessop Weiss, aged 27, died of wounds on 27th June 1916, serving with the 151st Brigade, Royal Field Artillery (although some sources do record that he was killed in action). He apparently lived at Mount Pleasant, Berkswell and was described by the Vicar of Berkswell in the Coventry Evening Telegraph, 3rd August 1916, as a “quiet, retiring man… esteemed for his generous nature and straightforward simplicity of life.”
Thomas is buried at Cerisy-Gailly Military Cemetery, France and is also commemorated on Berkswell War Memorial.
Solihull Life 