Tag: brothers

31st May 1916

During the first day of the Battle of Jutland, 31st May 1916, three local men lost their lives in this great clash of 250 warships when the German Navy tried to break a naval blockade in the North Sea. The two days of the battle saw the loss of 25 ships and 8,500 men, three-quarters of whom were British. Despite the huge losses, the blockade held.

Lieutenant-Commander Leonard Hubert Lindner and Ordinary Telegraphist Elias William Wright were killed when their ship, H.M.S. Indefatigable, was sunk after being hit by shells from the German battlecruiser, Von Der Tann, which ripped a hole in Indefatigable’s hull, causing the ship’s magazine to explode and blow the ship in half. Only two of the 1,019 crew survived. According to one of the survivors, the ship’s Captain, C. F. Sowerby, survived the sinking but died of his wounds before he could be rescued.

On the same day Able Seaman Francis Smitten was killed in the same battle, when his ship, H.M.S. Black Prince, was sunk with all 37 officers and 820 men lost.

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26th May 1916

Private Arthur Eden was one of the nine surviving children of John and Maria Eden who lived in New Street, Castle Bromwich. Six of his seven brothers also served in the war, whilst the remaining brother was previously a regular soldier and wasn’t fit enough to re-enlist.  Two of the brothers died in the war, with Arthur being the first to be killed, on 26th May 1916, whilst serving as a Private with the 2nd Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment. His younger brother, Frank, was killed two months later.

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21st April 1916

Former gamekeeper, George Liddamore, was killed in action in Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq) on 21st April 1916, serving as a Private with the 9th Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment. Born in Bury St Edmonds, Suffolk, he seems to have moved to Berkswell sometime between 1911 and 1915. As he was a gamekeeper, it seems possible that he worked on a local estate, maybe Berkswell Hall, although his name isn’t included on the local war memorial in Berkswell. He is commemorated on the Basra Memorial, Iraq and on the war memorial at St John the Baptist Church, North Luffenham.

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5th April 1916

Private George William Kippen was killed in action in Mesopotamia (modern Iraq) on 5th April 1916, serving with the 9th Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment. He was the eldest of five children born to parents George (born 1861), a gun screwer, and Jane (née Farrington) and he seems to have had rather a difficult life before enlisting in the Army in March 1914. Two of his three brothers are also known to have served in the Armed Forces.

Private Arthur Watton, also with the 9th Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment, died of wounds on the same day in the same place. The Battalion was mobilised for war in June 1915 and sent to Gallipoli. Owing to severe losses from combat, disease and harsh weather, the Division was evacuated to Mudros and then Egypt in January 1916. On 16th February 1916 the Battalion embarked for Basra from Suez to defend British interests against Turk forces, arriving on 28th February 1916.

Both men are commemorated on the Basra Memorial.

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21st February 1916

23-year-old Private Walter Tarver, a gardener by trade, was killed in action on 21st February at Etaples, France, serving with the 8th Battalion, South Staffordshire Regiment. His older brother, Harry, a baker, was also killed on active service.

Walter was born in Cubbington, near Leamington Spa, in 1893, the second youngest of four sons born to parents Thomas and Elizabeth who lived in the village. Harry and Walter both joined up in September 1914 and both are listed as being old boys of Cubbington School. Walter is commemorated on the war memorial at Berkswell but we haven’t been able to find his connection with the village, although there has been speculation that perhaps he worked as a gardener at Berskwell Hall. His brother Harry is not listed on the Berkswell memorial.

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21st January 1916

Lieutenant Robert Laurence Needham, known as Laurie, was killed in action in Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq) on 21st January 1916 during the Siege of Kut el Amara (the First Battle of Kut), 100 miles south of Baghdad.

Born in Brighton on 10th April 1889, Laurie and his younger brother, Frederic Gilbert (known as Gilbert), both attended Solihull School after boarding at a private school in Brighton.

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6th January 1916

Second Lieutenant Guy Llewellyn Gwyther died on 6th January 1916 serving with the 2nd Battalion, Leicestershire Regiment. Born on 23rd July 1882 at Castle Bromwich, he was baptised at St Mary & St Margaret’s Church on 18th October 1882. He was the second youngest of the five children (four sons, one daughter) of parents Julian (a solicitor in Birmingham) and Dorothy Hannah (née Hughes). The two eldest children were born in Water Orton, whilst the other three were all born in Castle Bromwich. All four sons served in the First World War, with two of them – Guy and Philip – losing their lives. Their father, Julian, died in 1908 so was spared the knowledge of the death of two of his sons.

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10th August 1915

Three men from places in the Solihull Borough died on 10th August 1915:

  • Private Gilbert Walter Bick from Olton died in Gallipoli whilst serving with the 5th Battalion, Wiltshire Regiment.
  • Signaller Tom Turner from Solihull died in Gallipoli whilst serving with the 9th Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment.
  • Sergeant Edward John Cox M.S.M. from Copt Heath, Knowle, serving with the Warwickshire Yeomanry, died from enteric fever in Egypt, having volunteered to stay aboard the transporter H.M.T. Wayfarer to tend to horses after the ship was torpedoed.

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