Two local men lost their lives on 25th October 1918 whilst on active service – Private Francis Richard Corbett, 1st Battalion, Duke of Edinburgh’s (Wiltshire) Regiment and Captain Bertram Walter Mockley Pearson, Army Service Corps.
24th October 1918
Two local men died on 24th October 1918 whilst on active service – Sapper John Bertram Harris, 3rd Special Company, Royal Engineers and Private James Powers, 2nd/7th Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment.
23rd October 1918
Five men with a local connection died on 23rd October 1918:
- Lance Corporal Harry Matthew Bradburn, 20th Battalion Manchester Regiment
- Private Oliver Cranmer, 2nd Battalion, Royal Sussex Regiment
- Corporal Frederick Alfred Johnson, A Battery, 115th Brigade, Royal Field Artillery
- Shoeing Smith Frank Selfe, Z Battery, 5th Brigade, Royal Horse Artillery
- Private John Howard Whittle, 1st/8th Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment
22nd October 1918
According to a letter from his colonel, Captain Howard Victor Fraser Thomas MC, 11th Battalion, Royal -Scots, was killed in action by a bullet to his head whilst gallantly leading his company into action at Vichte during the final push against the Germans in the Battle of Courtrai.
19th October 1918
Two local men died on 19th October 1918 whilst on active service – Private John Freeman, 6th Battalion, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers and Signalman Edwin Herbert Hulston, Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, serving on HMS Plumpton.
18th October 1918
Private William John Townsend was killed in action on 18th October 1918, serving with the 18th (Lancashire Hussars) Battalion of The King’s (Liverpool Regiment). He was the youngest of the four children (two sons, two daughters) of parents, John (a waggoner) and Harriet (née Price) who had married in Bickenhill in 1888. Both of the boys died on active service as William’s elder brother, George, a Lance Corporal with the same regiment as William, was killed in July 1918.
17th October 1918
28-year-old Corporal Harold James Harvie died in Italy on 17th October 1918 serving with the 48th Divisional Ammunition Column, Royal Field Artillery. He died in hospital as a result of pneumonia following influenza and is buried at Montecchio Precalcino Communal Cemetery Extension, Italy.
14th October 1918
Old Silhillian, Private Albert Edward Else, was killed in action on 14th October 1918 whilst serving with the Army Service Corps, attached to the 251st Siege Battery, Ammunition Column, Royal Garrison Artillery. He was 21 years old and died at Remy Siding, Belgium.
12th October 1918
Three men with a local connection lost their lives on 12th October 1918 whilst on active service – Private George Thomas Oakes, Horse Transport and Supply, Army Service Corps; Private Percy Poole, 281st Company, Machine Gun Corps; and Corporal Frederick George Wicketts, 4th Battalion, Middlesex Regiment.
11th October 1918
Private Edward Victor Courtnell died on 11th October 1918 whilst serving with the 3rd Battalion, Worcestershire Regiment. He was born in Lapworth and baptised there a few months before his mother, Mary Charlotte (known as Lottie), married labourer William James Courtnell. His birth and baptism were registered under his mother’s maiden name of White.
Solihull Life 