Corporal Clifford Newton Ryder, of the Australian Flying Corps, died on 10th April 1917 and was buried at Castle Bromwich churchyard on 13th April 1917.

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Corporal Clifford Newton Ryder, of the Australian Flying Corps, died on 10th April 1917 and was buried at Castle Bromwich churchyard on 13th April 1917.

Former Marston Green Cottage Homes residents, Samuel Richardson and Frederick Stevenson both died in France on Easter Monday, 9th April 1917, serving as Privates in the Armed Forces. Private Richardson was with the 78th Battalion Canadian Infantry, whilst Private Stevenson was serving with the 2/7th Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment. Both men are commemorated on the Marston Green Cottage Homes war memorial.
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.
32-year-old Second Lieutenant William Moorwood Staniforth, Royal Flying Corps (RFC) was killed in a flying accident in Coventry on 23rd March 1917. Born in Hackenthorpe, near Sheffield, on 25th October 1884, he was the youngest child and second son of parents William and Sarah Hannah (née Moorwood), having three older sisters – Gertrude Mary (born 1872), Margaret Emily (born 1874) and Harriette Elaine (born 1875) – as well as an older brother (Thomas, born 1877).
Old Silhillian Lance Corporal Sydney Vernon Pickering, aged 22, was killed in action on 15th March 1917, whilst serving with “C” Company, 12th Battalion, Middlesex Regiment. Born in Moseley on 5th July 1894, he was the youngest of the two children of parents Frederick (a soap and candle manufacturer) and Emily (née Collins). His brother John Howard Pickering (1893-1985) also served in the First World War.
Sergeant James Henry Carter, 31st Battalion Australian Infantry, died in France on 14th March 1917. He was born in Yardley in 1895, and was the eldest of the six children (four sons, two daughters) of parents James (a gardener) and Mary Elizabeth (née Moore) who had married in Aston in 1894.
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).
19-year-old Private Sydney Clifford Lamplugh was killed on 6th March 1917 whilst serving as an Air Mechanic 1st Class with the Royal Flying Corps. Born in 1898, he was the second of the three children of old Silhillian Sydney Augustus Lamplugh (1870-1955) and his wife Ellen Cecile (née Gilmer) who had married in 1895. Their eldest son, Alfred Gilmer Lamplugh CBE (1895-1960) also served as a Lieutenant and Captain with the Royal Flying Corps, having learned to fly in 1913.
Two local men died on 4th March 1917 as a result of their war service. Private Ernest William Clifford, 1st Battalion Coldstream Guards, and Private Walter James Painting, 1st Battalion Worcestershire Regiment.
On 24th February 1917, Acting Corporal Walter George Riggs was killed whilst on duty in the trenches in Vimy Ridge with the 26th Battalion (New Brunswick Regiment), Canadian Infantry. His foot was blown off by the explosion of an enemy fishtail bomb. Comrades rendered first aid and he was taken to a dressing station and evacuated to No. 42 Casualty Clearing Station where he died. He is buried in Aubigny Communal Cemetery Extension, France.
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