21st August 1915

Leonard Adams was born in Knowle on 18th April 1897 to parents Thomas and Ada, and was baptised at Knowle parish church on 27th May 1897. He was the third of five children born to the couple and the last of their three boys to be born in Knowle. Leonard’s two younger sisters were born in Dudley and Stourbridge, and the family then moved to Droitwich and Worcester.

Leonard died in Gallipoli on 21st August 1915, aged 19, serving as a Private with the 2nd Battalion Welsh Borderers, having previously served with the Royal Army Medical Corps. He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Helles Memorial. He is not commemorated locally, as far as we know, and doesn’t seem to be included on the war memorials of any of the other places with which his family was associated.

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21 August 2015 0

16th August 1915

Three days after the death of Private Joseph Williams aboard the hospital ship, Valdivia, another local man also died of wounds on board the same ship.

Lance Corporal Charles Thomas Hutchings, only surviving child of parents Thomas (a tailor) and Matilda Hutchings of Bentley Heath, Dorridge and Knowle, died on 16th August 1915, serving with the 9th Battalion Worcestershire Regiment. He is recorded as a Lance Corporal in Soldiers Died in the Great War but as a Private on the Commonwealth War Graves website.

Charles was born in 1895 in Birmingham but by 1901 he and his parents were living at Bentley Heath with his grandfather, Richard Hutchings, who was a widower, aged 54. By 1911, Charles and his parents had moved to Tile House Green, Knowle. Charles was the couple’s only surviving child, but the census notes that he had had a sibling who had died.

Charles was educated at Solihull School and was a member of the Officers’ Training Corps there. He joined the Army on 17th August 1914, and first entered a Theatre of War (Balkans) on 4th July 1915. He is commemorated at Dorridge, Knowle and Hockley Heath war memorials, and at Dorridge Cricket Club, although he is not included on the war memorial at Solihull School.

If you have any further information about Charles Thomas Hutchings, please let us know.

Tracey
Heritage & Local Studies Librarian

Tel.: 0121 704 6977
email: heritage@solihull.gov.uk

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13th August 1915

13th August 1915 saw the loss of two men from Castle Bromwich, both serving with the Hampshire Regiment, and one man from Barston/Knowle, serving with the Royal Warwickshire Regiment.

Private Benjamin James Thomas Harris (apparently known as Thomas) serving with the 2nd Battalion, Hampshire Regiment, drowned after H.M.T. Royal Edward was torpedoed whilst transporting Commonwealth troops to Gallipoli. He was 19 years old.
Private Alfred Richard Irons was one of three brothers from the Irons family of Castle Bromwich and Yardley to die in the war. He died in Gallipoli, at sea, whilst serving with the 2nd Battalion, Hampshire Regiment, and is also presumed to have been aboard the Royal Edward. He was 18 years old.
Private Joseph Williams died of wounds received at Gallipoli whilst serving with the Royal Warwickshire Regiment and is buried at sea.

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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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9th May 1915

Private William Henry Smitten of Knowle was killed on 9th May 1915, just one week after first arriving in France with the Royal Warwicks. On the same day, 25-year-old Lieutenant Thomas Edwin Turner of Solihull and London also died serving with the 13th London Regiment (Kensington Battalion).

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9 May 2015 0

31st October 1914

Four local men from three different regiments died on 31st October 1914:

Private Alfred Allcock, 2nd Dragoon Guards (Queen’s Bays), of Shirley
Private Charles William Assinder (1889-1914), Royal Warwickshire Regiment, commemorated at Olton
Private Cyril Frederick Collett (1894-1914), Worcestershire Regiment, commemorated at Solihull
Drummer Harry William George (1890-1914), Worcestershire Regiment, commemorated at Marston Green Cottage Homes

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25th October 1914

Two men who died on Sunday 25th October 1914 are commemorated locally. Private Alfred Hector Rowland Gwinnett is believed to have been killed by a sniper whilst serving with the 1st Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment. He is commemorated locally at Solihull and Knowle.

Captain Sir Francis Ernest Waller Bt. died on the same day, serving with the Royal Fusiliers (6th Battalion, but attached to the 4th Battalion). The Evening Despatch 25 November 1914 reported that Sir Francis had been ordered to take some lost trenches and guns, which he did successfully. However, when he was rising to urge his men to the final charge, he was severely wounded and died a few hours later. He is commemorated locally at Forest Hall, Meriden (home to the Woodmen of Arden).

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19th October 1914

Lieutenant John Edward Ratcliff, apparently known as Jack, was killed in action near Becelaere, Belgium on 19th October 1914, aged 23. He was serving with 2nd Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment, having previously served with the militia. Soldiers Died in the Great War records his death as being on 20th October 1914, but the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, De Ruvigny’s Roll of Honour and the probate indexes list him as being killed in action on 19th October.

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