On the same day as the Armistice was agreed at 5am, and fighting came to an end at 11am, Air Mechanic 3rd Class, Ernest Stain, died of pneumonia in Lincoln Hospital, aged 21.
8th November 1918
Three men with a local connection died on 8th November 1918 – Gunner John Edward Herbert Harrison, 536th Siege Battery, Royal Garrison Artillery; Private Stephen Hastings, 2nd/4th Field Bakery, Royal Army Service Corps; and Sergeant Howard William Smith, 2nd Battalion (Knowle and Dorridge detachment), Royal Warwickshire Volunteers.
25th October 1918
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.
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
3rd October 1918
32-year-old Private Joseph Adams, 15 Platoon, D Company, 6th Battalion South Wales Borderers, died on 3rd October 1918 as a prisoner of war. Born in London in 1886, he was the eldest of three children born to parents Joseph and Katherine Alice (née Pausey/Pawsey) who had married at St Giles Cripplegate in 1885. Joseph was a hotel manager and, sometime between 1891-1901, the family moved to Knowle, where Joseph managed the Greswolde Hotel.
27th September 1918
Three officers with a local connection lost their lives on active service on 27th September 1918 – Major Percival Charles Edwards DCM, 15th Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment; Captain Edgar Godfrey Izon, 14th Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment; and Lieutenant Maurice Jones, of the East Lancashire Regiment, attached to the 14th Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment. The 14th and 15th Warwicks were attacking African Trench on 27th September, the first day of the Battle of the Canal du Nord. The trench was 1500 yards west of the village of Gouzeaucourt.
3rd September 1918
Private Frank Bryan died on 3rd September 1918 whilst serving in France with the 1st Battalion, Royal Marine Light Infantry.
Self-build housing in Solihull
They Made It Happen! exhibition in the Heritage Gallery on the first floor of The Core Library, Solihull from July-September 2018 celebrated the self-build housing associations which were set up by people so desperate for a home of their own to rent that they built their own, and then rented it from the housing association. At the time, they had no expectation of being able to buy the houses although, when regulations were relaxed a few years later, most were subsequently able to buy.
Continue reading “Self-build housing in Solihull”16th July 1918
Two men with a local connection lost their lives on 16th July 1918 whilst on active service – Private Percy Farmer Draycott, Royal Army Service Corps and Private Charles Henry Hiles, 18th Battalion, Lancashire Fusiliers.
28 June 1968 – Solihull’s first Conservation Areas
The first two Conservation Areas in Solihull – the centres of Solihull and Knowle – were declared as such on 28th June 1968, with a declaration appearing in the London Gazette, 2nd July 1968.
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Solihull Life 