sharing Solihull's local history
Francis George Harris, formerly a Gunner with the Royal Garrison Artillery, died at Birmingham General Hospital on 29th December 1919. He had been discharged from the Army in March 1919 so does not appear as a war casualty on official records, although he is commemorated locally in the Soldiers’ Chapel, Knowle. He is also listed on the Roll of Honour for Packwood amongst those who served.
Private Ernest Vivian Freeman, Royal Army Medical Corps, aged 22, died at 10pm on 19th July 1919 whilst serving with the 3rd British General Hospital in Iraq. The telgram sent to his mother gave his cause of death as influenza, although entries in his service record first indicated the cause of death as cholera, before stating influenza (acute septicaemic type)
He was born in Olton and baptised at St Margaret’s Church on 20th June 1897.
Second Lieutenant William Narey Boocock, Royal Warwickshire Regiment, died of influenza and pneumonia at 77 Pembroke Road, Bristol on 3rd March 1919, aged 26. The family home was at Ben Ryhdding, Warwick Road, Acocks Green and, as a Roman Catholic, he was buried at Olton Franciscan Friary, Solihull.
On 1st February 1919, Captain and Quartermaster Nicholas Charles Harvey MBE, aged 53, took his own life at the Red Lion Hotel, Atherstone. He had been a regular soldier for about 23 years and served with the 19th Hussars in Egypt and India and with the 12th Lancers in the Boer War. At the time of the 1901 census he was stationed in Ireland.
Private Horace Alfred Hawkes, 5th Battalion, Worcestershire Regiment, died at Heathcote Infectious Diseases Hospital, Leamington Spa on 23rd December 1918. He was born in Leek Wootton on 15th May 1895 and was the seventh of the eight children (three sons, five daughters) of parents, Thomas and Emily (née Biddle), who had married in Cubbington in 1875.
Gunner Fred Checkley, 260th Siege Battery, Royal Garrison Artillery, died of pneumonia on 14th November 1918, at No. 12 General Hospital, Rouen. He was born on 2nd August 1897 in Stretford, Lancashire, and was the second of four children (two sons, two daughters) of parents, Fred (a jewellery buyer born in Birmingham) and Alice Agnes (née Webber) who had married in the Kings Norton district in 1894.
37-year-old Private Edward Jones, 8th Battalion, Royal Berkshire Regiment, was killed in action on 4th November 1918. Born in 1881 in Aston, he was the third of the six children (three sons, three daughters) of parents Herbert (a clerk) and Ellen (née Gunner) who had married in Birmingham in 1875. One of the children – Herbert Richard Jones (1878-1880) – died before reaching two years of age.
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.
Two men with a local connection lost their lives on 10th October 1918 whilst on active service – 30-year-old Private Wilfred Harry Bayliss, 2nd Battalion, Wiltshire Regiment, and 29-year-old Gunner Arthur Sidney Pope, “B” Battery, 56th Brigade, Royal Field Artillery.
Two local men lost their lives on 6th October 1918 as a result of their war service. Charles Leonard Ball had been discharged from the Army so doesn’t actually appear on any official records as a casualty, although his name is recorded locally on Olton war memorial. Private Stephen Mumford MM, 50th Battalion, Machine Gun Corps died on active service in France, possibly as a prisoner of war.
Solihull Life 