Two local officers, both aged 21, died of wounds on 27th September 1915. Second Lieutenant Archibald Ure Buchanan, who lived in Olton, died in Flanders whilst serving with the Gordon Highlanders, and Lieutenant Albert William Buchan Carless, who had been a boarder at Packwood Haugh school, died in France whilst serving with the Middlesex Regiment.
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.
2nd August 1915
Two local men lost their lives on 2nd August 1915 whilst on active service – Private William Manton, 1st/4th Battalion, King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, and Sergeant Lawrence Waters, 5th Battalion, Oxford & Bucks Light Infantry.
26th July 1915
Private William Tarver, 1st Battalion Royal Warwickshire Regiment, died on 26th July 1915 in France. Born in Solihull in 1880, he was the second of seven children born to Henry Osborne Tarver and his wife, Elizabeth.
Henry and Elizabeth were both born in Gloucestershire, and their eldest son, Thomas, was born there in 1879. They had moved to Solihull by the time of William’s birth a year later, and were living at 19, Blossomfield by the time of the 1881 census. Henry was recorded as a waggoner.
4th July 1915
Although Frank Jabez Meades was born in Olton in 1889, and was killed in action on 4th July 1915, his name is not listed on the Olton war memorial. It looks as if the family moved away from Olton between 1891 and 1901 after at least 10 years’ residence there so, presumably, there were no relatives of friends still in the parish to add Frank’s name to the war memorial.
His short service attestation record gives his place of birth as Yardley. However, this seems likely to be incorrect – he was living with his parents and siblings at Reservoir Cottage, Warwick Road, Olton on the 1891 census when he was aged one, and his entry in Soldiers Died in the Great War lists his place of birth as Olton.
21st May 1915
27-year-old former Lieutenant Charles Russell Venables died of pulmonary tuberculosis on 21st May 1915. He died at home, Brougham House, Old Warwick Road, Olton, and was buried at Baddesley Clinton.
Continue reading “21st May 1915”19th May 1915
Two local men died on 19th May 1915. Herbert Samuel Wakelin died at home in Olton on 19th May 1915 and is buried at Yardley Cemetery in Birmingham.
Charles Samuel George, who had spent almost all his childhood as an inmate at Marston Green Cottage Homes, died of wounds in France, whilst serving as a Private with the 1st Battalion, South Staffordshire Regiment. He was the brother of Harry George, who had died of wounds on 31st October 1914.
29th April 1915
32-year-old Captain (Temporary Acting Major) Godfrey Barker was killed on 29th April 1915, serving in Gallipoli with the Drake Battalion, Royal Naval Division, Royal Marine Light Infantry (R.M.L.I). He was the fourth son of Colonel Sir Francis William James Barker (1841-1924) and Charlotte Jessie (nee Foster) and was born in Malta on 13th January 1883. He attended King’s Edward School, Birmingham before going on to the Royal Naval College, Greenwich.
He was gazetted Second Lieutenant with the R.M.L.I. on 1st September 1901 and was promoted to Lieutenant on 1st July 1902. In the 1911 census, he is recorded as a Lieutenant in the Royal Marines at Deal, Kent. He became a Captain on 1st September 1912, exactly eleven years after his first commission. An announcement was made by the Admiralty on 13th January 1914 to the effect that Captain Barker had been placed on the retired list at his own request. His retirement lasted for only eight months. He rejoined the Colours on 13th September 1914, just over a month after was was declared, and he saw action the following month at the siege of Antwerp with the Portsmouth Battalion (Officer Commanding MGs Royal Marine Brigade). On 9th November 1914 he was appointed Temporary Major, then going to the Dardanelles as Adjutant of the Drake Battalion.
25th April 1915
Having emigrated from England to Australia in about 1912, sculptor Percy Walker Corser joined the Australian Infantry of the Australian Imperial Force (A.I.F.) on 14th August 1914, aged 27 years and five months. He was killed at Gallipoli eight months later on 25th April 1915.
Continue reading “25th April 1915”21st December 1914
Private George Henry Carter, aged 27, died of wounds on 21st December 1914 and is buried in Belgium at the London Rifle Brigade Cemetery.
Solihull Life 