Four local men are known to have died on 15th September 1916 as a result of their war service: Private Edmund Dixon, Coldstream Guards, was killed in action and is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial, as are Rifleman Arthur McKenzie, King’s Royal Rifle Corps and Captain Eric King Parsons, Rifle Brigade. Lieutenant Euan Louis Mylne MC, 2nd Battalion Irish Guards also died of wounds on the same day.
24th August 1916
Two local men were killed in action on 24th August 1916 – Sergeant Charles Rowney, 8th Battalion, King’s Royal Rifle Corps, and Lieutenant Harry Weston Webb, 5th Battalion, Oxford & Bucks Light Infantry. Both men have no known grave and are commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial.
14th August 1916
Stanley Theodore Pryce was killed on 14th August 1916, serving as a Rifleman with the 12th Battalion Rifle Brigade. Born in Knowle on 15th July 1893, and baptised at Knowle parish church the following month, he was the ninth of 12 children born to parents John (a coachman) and Marie (née Dieudonné). Marie was a French national, who was born in Carentan in Normandy. It’s not known when she moved to England but she and John married in Oswestry in 1879, when they were both aged 21.
30th July 1916
Four local men serving with the Royal Warwickshire Regiment are known to have died on 30th July 1916 whilst on active service; Olton resident, Private William Dobson, 14th Battalion; Private Howard John Hutchinson, formerly of Shirley, (14th Battalion); Private William John Lawley of Shirley (10th Battalion) and Solihull resident, Lance Corporal John Manning (14th Battalion). Also killed was Meriden’s Lieutenant Reginald Ernest Melly, The King’s (Liverpool Regiment). Four of them have no known grave and are commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial. Private Hutchinson was also recorded on the Thiepval Memorial but is now buried at the London Cemetery and Extension, Longueval.
27th July 1916
On 27th July 1916, two local men lost their lives whilst serving in France. Private William Webb, from Hockley Heath, serving with 17th Battalion Middlesex Regiment, and Private Walter Henry Percival Wright, from Shirley, serving with 16th Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment (3rd Birmingham Pals).
23rd July 1916
12 local men lost their lives on 23rd July 1916, nine of them whilst serving with the 14th (1st Birmingham) Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment (1st Birmingham Pals), and one from the 15th Battalion (2nd Birmingham Pals).
18th July 1916
Private Tertius Beniah Baldwin died at Edmonton Military Hospital on 18th July 1916 whilst serving with 134 Motor Transport Company, Army Service Corps. He was born in 1894 and was the eldest of the seven children (five sons, two daughters) of Thomas Walter Baldwin (a farmer) and his wife Amy Kate (née Lichfield) who had married in May 1893 at All Saints Church, Hockley, Birmingham. They set up home at Blounts Hole Farm, Trueman’s Heath, Hollywood where they lived until at least the early 1920s.
2nd July 1916
Four local men are known to have died on 2nd July 1916, all serving with the Royal Warwickshire Regiment:
- Private John Franklin, of Olton
- Drummer Frank Nash, of Shirley
- Private William Richard Pittom, of Shirley
- Second Lieutenant Cyril George Williamson, former pupil of Solihull School
1st July 1916 – Solihull and Shirley
Seven men with a connection to Solihull or Shirley are known to have died on 1st July 1916:
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- Private James Burton, Middlesex Regiment
- Private Harold Clifton, Royal Warwickshire Regiment
- Private Frederick Percy Cooper, Royal Warwickshire Regiment
- Second Lieutentant William Henry Furse, Northumberland Fusiliers
- Private John Palmer Lyndon, Royal Warwickshire Regiment
- Private Richard James Smith, Royal Warwickshire Regiment
- Private James Webster, Royal Warwickshire Regiment
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30th June 1916
Private Edmund Yapp, 6th Battalion, Oxford and Bucks Light Infantry, was killed in action on 30th June 1916 and is buried in Vlamertinghe Military Cemetery, Belgium. Born in the Bickenhill area, Soldiers Died in the Great War records was living in Shirley at the time he enlisted in the Army.
Solihull Life 