Private (Acting Corporal) John Henry Andrews, 2nd Battalion, Rifle Brigade, died of wounds on 6th April 1916. He was born in West Hanningfield, near Chelmsford, Essex, on 13th September 1886 and was baptised there on 10th October 1886.
1st December 1915
22-year-old Private Alfred Powers died at Mudros, a small port and deep-water harbour on the Mediterranean island of Lemnos, Greece, which was being used by the British as a marshalling point for operations in Gallipoli. He was serving with the 7th Battalion, South Staffordshire Regiment and was a nursery gardener before enlisting. We don’t know when he joined the Army, but he first entered a Theatre of War on 11th September 1915, less than three months before he died.
1st October 1915
Private Frederick Thomas Gardner, 9th Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment, died of wounds on 1st October 1915 aboard the hospital ship, Formosa. Born in Crewkerne, Somerset, on 17th September 1896, he was the elder of the two children of parents, Thomas (a butcher) and Elizabeth (née Dunster) who had married in Winchester district in 1894. His brother, Edwin James (1898-1950) was born in Yeovil on 20th September 1898.
25th September 1915
The 25th September 1915 saw British forces launch an attack on German positions at Loos, Belgium. At the same time, the French attacked German lines at Champagne and Vimy Ridge in the Arras region of France.
The First Battle of Loos lasted from 25th September until 19th October and was the first time that Allied forces used gas as a weapon. 25th September saw German machine guns kill 8,500 men in a single day, the greatest loss of life since the war began. Only 2,000 0f the first-day casualties have a known grave. Seven local men also died on 25th September:
- Private Lawrence George Berry, D Coy, 2nd Battalion, Suffolk Regiment
- Rifleman Ernest Franklin, 1st Battalion, Royal Irish Rifles
- Lance Corporal Charles Jones, 2nd Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment
- Second Lieutenant Charles William King, 2nd Battalion, South Staffordshire Regiment
- Private John Thomas Rowley, 8th Battalion, Somerset Light Infantry
- Captain Edward Hanson Sale, 10th (Service) Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment
- Private William Henry Wells, 1st Battalion, Royal Scots Fusiliers
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.
16th July 1915
Arthur Roberts of Shirley died on 16th July 1915 whilst serving as a Lance Sergeant with the 3rd Battalion, Worcestershire Regiment, apparently having been accidentally killed. He was born in Shirley, the fourth son of Buckinghamshire-born blacksmith, William Roberts and his wife, Elizabeth, who was born in Winterbourne, Nottinghamshire. The family appears to have moved from Yardley Wood to Solihull Lodge sometime between 1883 and 1888.
It’s known that Arthur joined the militia on 5th December 1904, aged 17 years 8 months, serving with the 6th Battalion Worcestershire Regiment. He joined the regular Army on 10th June 1905 at Worcester, giving his occupation as a porter, and his age as 18 years, two months. He had a fresh complexion, dark brown hair and blue eyes and was 5ft 4ins tall by the end of 1905, half an inch taller than when he enlisted. He had also put on weight during the first six months of his service, weighing 132 pounds (9 st 6lbs) compared to 119 (8st 7lbs) on enlistment. An identifying feature was that he had a large, circular scar on his right hip.
19th June 1915
25-year-old regular soldier, Corporal Adam Edgar, died on 19th June 1915 serving with the 2nd Battalion, Worcestershire Regiment. On the same day, Private William Albert Birch was killed in action serving with the 4th Battalion, Worcestershire Regiment.
16th June 1915
19-year-old Frank Ferris died on 16th June 1915 whilst serving as a Private with the Wiltshire Regiment. Born in Hockley Heath, he was baptised at St Thomas’s Church, Nuthurst Lane, Hockley Heath, although the parish register entry is a little confusing.
He is recorded in the parish register (available on the Ancestry website free of charge from library computers) as being baptised on the 18 Nov 1894 [sic], aged 5 months. His siblings George (aged 6), Charles Henry (3 years 11 months), Esther (2) and John (aged 9) were all baptised on the same day as Frank. However, there is a registration entry on the General Register Office (GRO) indexes for Frank’s birth in Mar qtr 1896 so the baptism entry may be an error – the entries were all added in in 1898 with a note saying they had been omitted from the register at the time.
4th June 1915
Lance Corporal Harry Pugh, 4th Battalion, Worcestershire Regiment, was killed in action on 4th June 1915. He was the sixth of ten children, and the second to be killed in the war. His brother, Harold, died on 12th March 1915.
Continue reading “4th June 1915”12th March 1915
Two local men lost their lives on 12th March 1915. Private Herbert Rushton of Castle Bromwich died, aged 24, whilst serving with the 3rd Battalion, Worcestershire Regiment. On the same day, Acting Corporal Harold Pugh, 2nd Battalion, Royal Scots Fusiliers was killed in action.
Solihull Life 