30-year-old Private William Thomas Badger died at No. 10 Casualty Clearing Station of wounds sustained at Mount Sorrel, Belgium and is buried at Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery. He was serving as a Private with the 3rd Battalion Canadian Pioneers, having emigrated to Canada by 1906.
4th June 1916
Four young men from the Solihull area lost their lives on 4th June 1916 whilst on active service in the First World War: Private Matthew Richard Barlow; Private Stanley Holt; Lance Corporal Austin Geoffrey Leigh (all serving with the Royal Warwickshire Regiment); and Second Lieutenant Philip Leslie Patterson, North Staffordshire Regiment. All four men were aged between 17 and 21.
31st May 1916
During the first day of the Battle of Jutland, 31st May 1916, three local men lost their lives in this great clash of 250 warships when the German Navy tried to break a naval blockade in the North Sea. The two days of the battle saw the loss of 25 ships and 8,500 men, three-quarters of whom were British. Despite the huge losses, the blockade held.
Lieutenant-Commander Leonard Hubert Lindner and Ordinary Telegraphist Elias William Wright were killed when their ship, H.M.S. Indefatigable, was sunk after being hit by shells from the German battlecruiser, Von Der Tann, which ripped a hole in Indefatigable’s hull, causing the ship’s magazine to explode and blow the ship in half. Only two of the 1,019 crew survived. According to one of the survivors, the ship’s Captain, C. F. Sowerby, survived the sinking but died of his wounds before he could be rescued.
On the same day Able Seaman Francis Smitten was killed in the same battle, when his ship, H.M.S. Black Prince, was sunk with all 37 officers and 820 men lost.
3rd May 1916
Private Christopher James, recorded as aged 36, died on 3rd May 1916, serving with the 11th Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment. There is a slight discrepancy with his age, as he would actually have been 39 when he died. He was born in 1876 in Pencoyd, Ross, Herefordshire to parents James (a farm labourer) and Harriet. Soldiers Died in the Great War also has an error in the birthplace – listing his place of birth as St Leonard’s, Hertfordshire.
16th March 1916
Lieutenant Glyn Cuthbert Robertson was shot and killed by a sniper at Neuville St Vaast, France whilst inspecting trenches previously taken over from the French. There is a slight discrepancy in the date of death, with some sources giving this as 15th March.
Although Glyn was born in Southgate, London in 1893, the family actually seems to have been living in Warwickshire for several years. His parents, Arthur (an insurance inspector) and Agnes (née Fitter), were married at Edgbaston parish church in 1889, and his sister, Dorothy, was born in Egbaston in 1890. Glyn was baptised at Hampton-in-Arden on 22nd July 1893, with his parents’ address at the time being recorded as Pembroke House, Bounds Green, London and his father’s occupation as clerk.
25th January 1916
On 25th January 1916, two local men died as a result of their war service:
- Temporary Captain, John Harry Hartill, aged 52, General List
- Private William Lovegrove, aged 23, 1st Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment
10th December 1915
We don’t have much information on Henry George Perkins who was killed in action in Gallipoli on 10th December 1915 whilst serving as a Private with the 7th Battalion, South Staffordshire Regiment. He is buried at Azmak Cemetery, Suvla Bay, Turkey and is also commemorated on the Solihull war memorial. Soldiers Died in the Great War says he was born in Birmingham and lived in Solihull at the time he enlisted.
24th October 1915
Private Thomas Henry Parkes, from Solihull and Hockley Heath, died of wounds on 24th October 1915 at Gallipoli, serving with the 8th Battalion, Duke of Wellington’s (West Riding Regiment). He was the youngest of the seven surviving children (out of 12 born) of parents William Parkes, a bricklayer, and his wife Rhoda (née Hayes) who had married at St Alphege Church, Solihull on 27th July 1874.
13th October 1915
Four local men lost their lives on 13th October 1915. They have no known grave and are commemorated on the Loos Memorial:
- Second Lieutenant Ostcliffe Harold Beaufort, North Staffordshire Regiment
- Private Donald Ewen, London Regiment (London Scottish)
- Private Joseph Frederick Harding, Gloucestershire Regiment
- Lieutenant (Temporary Captain) Harley Raymond Russell, Gloucestershire Regiment
9th October 1915
The war memorials at Catherine-de-Barnes and Solihull both include the name of Lance Corporal James Uriah Hill of the Coldstream Guards, although his local connection with the area isn’t known. He was killed in action at Vermelles, on 9th October 1915.
He was born in Saltley to parents James Uriah and Mary Ann (née Wragg) who had married at Nechells in 1877. His birth was registered in 1892, although there is a slight discrepancy in age with other official records suggesting a date of birth of 1889/1890. The couple did have another son called James Uriah, born 8th September 1883 at Nechells but this child seems to have died aged one, and is buried in Witton Cemetery, Birmingham. It was common practice in the past for a child to have the same name as a dead sibling to ensure that a favourite name continued for another generation. Mary Ann herself died in 1900, aged 44, and James Uriah married Sarah Clay in 1905.
Solihull Life 