Three men with a local connection lost their lives on 12th October 1918 whilst on active service – Private George Thomas Oakes, Horse Transport and Supply, Army Service Corps; Private Percy Poole, 281st Company, Machine Gun Corps; and Corporal Frederick George Wicketts, 4th Battalion, Middlesex Regiment.
11th October 1918
Private Edward Victor Courtnell died on 11th October 1918 whilst serving with the 3rd Battalion, Worcestershire Regiment. He was born in Lapworth and baptised there a few months before his mother, Mary Charlotte (known as Lottie), married labourer William James Courtnell. His birth and baptism were registered under his mother’s maiden name of White.
10th October 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.
8th October 1918
19-year-old Private John Geoffrey Rowley was killed in action on 8th October 1918 whilst serving with the 2nd Battalion, Lincolnshire Regiment. Born in Solihull on 27th July 1899, he was baptised at St Alphege Church, Solihull on 20th August 1899.
20th September 1918
35-year-old Private Edwin Guy Silk was killed in action on 20th September 1918 whilst serving with the 14th Battalion Royal Warwickshire Regiment. Edwin was the youngest of the five known children of parents Edwin (a coal merchant) and Eleanor Maria (née Prosser) who had married in Coleshill in 1875. A sixth child had died in infancy.
27th August 1918
Private William Thompson Walters, 7th Battalion, Royal Fusiliers died on 27th August 1918, aged 20. Born in Solihull on 15th November 1897, he was the second of the five children of parents George Alfred Walters and Alice Robbins (née Thompson) who had married at St Alphege Church, Solihull in 1894. The couple had two sons and three daughters.
11th August 1918
19-year-old Lieutenant Harry Fawdry, Royal Air Force, was killed in action on 11th August 1918 when his aeroplane (DH9 serial number C1207) was hit by anti-aircraft fire over Zeebrugge. He was born in Sutton Coldfield in 1899, and was the eldest of the two sons of parents, Harry and Winifred Annie (née Hammersley). The couple had married at Bordesley, Birmingham in 1897 and were living at The Parade, Sutton Coldfield at the time of their eldest son’s baptism in October 1899.
21st July 1918
Lieutenant Philip Edward Lindner, aged 30, was killed on 21st July 1918 whilst flying with 66th Wing, Royal Air Force in Albania. Born in Solihull on 4th April 1889, he was the youngest of the seven children of parents, Frederick William Lindner (an export merchant) and his wife Lucy Jane (née Collins) who had married in Coventry in 1876.
20th July 1918
Two men with a local connection lost their lives on active service on 20th July 1918. Captain Robert Jacobs, commanding No. 8 Sanitary Section, Royal Army Medical Corps, died of wounds, aged 39, after an enemy bomb fell on his billet. Second Lieutenant Norman Edward Smith, 1st/2nd Battalion Lancashire Fusiliers, attached to 2nd/4th Battalion Hampshire Regiment, was killed in action, aged 28.
16th July 1918
Two men with a local connection lost their lives on 16th July 1918 whilst on active service – Private Percy Farmer Draycott, Royal Army Service Corps and Private Charles Henry Hiles, 18th Battalion, Lancashire Fusiliers.
Solihull Life 