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Wolverhampton's War

~ Lost voices from the Great War

Wolverhampton's War

Tag Archives: research

George Norman Adams

17 Thursday Apr 2014

Posted by heidimcintosh in Front Line, Men who served

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

France, George Norman Adams, Lincoln, Mars Steelworks, probate records, research, South Staffordshire Regiment, Summerfield, volunteers

The son of George North Adams (an iron manufacturer at Mars Steelworks) and Fanny Cadman Adams (nee Harris), George was a stock-keeper and Iron Mill Manager before the outbreak of the First World War. By the 1911 census he was living with his parents and sister Elsie May at 8 Summerfield, Wolverhampton.

In 1915, he enlisted into the 6th Battalion of the South Staffordshire Regiment, rising to the rank of Captain. Having fought in France, he died 20 October 1918 at the 4th Northern General Hospital in Lincoln. According to the National Probate Calendar, he left behind effects totalling £4608 19 s. 2d. As his military records have not survived, no further details are available. Because of his surname, George’s is the first name listed on the Wolverhampton Roll of Honour.

The research for this entry came from one of our volunteers, Betty McCann.

The decorated curator

31 Monday Mar 2014

Posted by heidimcintosh in Front Line, Men who served

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

front line, research, Royal Army Service Corps, Tom Roberts

Thanks to the contributions of our readers, including our Facebook followers, we can now give you a bit more of the story of the mysterious T. Roberts, for whom we hold a certificate of the Serbian Gold Medal.

Company Quarter Master Serjeant Thomas Roberts enlisted in the Royal Army Service Corps at Wolverhampton on 21 May 1915, Service number M2/101473. He served in Salonica with 605 Company Motor Transport, landing there in 1916. On 5 March 1916 he was posted to the British Mission with the Royal Serbian Army, and was later awarded the Serbia Gold medal for his service there. Thomas lived at 15 Maxwell Rd Wolverhampton and was aged 26 years on discharge. This means that he is presumably the Thomas Henry Roberts whose birth is registered in Wolverhampton in June 1894, although we have not yet been able to trace his baptism to confirm details of his parents. Because we now have more concrete information about Roberts’ age, howeveer, we can confirm that this man is not the son of Frederick Stephen Roberts and his wife Emma Louisa Bantock, as he would be much older.

As we mentioned in a previous post, after the war he became Senior Assistant Curator at Wolverhampton Art Gallery (having been employed as a motor bus driver before the war). In 1948 he was promoted to Curator.

Thank you very much for all your assistance with this mystery!

Local soldiers featured in the Express and Star

25 Tuesday Mar 2014

Posted by heidimcintosh in Daily life, Front Line, Men who served

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Express & Star, front line, newspapers, research, volunteers

Express & Star article on William Perry, December 1914

Express & Star article on William Perry, December 1914

As we mentioned previously, our volunteers have been hard at work scouring the local newspapers, in particular the Express and Star for mention of First World War stories which are relevant to Wolverhampton.

In the early months of the War it is especially noticeable that mention is made of many local men who are killed in action, complete with a photograph. Later on in the War, it is presumably more difficult to keep this up, due to the sheer numbers of fallen. Many of the articles we have discovered have been uploaded to the WAVE Flickr page. The list of photographed men featured from August to December 1914 (not all of whom have died), is as follows. We will hopefully be able to find out a bit more about some of these men through further research at the Archives:

  • Private Joseph Baker, 2nd South Staffordshire Regiment, a member of staff of Bilston Post Office (listed on the memorial at Ypres)
  • James Barratt, Naval stoker, of Hall Green Street, Bradley (commemorated on the Chatham Naval Memorial)
  • Sergeant John Leonard Beavon, 20th Hussars, of 35 Merridale Street West
  • Private George Albert Dawes, 2nd Battalion Coldstream Guards, of 37 Lower Walsall Street, Wolverhampton (commemorated in Boulogne Eastern Cemetery)
  • Private John Donelly, South Staffordshire Regiment (listed on the memorial at Ypres)
  • Private William Ellam, 2nd Battalion South Staffordshire, 8 New Street, Heath Town (listed on the memorial at Ypres)
  • Private Frank Ellis, 1st South Staffords, a former pupil of SS. Mary and John’s Day School, Wolverhampton (commemorated in Boulogne Eastern Cemetery)
  • Joseph Hartland, 2nd Worcesters, of 67 Horseley Fields, Wolverhampton
  • First-class Petty Officer Hayes, of Byrne Road in Blakenhall and a former employee of the Mars Ironworks
  • Private G. Humphries, Grenadier Guards, of 112 Wood End, Wednesfield (listed on the Ploegstreet Memorial)
  • Private B. Johnson, 1st Northumberland Fusiliers, of Green Lane, Wolverhampton (commemorated at Le Touret Memorial)
  • Private J. Jordan, 1st South Staffords, whose father lived at Leicester Street, Bilston
  • Private William Lloyd, of the 2nd South Staffords, a former employee of Mander Brothers (listed on the memorial at Ypres)
  • Private J. Monger, Royal Scots Fusiliers, of Lower Stafford Street, Wolverhampton (listed on the memorial at Ypres)
  • Private William Perry, 2nd Coldstream Guards, of Chester Street, Wolverhampton (commemorated in Poperinghe Old Military Cemetery).
  • Leonard Rhodes, Worcester Regiment, of Franchise Street, Wolverhampton and an employee of Sunbeam Motor Works
  • Herbert Rowley, Naval Reservist, of Bridgnorth Road, Compton (also known as “Bert” and listed on Portsmouth Naval Memorial)
  • Private William Simcox, 2nd Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment, employed at the Crane Foundry, Horseley Fields (listed on the memorial at Ypres)
  • Private Arthur Smith, 2nd Worcesters, of Priestfield
  • Sam Tibbitts, 2nd Worcesters, a former pupil of the day school at Darlington Street Wesleyan Church and member of St Mark’s Company of the Boys’ Brigade and St Mark’s Band of Hope (listed on the memorial at Ypres)
  • Arthur Wainwright, 3rd Dragoon Guards, of Granville Street, Wolverhampton (listed on the memorial at Ypres)
  • J. T. Westwood, Royal Welsh Fusiliers, of 6 Pountney Street, Wolverhampton (listed on the memorial at Ypres)

Voices of War and Peace

22 Saturday Mar 2014

Posted by heidimcintosh in Admin

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Jesse Hill, Maud Fellows, research, universities

Private Jesse Hill

Private Jesse Hill

Yesterday saw the launch of the new World War One Engagement Centre, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) with the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF). Set up by the Universities of Wolverhampton and Birmingham, with support from Newman College, Birmingham City University, and Worcester University, the Centre will be based at the new Library of Birmingham.

Because of the link with Wolverhampton, we are very proud that the launch included schoolchildren reading from material held at Wolverhampton City Archives. These detailed the deaths of two local people during in the First World War, one fighting in the trenches (in the case of Jesse Hill), and one dying at home (Maud Fellows). Both stories have already been featured in more detail on this blog. A photograph of Jesse Hill is also featured in our banner at the top of this blog. Highlights of some of these resources are also featured on the website of the Engagement Centre, entitled Voices of War and Peace.

You can follow updates from this Centre on Twitter.

Part of the mystery is solved…

17 Monday Mar 2014

Posted by heidimcintosh in Admin, Men who served

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

Bantock House Museum, Express and Star, research, Serbia, Tom Roberts, Wolverhampton Art Gallery

Thank you all for your responses to our appeal for more information on T. Roberts, who was awarded the Serbian Gold Medal for distinguished service during the First World War. With your help, we have been able to flesh out a bit more detail about the man behind the certificate, mainly thanks to this article in the Express & Star.

Tom H. Roberts was appointed Curator of Wolverhampton Art Gallery in 1948, having been Senior Assistant Curator for the previous 26 years. According to the article, he served for four years during the First World War, before being wounded and torpedoed, and most of his war-time service was spent as a member of the British Mission to the Serbian Army. This explains why he was awarded the Serbian Gold Medal, as well as why the certificate has found its way among the collection of material from Wolverhampton Art Gallery. We are still somewhat in the dark about his background, though, and, given the relative high frequency of his surname, we still need a bit more information before we can try and unearth his military records.

One of our Facebook followers have suggested that this may be Thomas Roberts (who was born about 1875-1878 in Wolverhampton), the son of Frederick Stephen Roberts and his wife Emma Louisa Bantock. If this is correct, that would mean that this certificate links with Bantock House as well as with Wolverhampton Art Gallery. If anybody has any further information, we would greatly appreciate it! Meanwhile, we will keep digging…

Help us to solve a mystery!

14 Friday Mar 2014

Posted by heidimcintosh in Admin, Front Line, Men who served

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

archives, research, Roberts, Serbia

Ref: DX-894/2/33

Ref: DX-894/2/33

In amongst the Local History collection received from Wolverhampton Art Gallery, we have a certificate in (presumably) Serbian, although it is possibly Russian. This is certainly not something we see in our archives everyday, and our Latin and other language skills are a bit more limited in this case. Fortunately, we have a translation which has been kept together with the certificate!

It says the following:

For Distinguished Service.

In the Name of His Majesty

PETER 1.

By the Grace of God and the Will of the People

King of Serbia

His Royal Highness

ALEXANDER

Heir to the Throne

deigned by his Ukaz

of 1st July, 1916, F. A. O. No. 3830 to confer the

GOLD MEDAL FOR DISTINGUISHED SERVICE upon

Sergt. Major T. Roberts,

which is certified by this Diploma.

The certificate is signed by the Chancellor of the Royal Orders, General Pav. Juristic Strum, and is dated 29 May 1921. But who was this Sergeant-Major T. Roberts? And what were his actions during the First World War that led to his receiving this award? And finally, what are his links to Wolverhampton and how has this certificate come to be in our collection?

There is some information on the Serbian Gold Medal on Wikipedia. There is also a letter regarding the award of the Serbian Gold Medal to Rowland Williams in the collections of the University of Oxford. Other than that we have very little information available. If anybody is able to shed further light on this mystery, we would greatly appreciate it!

The Caswell brothers

12 Wednesday Mar 2014

Posted by heidimcintosh in Front Line, Men who served

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Express & Star, Jack Reading Caswell, Oaken, Queens Square, research, Royal Army Ordnance Corps, Royal Warwickshire Regiment, Thomas Reginald Caswell, volunteers

Like Joseph Glaze last week, Jack Reading Caswell is listed on the Wolverhampton Roll of Honour. His brother, Thomas Reginald, also fought during the First World War, but survived. Our volunteer, Betty McCann has researched the differing fortunes of these two brothers.

Queens Square, Wolverhampton, early twentieth century

Queens Square, Wolverhampton, early twentieth century

Jack Reading Caswell was born in Wolverhampton in 1891, to parents Thomas Reading and Anne Caswell. His older brother, Thomas Reginald, was born in 1889, and was baptised at St Peter’s Church on 28 April 1889. Their father was a hatter, hosier and shirt maker, with shops in Dudley Street and Queens Square. The image to the right shows the Queens Square branch, just to the right of the Prince Albert statue. Before the war, Jack worked as a Drapers Assistant, with his brother Thomas being a Shirt Cutter.

In the 1901 census, both brothers appear listed at boarding school at the Holy Trinity School in Sutton Coldfield, Warwickshire. By the 1911 census, they are both back at home at The Woodlands, Oaken, Wolverhampton, along with their father, two sisters and a servant. During the First World War, Thomas served as a Private with the Royal Army Ordnance Corps (Regiment Number 015675), while his brother served as a Lance Corporal in the 10th Battalion of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment (Regiment Number 55). Thomas’s military records have not survived, but we do have a photograph of him, to the left. Jack died of wounds sustained in Flanders on 15 May 1918, a mere 6 months before the end of the war in November. He is buried at Esquelbecq Military Cemetery in France, Grave reference I. D. 26. There is a small notice about his death in the Express & Star on 21 May 1918. It simply states

Sergt. Caswell, Royal Warwickshire Regt., son of Mr F. R. Caswell, The Woodlands, Oaken, has died of wounds received in action.

Update on Denis James Fallon

10 Monday Mar 2014

Posted by heidimcintosh in Front Line, Men who served

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Battle of the Somme, Blakenhall, research, Royal Garrison Artillery, volunteers

Research by volunteer, Betty McCann, has unearthed further information about Denis James Fallon, who we last read about on the blog in March 2013.

Fallon was born on 3 December 1896 in Lower Villiers Street, Blakenhall, Wolverhampton, to parents Denis and Mabel Edith Fallon. His father, Denis, was a printer and compositor, originally from Ireland, who died in 1905 aged 45 years old. His mother Mabel (nee Morris), was born in Tettenhall, and later remarried in 1906 to a William John Fletcher. By 1911, Denis was a Hardware Warehouseman, living at 119 VIlliers Street with his mother, stepfather, 2 sisters, 1 stepsister and 3 stepbrothers.

Denis Fallon became a gunner in the Royal Garrison Artillery during the First World War (regiment number 63256), being one of the few in his regiment to survive the Battle in the Somme in 1916.

After the war, Denis married Alice E. Hatton on 2 August 1924 at St Luke’s Church, Blakenhall, and they lived at 22 The Crescent, Parkfield Road, Wolverhampton. They had at least one child, a daughter, Doreen, baptised 14 March 1925. Denis died on 3 December 1980 at the age of 84.

Update on Charles Wallbank

08 Saturday Mar 2014

Posted by heidimcintosh in Front Line, Men who served

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

archives, Charles Wallbank, diaries, research, volunteers

We featured the diary of Charles Davies Wallbank on this blog in December 2012, which is a fascinating account of what life was like in the trenches. One of our volunteers, Betty McCann, has done some further research into the man behind the diary.

Charles Wallbank was born in Wolverhampton in 1894, the son of Charles and Kate (nee Connolly) who had got married a year earlier. On both the 1901 and 1911 censuses, his father is listed as a fish dealer. Charles appears to have joined the army straight from school, as he was already living at Aldershot Barracks in the 1901 census. The family home was at Glennon, 149 Cannock Road, Wolverhampton.

His diary covers the period when he was serving with the ‘A’ Signal Company of the Royal Engineers on the Western Front and in Serbia, Regiment Number 20999, and a facsimile copy can be viewed at Wolverhampton Archives. Despite getting injured in 1916 and being discharged from the British Army, he later became a racing car driver, marrying Violet M. S. Jennings in 1930. He died in December 1958 in Paddington in London, and is probably the same man who is buried in Brockley & Ladywell cemeteries in south-east London.

Wilfred Turner

03 Tuesday Dec 2013

Posted by carriefarnell in Front Line, Men who served

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

Commonwealth War Graves Commission, front line, National Archives, research, volunteers, war memorials, Wilfred Turner

This article was prepared by one of our volunteers, Ann Eales. The Newhampton Road (Cranmer) Wesleyan Church Memorial and Roll of Honour, see picture, includes in alphabetical orWW1 pic1der 172 names of men and women who served during the First World War, including Wilfred Turner. You can read an interesting story about this Roll of Honour.

The details recorded forWW1 pic2 WILFRED TURNER on the memorial are as follows: 

“Private 513671 14th Bn London Regt (London Scottish) Killed in Action 24/11/1917  Grave/Memorial Reference: III. D. 16. Cemetery: MOEUVRES COMMUNAL CEMETERY EXTENSION.”

The Commonwealth War Graves website has a plan of the cemetery, alongside this picture, and explains that Moeuvres is a village in France, 10 kms west of Cambrai. So, when Wilfred Turner died on 24 November 1917, it must have been at the Battle of Cambrai.

As an important rail centre, essential to bringing in supplies for the German forces, Cambrai became a target for an Allied attack. The Third Army attacked early on 20 November 1917, using a revolutionary method of co-ordinated massed tank-infantry-artillery-aircraft attack on the German trenches. The Germans apparently studied this method very closely and developed it into the German Army blitzkrieg methods of the second World War. At the end of the first day the attack appeared a spectacular success; church bells in England were rung in celebration. The Germans took back most of the ground they lost, however, with heavy reinforcements and an effective counter-attack. Wilfred Turner was just one of the Third Army’s losses (dead, wounded and missing) of approximately 44,000 men between 20 November and 8 December. German losses have been estimated at between 45,000 and 55,000.

Wilfred Turner

Wilfred Turner

Wilfred Turner was born at Wolverhampton on 15 June 1882. At the time of the 1891 Census, he was an 8 year old schoolboy. His father, Henry Robert Turner, was a Policeman. Both Wilfred’s father and mother, Martha, were born at Kingswinford. There were 3 more boys, Walter (12), Arthur (10) and Nathan Ernest (6), and a 5 month old daughter, Martha. She seems to have been known as Patty on the 1901 Census. By 1901 at the age of 18 Wilfred was working as a County Court Bailiff. He married Edith Florence Beck on 1 July 1909, and they were living at 14 Bingley Street at the time of the 1911 Census. There is no record of them having any children.

His Army records, which are among those that survived bomb destruction in the Second World War, show us that Wilfred was aged 33 years 5 months, weighed 129 lbs and was 5 foot 7 inches tall with a chest measurement of 35½ inches, when he joined his Regiment. Initially his army number was 7781, but this changed to 513671

Wilfred was ill with Scabies in 1916 for 63 days, from 9th October, until he was discharged as “cured” from the HolbWW1 pic3orn Military Hospital Western Road at Mitcham on 11th December 1916. Scabies is a contagious skin infection caused by a parasitic mite, developed in the field during the First World War because doctors had become unfamiliar with its early signs. Apparently many soldiers only reported sick after the condition was too painful to bear. By then the rest of the men alongside them in the trenches were infected, too.

Holborn Military Hospital was located in the Mitcham workhouse, used as a military hospital in the First World War, and afterwards to house refugees from the Russian revolution.

WW1 pic4

On 5 July 1918 a letter was sent to Mrs Turner to advise her that she would receive a widow’s pension of 13/9 a week with effect from 22 July 1918. She was referred to as being the wife of Wilfred Turner on the Ministry of Pensions Form 3.

Probate was granted to her on 15 May 1919, with Wilfred’s effects being valued at £249 13s 3d.

WW1 pic5

Among Wilfred’s army records this note can be seen.

WW1 pic6

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