Appeal for information on Solihull’s war dead in Battle of the Somme

Solihull Council’s heritage team are appealing for information concerning those who died on the first day of the Battle of the Somme on 1st July 1916.

24 men who were residents, or went to school in the borough, lost their lives in the bloodiest day in British Military history.

A special exhibition at The Core called ‘Solihull Remembers’ opened on Saturday 25th June (until 20th August) and commemorates the men who died and has further information about those died throughout the course of the war.

The Solihull men who died in the fighting on the first day are:

* Second Lieutenant John Balkwill, of Knowle

* Second Lieutenant Geoffrey Jermyn Brand, formerly of Dorridge

* Private James Burton, of Solihull School

* Private John Thomas Churchill, of Castle Bromwich

* Private Harold Clifton, of Salter Street

* Private Frederick Percy Cooper, of Shirley and Solihull

* Private Thomas Cooper, of Knowle

* Second Lieutenant William Henry Furse, of Solihull School

* Lieutenant Robert Quilter Gilson, of Marston Green

* Lance Corporal John Herbert Hockley, of Olton

* Private Walter Jennings, of Balsall Common

* Second Lieutenant Horace Birchall Jones, of Olton

* Lieutenant-Colonel Maurice Nicholl Kennard MC, member of North Warwickshire Hunt

* Captain Stratford Walter Ludlow, of Knowle and Solihull

* Private John Palmer Lyndon, of Shirley

* Private Alfred Mutlow, born in Knowle

* Private Harry Rudd, of Castle Bromwich

* Private Richard James Smith, born in Solihull

* Private George Arthur Smitten, of Knowle

* Lieutenant Donald George Harding Truman, of Olton

* Private Leslie Waters, of Olton

* Private Albert Weale, of Olton

* Private James Webster, born in Solihull

* Captain Willingham Franklin Gell Wiseman, of Packwood Haugh School

Between July and November 1916, 127 men from Solihull died during the course of the Battle of the Somme.

If you have information about any of the men, please email: heritage@solihull.gov.uk

(Picture: William ‘Bill’ Henry Furse, who attended Solihull School and died on the first day of Battle of the Somme).

Read more: http://www.solihull.gov.uk/news/ArtMID/820/ArticleID/1275/Appeal-for-information-on-Solihull’s-war-dead