Herbert Hyla (Henry), Brown was born in Castle Bromwich on 3rd August 1908. He was the second of three children born to John Holland Brown, a Railway Porter, and Elizabeth nee Sandland.
At the time of the time of the 1939 census, Herbert was living at 21 New Street with his married sister, Beatrice and her husband, Andrew Townsend. He was a Greengrocer, working on his own “accord”. In 1939, New Street looked a little different to the way it looks today. The houses on the left as you enter from Chester Road were evenly numbered and remain standing today. The houses on the right had odd numbers and have since been demolished and replaced with newer buildings.
Castle Bromwich was a small village and the people living in it closely connected. Close friendships were forged between neighbours and marriages between them were common. Herbert and his sister Beatrice formed a close friendship with Vera Knibb who lived at 10 New Street. Over time the friendship between Vera and Herbert grew stronger and they started to make plans to marry.
By 1964 Herbert was working as a chauffeur and had moved to 16 Clayton Drive. One morning he drove the car to Westholme on Whateley Green where he was to collect the Lady of the house. When she went to get into the car she commented that Herbert didn’t look very well; to which he responded that he felt quite ill. She went inside to get him a glass of water, but when she returned she found him dead.
Herbert is buried in a family grave in Castle Bromwich. Whilst not named on the headstone, there was a bowl placed on the grave that read:
[custom-related-posts title=”Related Posts” none_text=”None found” order_by=”title” order=”ASC”]HERBERT HENRY BROWN born 3rd August 1908, died 7th August 1964.
