Julian Gwyther was the son of Edwin Gwyther and his wife Mary Ann née Lander. On 23 January 1875, He married Dorothy Hannah Hughes in Llandudno. He worked as a Solicitor in Birmingham.

The two eldest children were born in Water Orton, whilst the other three were all born at the Elms, Whateley Green, Castle Bromwich. All four sons served in the First World War, with two of them – Guy and Philip – losing their lives. Their mother died in 1902 and their father in 1908 from throat cancer.

By 1891, the family had moved away from Castle Bromwich, and was living in Castleton House, Sherborne, Dorset.

 

Julian Gwyther

On  Friday 5th May 1899 a Wanted Ad appeared in the Police Gazette:

Portrait and Description of Julian Gwyther, a solicitor late of Sherborne, whose apprehension is sought for converting trust property for his own use; age 50, height 5ft 6in; rather round shouldered, face blotched. He recently resided at Warwick Road, Earl’s Court, S.W.

Warrant Issued. Information to Insp. Simpson, Sherborne.

 

In 1901, 18-year-old Guy was with his mother, Dorothy (a boarding house keeper), sister, Dorothy Maud (1877-1972), and brother, George Lionel (1886-1978),  in Kensington, London. Guy was working as a clerk to an insurance broker. By 1911, he and his brother, George, had moved to Almeley, Herefordshire where they were both working as poultry farmers.

 

Edwin Julian Gwyther

The eldest brother, Edwin Julian (1875-1943) served as a Sergeant with the Imperial Yeomanry (Paget’s Horse) during the Boer War, and was gazetted Second Lieutenant in March 1902 and seconded to the West African Frontier Force. In November 1914, he was gazetted Temporary Captain with the 7th Battalion, Leicestershire Regiment and later promoted Captain. He married on the Isle of Wight in 1909, and died there in 1943, aged 68

 

Philip Hugh Gwyther

Philip Hugh Gwyther was born 19 June 1878 at the Elms, Whateley Green, Castle Bromwich, Warwickshire. The family subsequently moved to Sherborne in Dorset where Philip attended Sherborne Preparatory School and later Sherborne School (day boy) September. 1892-1893.

After leaving school he worked as a Theatrical manager before marrying Mary Witchell in 1903. In 1911 he was living at 19 Avenue House, Henry Street, London NW, but WW1 was to change his life entirely when he joined the army serving in the North Staffordshire Regiment as a Private.

WW1

Private Philip Hugh Gwyther’s service record was destroyed by bombing in the Second World War, so we don’t know when he enlisted. He was not awarded a 1914 or 1914/15 Star suggesting he did not see overseas service before 1916.

One of his fellow soldiers, AP Hicklin (late private 4th North Staffs, of Guernsey), reported that:

He was a different type of man from all the rest of us. Perhaps we misunderstood him, although several spoke of his reserved nature and his aristocratic bearing. Yet he confided many secrets to me, of how he had been forced to leave a manager’s job at a big London theatre, and the girl who was to him worth all the Army decorations together.

But he loved nature – and that was all he did love about Army life and its natural embellishments. As an entertainer he was unique. He would, after duty, travel to any country spot that was secluded and picturesque.

He was a wonderful whistler, too, often entertaining us, and accompanying himself at the piano. He could mimic a thrush and when resting on a route march I have seen men gazing up in trees, trying to locate the bird which sang so beautifully.

He was a better whistler than a soldier; he hated soldiering; perhaps he was not alone in that respect.

Oftimes he came to me and asked how much longer was “this war” to last, and always I reassured him of my hope that it was nearing the end.

 

There are some anomalies which leave what happened next open to interpretation. The official records show that Private Philip Hugh Gwyther was killed in action at Ypres on 12 January 1917. However, AP Hicklin stated that:

When he went up the line I lost sight of him, but news came through to us that he had ended it all.

Left alone in a dug-out, he had placed his rifle under his chin, attached a piece of string to the trigger and his foot, and fired!

A silent tear fell from my cheek when I thought of his whistling, for like many caged birds he could not live without his freedom.

 

It is not surprising that ambiguity surrounds the details of Philip’s death. Suicide and mental health difficulties were highly stigmatised and rarely acknowledged or talked about. There is little research to show the extent of suicide during the Great War, but it is known that the numbers were significant and that numbers continued to climb once the soldiers returned home.

Philip Hugh Gwyther is buried at Philosophe British Cemetery, Mazingarbe, France. He is not commemorated on the Castle Bromwich War Memorial.

 

Guy Llewellyn Gwyther

Second Lieutenant Guy Llewellyn Gwyther died on 6th January 1916 serving with the 2nd Battalion, Leicestershire Regiment. Born on 23rd July 1882 at Castle Bromwich, he was baptised at St Mary & St Margaret’s Church on 18th October 1882. He was the second youngest of the five children (four sons, one daughter) of parents Julian (a solicitor in Birmingham) and Dorothy Hannah (née Hughes). The two eldest children were born in Water Orton, whilst the other three were all born in Castle Bromwich. All four sons served in the First World War, with two of them – Guy and Philip – losing their lives. Their father, Julian, died in 1908 so was spared the knowledge of the death of two of his sons.

The family had moved away from Castle Bromwich by 1891, and were living in Dorset by the time of the 1891 census. In 1901, 18-year-old Guy was with his mother, Dorothy (a boarding house keeper), sister, Dorothy Maud (1877-1972), and brother, George Lionel (1886-1978),  in Kensington, London. Guy was working as a clerk to an insurance broker. By 1911, he and his brother, George, had moved to Almeley, Herefordshire where they were both working as poultry farmers.

Between April-June 1914, shortly before the outbreak of war, Guy married Violet Evans. In 1915, he was commissioned Second Lieutenant with 2nd Battalion, Leicestershire Regiment. His older brother, Philip Hugh, had also joined the Army as a Private with the North Staffordshire Regiment.

Guy entered a Theatre of War (France) in September 1915 and was killed in action four months later. His brother, Philip, was killed almost exactly a year later, on 12th January 1917.

Guy has no known grave and is commemorated on the Basra Memorial in Iraq. He is not commemorated on the Castle Bromwich War Memorial but is listed on the war memorial in Almeley, Herfordshire.  His widow, Violet, remarried in 1937 and seems to have died, aged 81, in 1970.

 

George Lionel Gwyther

Their youngest brother, George Lionel also enlisted in 1915, joining the Canadian Overseas Expeditionary Force in Ottawa.  Lionel married Helen Mary Slattery in Kent in 1916, and his son, Llewellyn Evan, was born in East Looe in 1918. Lionel survived the war, and emigrated from Canada to the USA in 1919. He remarried in 1940, became a naturalised US citizen in 1943 and died in Oregon, aged 91, in 1972.

 

Online Sources

https://solihulllife.wordpress.com/2016/01/06/6th-jan-1916/

https://solihulllife.wordpress.com/2017/01/12/12th-jan-1917/