New Street Castle Bromwich
It’s 2.30 on an overcast November afternoon and a man is washing his car in New Street whilst a group of teenage girls walk down the road chatting and gazing at their phones. There’s little to distinguish it from many of the residential streets in Castle Bromwich and the surrounding area, but it is the street where a higher proportion of men died in WW1 than any other in North Solihull. Over a century since the guns stopped firing, we retrace the steps of the fallen to discover a street totally different from the way it was in 1918.
A hundred years after New Street’s families suffered catastrophic losses their trauma and suffering is a distant memory. Four young men dressed in hoodies and casual trousers walk down the street laughing and joking. A century ago men just like them, same age, same street would have dressed in a very different uniform and lived a very different life.
The Eden Family
At the time of the 1911 census, New Street consisted of 29 dwellings. One was home to the Eden family.
The King and the Cottager
An article published in the Birmingham Mail on Saturday 6th March 1915 highlighted the family’s proud involvement with the military and reported that to date it had an aggregate service time of nearly eighty years. Of the eight surviving sons, seven had been and six still were in service. Of the six sons then with colours, five were in service on the front and one, Percival, had been invalided home with frostbite, after having gone to France almost immediately after his return home from India. The seventh son, Ernest, a time served man wanted to re-enlist, but had so far been unsuccessful due to a slight lameness in his leg.
Two Sons Killed in Action – Arthur Eden 1885 – 1916 – Frank Eden 1888 – 1916
Just over a year later on the 26th May 1916 tragedy struck when Arthur whilst serving as a Private in the Royal Warwickshire Regiment was killed in action. His younger brother Frank was killed two months later on the 11th July. Frank had first enlisted in July 1915, seeing his first active service with the South Wales Borderers in Gallipoli on September 20th. His battalion transferred to the Western front in March 1916 where he was wounded on July 1st during the Battle of Beaumont Hamel. He died of his wounds in a casualty clearing station at Doullens, France ten days.
Whilst the other sons survived the war, they returned home changed men.
Attempted Suicide
The second son, Albert Edward, was born on 17 September 1874, appears to have been the first to enlist, having previously worked as a groom. He joined the Royal Warwickshire Regiment in April 1894 where he served for 12 years, including in the Sudan Campaign 1896-1898. His short service attestation notes that he had previous service with the 1st Volunteer Battalion, South Staffordshire Regiment. After being discharged to the Reserves in 1903, he married Rose Helen Asprey at Castle Bromwich parish church in 1905 and was demobbed in 1906.
On 3rd October 1914, aged 39, he re-enlisted as a Private with the Royal Warwickshire Regiment. His records note some tattoos, including Lady Godiva on his chest, and beasts, birds and flowers on his back as identifying features. In June 1915, having not served overseas since his re-enlistment, his service record notes that he was suffering from “melancholia” and that he had tried to take his own life by poisoning himself with some white lead. He described always feeling bad first thing in the morning, when the feelings of depression were very bad. He stated that he often had the impulse to make an attempt on his life but that, before this occasion, had always managed to control himself. The medical officer expressed his opinion that he did not believe the condition to have been caused by military service, and a Medical Board recommended that Private Eden should be discharged as permanently unfit for service. He was discharged to an address in Sutton Coldfield. He died in 1957.
Gas Poisoning
The fifth son, Fred, was born on 1st August 1883 and joined the Royal Artillery in 1902. He was discharged to the reserves in 1905, and demobbed in April 1914. He re-enlisted as a Gunner in the Royal Field Artillery in November 1914. In June 1918 he was admitted to the General Hospital, Rouen suffering from gas poisoning, and was later transferred to the Military Hospital in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire. Records show that he lost the power of speech for five months, but he appears to have made a decent recovery as the 1939 census shows that he was working as a heavy labourer. He died in 1950.
Later Generations
The Eden family tradition for military service was to be upheld by future generations. The Eden boys’ sister May Mary married Benjamin Mobley in 1913. Their son, Arthur Benjamin Mobley joined the RAF where he excelled and rose to the rank of Wing Commander. He was tragically killed in a flying accident in 1950. You can read his story here.
The Ravenhall Family
The 1911 census shows George Joseph Ravenhall and his wife Alice Wells living in New Street with their 5 month old son, John Joseph. George’s brother was Sam Chidler Ravenhall born in 1894, Chidler being the maiden name of his paternal Grandmother. They, together with a sister Clara and a brother John, were the children of John Joseph Ravenhall and Clara Louisa Suttleworth.
Sam Chidler Ravenhall 1894 – 1916
On the 18th September 1914 Sam joined the Birmingham City Police where he worked until he resigned on 15th November 1915 to enlist in the army. Some time between this date and setting off for the war front, he married Bertha Wilson in 1916. His medal cards show that he had previously seen service with the Royal Welsh Fusiliers. We don’t know when Sam enlisted in the Machine Gun Corps, although we know he didn’t see any service overseas before 1916. He was killed in action on 26th September 1916 during the Battle of Morval and has no known grave. He is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial.
John Harvey 1881 – 1917
John was born on 16th February 1881, the fifth child and eldest son of the eight children born to Walter Harvey and Hannah Wilkinson. All of the children were born in Castle Bromwich, which was also their mother’s place of birth.
By 1901, aged 20, he had become a carter on a farm, and in 1911, still living at the family home in Castle Bromwich, he was working as a railway labourer. After the outbreak of war, he joined the Coldstream Guards 5th Reserve Battalion, but never served abroad; the battalion remaining stationed at Victoria Barracks, Windsor preparing for war and carrying out ceremonial duties at Windsor Castle. His service record appears not to have survived, so we don’t know when he enlisted, but his service number 19656 would indicate October 1916. He died at home in Alpha Cottage, New Street on 6th January 1917 from epilepsy and is buried in the graveyard by St Mary & St Margaret Church, Castle Bromwich.
George Holtham 1891 – 1917
Regular soldier, Sergeant George Holtham, was killed in action on 20th June 1917 serving with the 1st Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment. He was 26 years old and had worked for a firm of manufacturing chemists before joining the Army in February 1909.
George was born on 18th April 1891 in Moreton Morrell, Warwickshire one of eight known children born to parents Joseph Holtham, a traction engine driver and Eliza Ann Bennett.
The family moved from Moreton Morrell to Minworth between 1891 and 1894, and then to Holly Cottages, New Street, Castle Bromwich between 1901 and 1911. George attended Castle Bromwich Council School and enlisted in the Army in February 1909.
De Ruvigny’s Roll of Honour notes that on the outbreak of war, in August 1914, he was serving at Scutari in northern Albania. He proceeded with his regiment to France in September 1914 and was wounded at Ypres on 24th October 1914, when he was hit in the small of the back by a bullet, which then travelled up to his shoulder before exiting.
The Warwick and Warwickshire Advertiser of 28th November 1914 included extracts from a letter he sent from hospital to his mother in Castle Bromwich explaining the circumstances of his injury:
George was wounded again in November 1915, and then gassed in December 1916. Following recovery in January 1917 he returned to France and was killed in action on 20th June 1917.He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Arras Memorial.
George is also listed the altar of remembrance on the village green, which was unveiled on 11th November 1927 by the Dowager Duchess of Bradford and his elder brother, Naval Stoker, William Holtham.
William Holtham 1887 – 1947
William was born on 29th June 1887 and became a farm labourer. He enlisted in the Militia in July 1904, being discharged in December the same year and then joining the Royal Navy on 20th November 1905, signing on for a term of 5 years, plus 7 with the Reserves. He was transferred to the Reserves in November 1910 but recalled in July 1914 and served until 1918 when he was invalided out with inflammation of the heart muscle, which was attributed to his war service.
In 1939, he was still living in New Street, Castle Bromwich, described as a “Disabled Royal Naval Pensioner.” He died in 1944, aged 56.
Arthur Oswald Hemming 1893 – 1918
Private Arthur Oswald Hemming died of heart failure on 7th December 1918 whilst serving with the Wiltshire Regiment. He died at home in New Street, Castle Bromwich and is buried in the graveyard by St Mary & Margaret Church, Castle Bromwich.
Arthur Oswald Hemming was born in Birmingham in 1893, and was the fifth of the six children of born to cabinet maker James Samuel Hemmings and Jane Coleman.
He joined the Army in September 1914, and first entered a Theatre of War on 21st September 1915. He had married Annie Smith at Castle Bromwich on 11th July 1915, at which time he was living at Sutton Veny, Warminster. This was the site of a number of camps for troops in training before embarking for frontline service. His bride’s address was Arden Cottages, New Street, Castle Bromwich.
Arthur served for three years in Salonika, during which time he was wounded. He was then posted to France where he was captured by the enemy on 4th October 1918. He managed to escape on 10th November 1918, the day before the Armistice. He returned home to Castle Bromwich on 26th November and was taken ill two days later. A report of his death in the Birmingham Daily Mail 11th December 1918 suggests his illness was as a result of privations experienced whilst a prisoner.
His name is included on the Castle Bromwich war memorial, and on the Roll of Honour in St Mary & St Margaret’s Church.
Today’s New Street Residents
Many of the current residents will join the crowds by the Altar of Remembrance each Remembrance Sunday. They will think about the dead, and the horrors of war. They will be thankful that so many had given their days for our tomorrows. But, how many of them will realise the significance of the six names on the war memorial who left New Street to serve their country during WW1 and never had the opportunity to resume their lives once the war ended.
References
http://armyservicenumbers.blogspot.com/2009/01/coldstream-guards_5632.html
https://solihulllife.wordpress.com/
https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/
https://www.greatwarforum.org/topic/180103-5th-reserve-battalion-coldstream-gaurds/
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