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Robert Bernard Silk 30th Warwickshire BN Home Guard

Thank you Janice - and Steve.

Robert looks a very mature 17-year-old (and presumably dressed up for an occasion - a wedding, perhaps?)

Chris
Steve has a couple more pics of the family on his tree and I agree they look as if they are cropped from a wedding photo.
 
The wonderful information which is emerging – and thanks to everyone for that – is going to be invaluable in creating a little memory of this Birmingham Home Guard lad, Robert Bernard Silk, who gave his life almost before he had started to live it.

Steve – really great to have this first-hand family information. One or two questions arising:

1. As previously mentioned, is there any possibility of an image of Robert, please?

2. Is there any family memory of the circumstances of Robert having received the injuries he did? You have told us he was on fire watch duties that night as a Volunteer in the Home Guard (presumably in a residential street?) . Do we know if they were a direct result of enemy action - bomb blast, etc? (There was a heavy air-raid that night). Or the indirect result – an accident of some sort? (The blacked-out city was of course a very dangerous place, quite apart from the activities of the Luftwaffe above). Any detail at all about what happened that night will be useful. I'm sorry if this sounds like morbid curiosity – it isn't, it's just trying to get the record as straight as possible.

3. Robert's first cousin, William, lost his life (as a civilian) only weeks later, not at home but at another address. Are any circumstances known?

4. Robert Kilroy-Silk was born to Robert Bernard's elder brother, William, and his wife in August 1942, just under two years after Robert Bernard's death. It is tempting to assume that William named his infant son in memory of his own younger brother, now lost.

Thanks for any further information.

Chris
My grandmother - Robert Bernard's mother - always said that Robert went into a building that had been bombed and on fire to rescue a woman who was inside and that the roof collapsed on to him. Robert Kilroy Silk was named after Robert Bernard
 
Thank you, Steve. The efforts of this brave lad were apparently successful as there is no report of other injury in Bowyer Road. Unless the record is incomplete, of course.

Does anyone know if any other record/memory survives of that night in Bowyer Road or the immediate vicinity?

Chris
 
hi chris i cant find any other records or accounts of that day but according to the BARRA site robert died at the general hospital...not sure if his death cert would give us any other info

lyn
 
this from BARRA....richard morsley died at no 91 his wife hilda survived

Last NameForename(s)Date of InjuryLocation of InjuryAgeCivil Defence StatusBosworthFrederick19/11/1940125 Bowyer Road, Alum RockCivilianViewGouldingAnne10/04/194127 Bowyer Road, Alum RockCivilianViewGouldingWalter10/04/194127 Bowyer Road, Alum RockCivilianViewMorsleyRichard William10/04/194191 Bowyer Road, Alum Rock54CivilianViewSilkRobert24/10/194014 Bowyer Road Alum RockCivilianView
 
chris i am just going through my book birmingham blitz where people have written about their memories of the blitz in roads and streets where they lived...if there is any mention of bowyer road i will let you know

lyn
 
Thanks, Lyn. The strange thing is that the only casualty in Bowyer Road on the night in question seems to be Robert himself.

The other thing is that no. 14 doesn’t seem to show evidence, as far as you can see, of having suffered major damage. If that were in fact the case, I suspect that Robert received his injuries in a nearby property and had been taken to no.14 before being picked up from there by ambulance.
 
sorry nothing in my book chris but as you can see by my post 46 other houses in the street were hit so as you sai it is possible that robert was assisting one of those but maybe taken to no 14 after receiving injuries..

lyn
 
Thanks again, Lyn.

The problem is that all the other mentions of Bowyer Road relate to other dates. There seems to be nothing else for 24 October 1940.

Chris
 
chris agree about no 14 not looking like its had bomb damage...below st view showing what i believe was no 14 now renumbered as no 8..if you look at st view from the top of the st we have no 2 then 2a then 4 then 4a etc so i worked it out that no 8 used to be no 14 during the war....

 
In 1915 Kelly's the road is already numbered with 2, 2a etc so I think 14 must have been where 14 is now. Can't get streetview to stop on 14 - keep zooming past. :rolleyes:
1629626157007.png
 
right jan thanks....no wonder i couldnt find 14 on street view if it keeps zooming past....i will try and get it on earlier views

lyn
 
Thanks Lyn. That was about where I got to. I was hoping for a front view shot.

From the old maps it looks as if they built 14, 16 etc first and then the other houses. Perhaps they squeezed in more than they thought (the houses do look different) and so had to use 2, 2a etc rather than renumber the whole road.
 
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think i have exhausted all i can think of to find out the circumstances surrounding roberts death...i wonder if his death cert would shed anymore light...just a thought

lyn
 
chris agree about no 14 not looking like its had bomb damage...below st view showing what i believe was no 14 now renumbered as no 8..if you look at st view from the top of the st we have no 2 then 2a then 4 then 4a etc so i worked it out that no 8 used to be no 14 during the war....

yuk 14 has the skip outside
the dentists have always been there,i went there they were never bomb damaged
 
Have to say that the info about Robert being injured at 14 Bowyer Road does not fit in with the family story. My grandmother - Robert's mother - always said that he was injured in the bombing of the Marshall and Snelgrove store in New Street. Although reports on the internet say that Marsahll and Snelgroves was bombed on the 25 October 1940, the police report on the BARRA site says it was actually bombed on 24 October which fits in with when Robert was injured. I've ordered a copy of Robert's death certificate to see if that gives any helpful info. I'll post the details when I get them.
 
This is a real mystery and, I think, possibly something we may not get to the bottom of. I believe we've established that Robert actually being injured at 14 Bowyer Road is unlikely because of the lack of any evidence of damage to that property - as far as we can tell, 80 years later. So my thought has been that the incident took place at a house in the immediate vicinity and he was taken to, and picked up from, that address. But the Marshall and Snelgrove comment from Robert's mother - who surely must have known the circumstances - could well rule that out. It's entirely feasible that Robert's Home Guard unit was sent to work in the city centre that night.

So, where can the Bowyer Road reference in the official records have come from?

Chris
 
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