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Memorial found in a skip

There is also the point that strongly catholic mothers might have paid more attention to their church than that of their son's
 
Now wondering if the JE Hardman, H Bates and W Stanley on the Tindall Street memorial are the same men as on the Balsall Heath one ? Viv.
 

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And since 28 of the 31 men in WW1 did obviously not attend Tindal Street School, we are presumably safe in assuming that education was not the connection?

Maurice
 
I think the two Hardman's were cousins. The Father of John Edward was calleEdward. The Father of Leslie Howard was called Albert. On the 1881 census I found an Albert and Edward Hardman recorded.
 
On the spreadsheet there is no cemetery for John Hardman here are the details from CWGC. He was 22 when he died.
 

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Janice,

Quite an impressive building, but that leaves a big if as to where the memorial has been for more than 70 years, but see my edit below.

Well a wedding took place there on 28 June 1943 of a Corporal C.H. Merrell according a report in the Evening Despatch of that date, bur I can't find a report of a WW2 bombing, so it must have been after that date.

EDIT: Well it was still conducting Sunday Services at the end of 1945, though by then had teamed up with a church in Stoney Lane. At that point, the online newspapers appear to run out, but it certainly wasn't bombed into oblivion during the WW2 and was being referred to as Moseley Road Congregational Church (with Stoney Lane)

Maurice
 
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If the church records go up to 1958 that suggests major repairs or a rebuild. Rob Rolfe did say the church was demolished in 1958.
 
Looking at the memorial itself , i would have to say that there is very little chance is was on the outside of a building, clearly it has been made to be screwed to a wall, and wood i think would have been in a very poor state after so many years in the open.
 
A couple of points to ponder :
if the Moseley Road church was bombed how did the plaque survive?
if it survived was it taken to Stoney Lane?
what happened to the Stoney Lane church and when?
I am out all morning but will try more research later.
 
At least some of you are sticking to the course, I guess many of us are finding the thread quite convoluted and are simply keeping an eye on it.:D
 
Right Stoney Lane Cong. Church was next door to the Drill Hall (later TA Barracks) talked about earlier. On the 1938 map but it has gone by the 1952 map. Moseley Road Church is still marked on the 1952 map - not sure if this was ruins or not. There is a 1956 photo here http://www.photobydjnorton.com/ChurchRuncornRdClr.jpg
 

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pjmburns said:
Right Stoney Lane Cong. Church was next door to the Drill Hall (later TA Barracks) talked about earlier. On the 1938 map but it has gone by the 1952 map. Moseley Road Church is still marked on the 1952 map - not sure if this was ruins or not. There is a 1956 photo here http://www.photobydjnorton.com/ChurchRuncornRdClr.jpg
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The comments by Norton suggest that he was not sure whether the place was under demolition, derelict or bomb damaged. I don't think it was bombed but it does suggest demolition.
 
Janice,

By 1956 Moseley Road Congregational was a tower missing and roofless - definitely a ruin I would say. Not much exists about Stoney Lane Church - B'ham Archives have marriages 1939-1940 and that seems about it. This clip from Brum Daily Post of 8 May 1945 seems to tell us that Stoney Lane Church was flattened in 1945 - was it ever rebuilt?

Stoney Lane Cong.jpg

Maurice
 
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The Moseley Road Congregational Church was still in use until the late 50's as I used to pass it sometimes on the way to school at Dennis Road depending on which route I took. I'm not sure why it closed it may have been a fire, anyway I've attached a photo of it being demolished or just after the fire.

As for the Stoney Lane church they built Dennis Road school annex on the land and when I started at that school in 1958 it had been in use quite a while.

Moseley Moseley Rd Runcorn Rd.jpg
 
I now think it was Stoney Lane which was bombed - next to barracks so it would make sense. Hence their registers stop 1940. They joined Moseley Road rather than the other way round - again makes sense as they were in brackets!
 
Janice,

Yes, the clip above says a land mine destroyed the church and its school in 1945. And as this clip from the Daily Post of 20 May 1954 states, Moseley Road church was sold, possibly for warehousing, though I haven't found a report of a fire yet.
Moseley Road Cong sale.jpg
EDIT: No reports of a fire. Whoever bought it, probably a developer, just demolished it. Currenly the Ex-Catalogue Clearance Centre, a newish two storey shopping development.

Maurice
 
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Although I haven't really contributed to this thread I have followed it with great interest. It's really amazing what teamwork can do and I know that the answer is just around the corner.

Janice, I've long been puzzling over "War Hs" in your post #115 - did you ever find out what it meant? I wondered at first whether it was Warwick Hospital but having given it more thought and a bit of googling I think it was War Hospital although I'd never heard of a War Hospital. Apparently those buildings, taken over from other uses such as asylums, were call War Hospitals, I suppose meaning that they were solely for the use of the war injured.
 
Thanks for that Penny - I am glad it was not a badly written "workhouse" - I am sure they used Birmingham University and also Joseph Chamberlain's Highbury amongst others.
 
Not sure how this forum works, just joined.

The plaque is definitely originally from Moseley Road Congregational Church. It was proposed in 1917 by the father of Sidney Currie Betts, of the 7th Rifle Brigade, who died on 15th April 1917. The church decided to wait until the end of the war before erecting a memorial.

The church magazine of January 1920 lists 30 names of those killed in the war. 25 are on the memorial, which was unveiled the following year (3 were still alive, one seems to have been mistaken for someone else, and one is untraced). There are several misspellings in the magazine list.

There is at least one misspelling on the memorial - A. Pepperill was Alfred Pepperell RAMC 104911 of 233 Grange Road Kings Heath. He had a certificate from the St. John's Ambulance Brigade. He worked for the Birmingham branch of the Liverpool, London and Globe Insurance Company before the war. After enlisting on 19th November 1915, he served in France for three months. Alfred was on the Hired Transport (troopship) Transylvania which was torpedoed on 4th May 1917 in the Mediterranean en route to Egypt. There were thousands of men on the ship, and 300 were lost. Survivors were picked up by a Japanese destroyer (an ally in the war). Among those who were presumed to have died drowned was Alfred Pepperell. Bodies of the dead in some cases floated both to Italy and to Spain, and the men are buried in those countries, but Alfred was not one such.

Alfred Pepperell is also commemorated at the Friends' Institute, Highgate, on the Birmingham Central School memorial (now at Byng Kendrick school) and at All Saints', Kings Heath. His brother Raymond served in Mesopotamia with the Dorset Regiment.
 
Astoness said:
thanks wam im not sure if mr rolfe is aware of this forums input but it would be nice if he could share what he has found so far as it will help this forums research... we have done rather a lot in a short time...dont want to be going on a wild goose chase so to speak

thanks wam

lyn
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I'm here now!
 
Welcome - a number of us have enjoyed working on your "puzzle" and hope we have contributed a bit. It has been a fascinating journey. We would be interested to know what other info you are still missing so we might be able to have a go at the missing pieces.

If you look here https://birminghamhistory.co.uk/forum/index.php?threads/erdington-postmen-heroes-remembered.43365/ you will see we have traced a memorial before - thanks to Astoness (Lyn).

As for how it works - post a request for help and members will chip in - you can then decide what is relevant. The site covers all sorts - trivial and serious.
 
mrsfry said:
This may be irrelevant now that the origin of the plaque may be about to be unveiled (interesting! ), but I think the church that you are referrring to as demolished, Viv, is the Anglican church of Christ Church, Sparkbrook. Church of Christ, Moseley Road, was United Reformed. Awaiting the answer!
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Just to say that it (the answer) was never held back
Pedrocut said:
In the Birmingham Daily Post for July 1918 Harry is posted as missing. The list says he died in June, so maybe later than July they received the sad news. RIP

View attachment 127741
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Harry Boucher was aged 19 when he was killed in France, the date being designated as the 11th June 1918. He had been reported missing, and had been in France for three months, as above.

He was Private 42274 in the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Berkshire Regiment. Harry was 19 when he died. His mother was Mary Ann Boucher, of 67 Sherbourne Road, Balsall Heath.

Harry Boucher has no known grave and is commemorated on the Soissons Memorial, Aisne in France.
 
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