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Memorial found in a skip

wam said:
Unfortunately, I don't think we're going to get those answers. As I remember it the person who found it turned it in at a church in wylde green and left without giving more detail than that they had found it in a skip.
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Thanks for the info. If you have the information on a spreadsheet etc export it to a PDF file which can be uploaded here or in Coppermine. I use OpenOffice but I suppose MS Office can do the same. If you reduce the quality of the PDF it reduces file size and still gives a readable output. I have many PDFs visible on the BHF.
 
jmadone said:
Is it worth contacting the local press or t.v. with an appeal for the person who found it to come forward and provide a some details of where and when it was found.
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Let's see what we get here. I have posted this in other places and found that one of those has been cross posted elsewhere. Add to that, there are members of the Balsall Heath local history society looking and presumably the man who asked them for help will be looking. I shall try to keep everyone up to date but the wider we spread the net the harder that is going to be.
 
oldMohawk said:
Thanks for the info. If you have the information on a spreadsheet etc export it to a PDF file which can be uploaded here or in Coppermine. I use OpenOffice but I suppose MS Office can do the same. If you reduce the quality of the PDF it reduces file size and still gives a readable output. I have many PDFs visible on the BHF.
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Currently the only attachment I'm seeing on postings on the pc version is as an image. That's why I haven't tried that. It does seem to vary depending on platform. I'm working on tablet this morning and the options seem different.
 
wam said:
Currently the only attachment I'm seeing on postings on the pc version is as an image. That's why I haven't tried that. It does seem to vary depending on platform. I'm working on tablet this morning and the options seem different.
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I have done it from an iPad but it is complicated. On a PC it is easy and it can be split into pages. If you upload to the forum it shows as an attachment under the post, but with coppermine it shows in full from a link ... :)
 
Meanwhile some more info on Pte Leonard Glen Allder

b. 1895 Sparkbrook d Age 22 Roeux France 1917 Killed in Action
Was with the Royal Warks 1st Battalion, service number 2365 so an early number
Became Lance Corporal. He enlisted in Birmingham
Son of Albert and Emily Allder of 111 Brunswick Rd Sparkbrook

Viv.
 
Some more info on 2nd Lt George William Bowater service #1029 (another early number) d.20/12/17 was with the Royal Artillery and the Royal Field Artillery and was a Farrier in the army

Viv
 
More about Pte Charles Edwin Booton b.1879 Kidderminster
service #2243 in 11th Battalion Royal Warks
d.11/7/16 age 37. Died of his wounds at the Somme.
Married to Lissie with 3 daughters and one son. Living at 53 Malvern St Balsall Heath in1911.

Viv.
 
nice detective work viv....i was just mullling over about this latest abandoned war plaque and was thinking that even if the mystery is not completely solved maybe the custodian of it could try to have it placed somewhere in the local area and have it rededicated....just a thought for the future

lyn
 
Found the Stones family

Alfred T Stone was b 1892, d 1919 age 27 He was in the Royal Field Artillery as a Driver and a Gunner (he has 2 servicenumbers: #2134 and #820762). He's buried at Brandwood End cemetery. He had two older sisters and two younger brothers (Sydney b. 1900 and William J b. 1895 - presumably both named on the memorial). Their father was Albert T (a carpenter) and mother was Annie. In 1901 they were at 6 Brunswick Road Balsall Heath.

Viv
 
Looking at a map dated '1892-1914' there is a Drill Hall on a large open space near Malvern St and Brunswick Rd. It seems to have been built over by the time an aerial view was taken in 1927. The open space and Drill Hall was between Brighton Rd and Clifton Rd behind Brighton Rd Station.
 
Bombardier George Henry Giles was in the 307th brigade of the Royal Field Artillery (two service numbers: 3055 and 836443) He was born in 1893 and died 14/12/17. He was the son of E. J Giles of 78 Clifton Road Balsall Heath. Viv.
 
OM
Your suggestion would seem very feasable. However, the drill hall is shown on map c 1904 , but has been lost to housing by the time of the map of 1916, so seems unlikely that it originated here, though, if this hall was replaced by another nearby then it could come from there. Cannot find any reference to this hall in Kellys, I'm afraid

map 1904 showing drill hall near Brighton road Station..jpgMap c 1916 showing site of where drill hall was near brighton road station.jpg
 
As it is good condition it must have been housed somewhere until it was found in the skip. Even if that somewhere was not the original post WW1 building.
 
oldMohawk said:
As Maurice said in post#55 perhaps we should mark the addresses on a map and see whether there was a cluster around that Drill Hall.
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Or even any other point, Phil, and that is the way a statistician would do it - we need to know the location of that cluster. :-)

Maurice
 
A bit more about 2nd Lt Frederick George Pearson. b.1899, d20/10/18 in France. He was with the 16th Battalion Royal Warwickshire’s. Was the son of Albert Ernest and Annie Pearson of 74 (or 68 - records vary) Newport Road Sparkbrook. He had an older sister. Viv.
 
mikejee said:
OM
Your suggestion would seem very feasable. However, the drill hall is shown on map c 1904 , but has been lost to housing by the time of the map of 1916, so seems unlikely that it originated here, though, if this hall was replaced by another nearby then it could come from there. Cannot find any reference to this hall in Kellys, I'm afraid

View attachment 127726View attachment 127727
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Yes I have not been able to find anything about the drill hall. I can see in an aerial view dated 1927 that the complete site was covered by houses of a different design to most of those in the surrounding district with Runcorn Rd running through it. Interesting that they were building new houses in WW1.
 
I think the houses may have been completed, or certainly started before WW1.
I am not very well up on military matters, and perhaps those that are could comment on the following.
In c1905 and before the area of the drill hall would have been in Worcestershire (Kings Norton district) and so presumably the drill hall would have been for the Worcestershire Volunteers. Up till about 1890 the drill hall of the Worcestershire (1st) Artillery volunteers (headquarters of 5,6,11 & 12 batteries) was shown on maps and in Kellys as in Cox St West. Perhaps the later drill hall replaced this one. The dates would fit. One of the reasons that it disappeared may have been because of the incorporation of the area into Birmingham. Do any of these batteries correspond to people, mentioned on the plaque
 
This is the first indication I have had of a particular religious denomination - 2nd Lt George William BOWATER was buried at NECHELLS (ST. JOSEPH) ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCHYARD.

Maurice
 
thanks maurice i have probably walked past williams grave then as i have visited st josephs churchyard...

this could now indicate that george may have attended a catholic school but not for certain but if he did and this plaque was in a school it would have been a catholic one which in turn would mean that all the other names on the plaque were also catholics..will have to check the st marys st school thread but i think i read that st johns catholic church backed onto the school...i assumed that mary st school was a C of E school but that needs checking as well...lots of twists and turns:rolleyes:

lyn
 
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Yes - they could. Some RC parents might have wanted the child to go to a school close by (if the RC school was a distance from home) - not sure they would have chosen a C of E school though - not in those days. By the way I can't see a church behind the school on the map in 1916. St Johns church and school were much further down the road address given as George Street.
 

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Sgt John Edward Hardman has proved a little more difficult to trace, but here he is.
b1895 Balsall Heath. In 1911 he was living with his parents Edward and Martha Jane Hardman at 73 Edward Road Balsall Heath. He was a tailor's assistant.

He tried to join the Royal Worcesters (his number was 23459) but was discharged on the basis that he was unlikely to become an efficient soldier. It was said he had poor physique. At this point he describes himself as an 'agent' and his documentation states he was CofE.

It seems following discharge from the Worcs he was approved for the 16 Battalion Oxford & Bucks Light Infantry Manchester regiment. His number was 20053. The family address had by then changed to 24 Tindal Street Balsall Heath.

He was killed in action in France on 23/4/1917. At this point in time his mother was his next of kin living at 15 Cox Street West Birmingham.

Viv.
 
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