Hello,..As far as i know,these Soldiers came from N Ireland,in irish Regiments..Was Birmingham the Main,Centre..for the Wounded..my Cousin was taken to Dudley rd Hospital 1917...Injuried..Years later He was taken to Cemetry in London to visit 3,Graves..My Guess His Friends, i will try to find out if the Soldiers,were injuried or may have died in Battle,?.. Also the Cemetry in London..Name...Will let you Know,,Cheers..
. hi Nannypam,..how can i find info [Pensions] on my Cousin,who was injuried in WW1..my other Cousin has the details Servive Papers..But not pension records,would this info give any details,were about he was given medical treatment in birmingham in 1917..?..Regards..ChristyMy grandfather Joined the Gloucestershire Regiment, and was wounded by having his thumb shot off. He was sent back to England, where he must have been admitted to hospital, even if only for a short while. I was interested to read about the numbers of wounded men sent to hospitals in Birmingham. I am not sure if my grandfather would have been sent to Birmingham, but as far as I know he had no connection with the city. However, after being invalided out of the army, he settled in Birmingham where he married my grandmother (1920) and lived for the remainder of his life. Unfortunately there are no records of his time as a soldier, other than the medal rolls. The part of his story about being wounded comes from a paper I have found which refers to the pension he received from the government because of his injury. This pension was for the whole of his life. Losing a thumb might not sound serious, but it seems that it prevented him from being able to fire a rifle, so his wounds stopped him from being a fighting soldier and he was discharged
Does anyone know if groups of wounded men were kept together in their regiments when they were returned to England, or were they just bundled into ambulances and trains to be brought back home, no matter which group they had been fighting with?
. hi Nannypam,..how can i find info [Pensions] on my Cousin,who was injuried in WW1..my other Cousin has the details Servive Papers..But not pension records,would this info give any details,were about he was given medical treatment in birmingham in 1917..?..Regards..Christy
Eyewitness: Mona Neale |
"I think it must have been about 1915 when wounded soldiers were first brought to Soho and Winson Green station, just across the gully from the Talbot. The carriages were shunted onto the siding which led to a goods yard, where ambulances were waiting to take the wounded to Dudley Road Hospital via Handsworth New Road and Winson Green Road. I remember seeing the soldiers, many with bandaged heads and arms, and [my brother] Wilf and I would wave to them from the top of our garden wall. Sometimes my father would take me with him to distribute cigarettes, tobacco and chocolate that the customers of the Talbot Inn had donated for the wounded troops. Mother was not too happy about my going with him because I would get so upset at seeing these poor souls, some of them legless, but it taught me the awful reality of war". |
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Mona Ball née Neale (1903-2000) began to write down her reminiscences in 1983. I am grateful to her son John Ball for this material |