Tag Archives: Finchfield

Walter Neville Court

14 Saturday Jul 2018

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The research for this blog post was completed by work experience student, Erik Regan.

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courtBorn in Wolverhampton on 10 March 1896, Walter was the son of William Henry and Mary Louisa Court. In 1901, he was living at Glenthorne, Finchfield, with his parents, sister Hilda M., and brothers Harold P. and Reginald F. From 1904 until 1908 he attended Wolverhampton Grammar School, before moving to Denstone College in Stafford, where he was a boarder in 1911. He served with the Officer Training Corps there for three years.

He joined the army early in the war, enlisting as a Sergeant with the 1st/6th Battalion of the South Staffordshire Regiment (service number 2886). He was offered the recommendation for a commission on several occasions, which he decline as he preferred to continue as a soldier along with the men. On 2 April 1916 he was leading a bombing party, and was ten yards from the enemy’s trench when he was killed in action. He appeared in the Midland Counties Express on 23 December 1916. He is buried at the Ecoivres Military Cemetery, Mont-St. Eloi, in France

Lillie Dicks

13 Wednesday Sep 2017

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This blog post has been contributed by volunteer, Susan Martin.

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The name of Lily Dicks on the roll of honour of the Queen Street Congregational Church has caused a considerable amount of interest amongst researchers of the Wolverhampton war memorials. Women’s names appear rarely on WW1 memorials. Her Red Cross card has been found showing she was a VAD during 1915, as have her details on census returns and a marriage on the GRO index to a Thomas Howard in the first quarter of 1916. But what happened to her, and why she is on the Roll of Honour remained a mystery.

Ellen Gertrude Lily Dicks was born in Wolverhampton in 1873. Her father was Alfred Dicks who originated from Burghclere, Hampshire and her mother Hannah Eliza, born Clarkson. Alfred was a master draper and later a commercial traveller in drapery. For most of Lily’s life the family lived at 5 George Street, though by the 1911 census had moved to 8 St Catherine’s, Finchfield. Lily had two older sisters, Emma and Alice, two younger brothers Albert (who died aged 15) and Frank and a younger sister Daisy. On the 1891 census Lily was still a scholar. In 1901 she was at Ivy House, Rolleston, Staffordshire working as a nurse in the household of Samuel Higgott a landowner. The 1911 census shows she was back with her parents, with no occupation given.

The 1901 census described her as a hospital nurse. However I have been unable to find any record showing her to be a qualified nurse. If she had a nursing qualification I feel she would have worked as one after the outbreak of war rather than joining the Red Cross as a VAD. The Queen Street Roll of Honour of those serving 1914-1915 lists her as a nurse with three others. The family had originally been members of Lea Road Church, a satellite of Queen Street but started worshipping in the Queen Street Church not long before 1914. Lily started as a VAD on 20/1/1915 and served in the T.N. Department. I have not been able to find out what that did. Her service finished on 20/9/1915, possibly because she was contemplating marriage. On 25/1/1916 she married Thomas Howard in Wolverhampton Register Office. On the marriage certificate he is described as a 62 year old widow, retired draughtsman son of Robert Howard licensed victualler deceased. He was living at 47 Watsons Lane, South Shore, Blackpool. The witnesses were Lily’s brother and sister-in-law Frank and Elizabeth Dicks.

How had Lily met Thomas? Possibly her VAD work had taken her to Blackpool, or possibly when visiting her sister Emma who was head mistress at a school in Fleetwood in 1911. Thomas would have moved to Blackpool between 1911 and 1915. He was born in Liverpool, but lived all his married life in Preston working as an engineering draughtsman. At the time of his marriage he was probably 67 (calculated from the ages always given on census returns) and may have dropped a few years to narrow the gap in their ages. His first wife Mary Jane known as Jenny had died in 1899 aged 49. They had seven children, four alive in 1911.

Lily’s marriage was short lived. She died on 26/9/1916 in Toxteth Park Workhouse Infirmary, Liverpool. Although a workhouse infirmary, by this time it acted as a general hospital. The brief announcement of her death in the Express and Star 4 October stated it had followed a painful illness. Her cause of death came as a surprise – (1) syphilis (2) gangrene of the larynx. Syphilis was widespread at the time, so much so that in 1913 a Commission established by the Government recommended a high profile education campaign on sexually transmitted diseases. I understand the larynx is frequently attacked by syphilis, causing gangrene. This can be in either the secondary or tertiary stages of the disease. How long it takes for syphilis to develop varies greatly from individual to individual but it is very likely that she had contracted it before her marriage. Her home address at time of death was 47 Watsons Lane, South Shore. She left £41 7s 6d.

I have not been able to trace Thomas Howard’s death. Why was Lily commemorated on the Roll of Honour? Her mother died in 1917 but her father lived to 1935 dying in Hagley Villas, 49 Broad Lane, Bradmore. Her sister Emma continued living there until her death in 1946. How much were the family told about her death? Might they have believed that her illness had in some way been caused by her VAD work? So Lily Dicks on the Queen Street Congregational Church roll of honour still remains a mystery.

Hugh Thomas Cartwright

14 Monday Aug 2017

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Hugh was born on 5 June 1900 in Wolverhampton, the son of Edith Mary Cartwright. He was christened at Tettenhall on 25 June. Both in 1901 and in 1911, he was living with his grandparents Thomas and Mary Ann Cartwright at 2 Finchfield Road, Finchfield. He later became a plumber.

Just after he turned 18 (he was 18 years old and 12 days, to be precise), he enlisted in the King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry (number 222048). He served at home from 17 June 1918 until 8 February 1919, stationed at Brocton Camp.

Hugh married Gladys Faulkner in Wolverhampton in 1926. The couple had two children – Barbara G. and Olive M. – in 1928 and 1930. Hugh died in Wolverhampton on 9 September 1974 (by which date his address was 40 Finchfield Hill). The value of his effects was £5446.

Jesse Merrick

04 Saturday Mar 2017

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merrick_jJesse was born in Wordsley in 1871, the son of Thomas and Ellen Merrick. He married Amy Crowe in Aston on 22 February 1897, and they had a daughter, Jessie Amy-May, later that year. By 1901 he was living at 104 Owen Road, Wolverhampton, together with his wife, and daughter. Jesse was a sewing machine agent.

In March 1915, Jesse enlisted with the 4th Battalion of the Worcestershire Regiment at Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire (number 21987). He proceeded to the Dardanelles in July that year, first serving in the Balkans from 24 July 1915. On 6 August 1915, he was reported as missing at Gallipoli, and by 2 March 1916, it was reported in the Express & Star that he was presumed to be dead. His address by this date was at Finchfield. According to the newspaper report, Jesse was a widower, but I have been unable to confirm details of his wife’s death. He is commemorated on the Helles Memorial.

Who is Lillie Dicks?

26 Thursday Jan 2017

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The Queen Street Congregational Church War Memorial (whose inscription reads “To our glorious dead 1914 – 1918”) includes the rather intriguing name of “Lillie Dicks”. I was not able to find anyone in the whole country born by that name who would be of a suitable age. Narrowing it down, and assuming this is a nickname of a man born in Wolverhampton, we have the following possible candidates:

  • Albert Ernest Dicks, born 1875, but died in 1891
  • Thomas Frank Dicks (also known as Frank Thomas), born 1883
  • Frederick William Dicks, born 1894, but died in 1896
  • Albert Edward Dicks, born 1897
  • Fred Dicks, born 1900, but died in 1901

Leaving aside the three who died before the First World War, I have not been able to find any information about the military service of Frank Thomas/Thomas Frank. He was the son of Alfred and Hannah Eliza Dicks, and had a sister, Ellen Gertrude Lilly, so it is possible that he picked up this nickname from his sister. They were living in Finchfield, Wolverhampton, in 1911, and Thomas was a travelling draper. He died in 1928, and without a coroners inquest we cannot find out the cause of his death. However, as the memorial was presumably erected before this date it is unlikely to be him.

Albert Edward Dicks does appear on the official Wolverhampton Roll of Remembrance. He was the son of Joshua Frederick and Esther Elizabeth Dicks, living at 21 Gordon Street, Steelhouse Lane, Wolverhampton in 1911 (when Albert was a heel trimmer at a boot factory). He became a Battery Quartermaster Sergeant in the 285th Brigade of the Royal Field Artillery (number 676808) before being transferred to the 42nd Prisoner of Way Company in the Labour Corps (number 605883). He died on 20 February 1919, and is buried at the Ste. Marie Cemetery, Le Havre.

He seems the most likely candidate, but if anybody has any further information to corroborate this, please let us know!

Helen Rosamond Birch

11 Monday May 2015

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Helen Rosamond Birch was born in Wolverhampton in 1896. In the 1901 census she was living with her family at a property called Ashleigh, in Finchfield, Bradmore, Upper Penn (although her name was switched around to be “Rosamond H.”). She was there together with her parents, John H. and Margaret Birch, sisters Violet M. and Nora F., and four servants, Caroline Morris, Laura Light, Mary Hough and Mary I. Batt.

On 28 March 1918, by which date her address was Sandford Hall, Claverley, she took up a position in the Prisoners of War Department in the Post Room, earning 30/-. Hence an entry for her appears in the card collection of Red Cross volunteers.

On 11 November 1928, Helen Rosamond (also known as Anna) married Charles Dickson Oliver (Foley) Seropian OBE in Calcutta. Helen was 32 years old and Charles was 34 years of age. The couple divorced in London in 1933. Helen died 3 June 1985 and a few days later, on 25 June, she was buried at sea off St Peter Port, Guernsey.

Thanks to Sue Burns of the Claverley Memories Local History Society for some of the additional research on this post.

Donald Middleton

18 Wednesday Mar 2015

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Donald Middleton was originally born in Handsworth, in Birmingham, in 1897, the son of William Samuel and Lavinia Middleton (nee Beech). In 1901, the family were at 23 Prestbury Road, Aston Manor, Birmingham, together with Donald’s sisters Mary, Iris and Margaret. By 1911, they had moved to Wolverhampton and were at Avon House, Castlecroft Road, Finchfield. By this date, the parents had had a further six children – Gerald, Kathleen, Olive, Hilda, Dennis and Christina. Donald had become an apprentice solicitor.

Donald enlisted in the Staffordshire Yeomanry (Queen’s Own Royal Regiment), number 300867. He was killed in action in Egypt on 25 November 1917, and is commemorated on the Jerusalem Memorial. He also appears on the memorial of Trinity Methodist Church, Compton Road (and Doug Lewis’s War Memorials site includes a photograph of Donald, sent in by his great niece), the memorial plaque of Newhampton Road Wesleyan Church and the memorial of Cable Street Mills.

Belgian refugees in Wolverhampton

08 Thursday May 2014

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In common with many other locations across the country, people in Wolverhampton were keen to assist Belgian refugees locally. To this end, Washington House in Finchfield was secured to serve as a hostel for twenty-five reguees. A shop was set up in Darlington Street “for the reception of articles with which to equip the house”. An article in the Midland Evening News in September 1914 described the preparations, including some of the items that had already been collection – jugs, glasses, plates, a big zinc bath, “and a hundred and one other odds and ends”. Interestingly there appears to have been criticism from some quarters about welcoming these refugees, as the article makes it clear that the organisers only want to

provide food and shelter for the refugees until they can be repatriated. It is not intended that work should be found for them, as the organisers, of course, have no wish to displace home labour.

The organisers were also learning more about their guests, as they stress in the article that they do not need any more tea pots – “The Belgians are coffee drinkers.”

The campaign was so successful that, by October 1914, there was already a report in the Express & Star of the opening of a second hostel at “Ashcroft”, Riley Crescent, in Penn Fields. Later that month, a second party of Belgian refugees arrived at the High Level Station, to be met by the Mayor, F. H. Skidmore, and others. Among the group was Jan and Marie Van de Zyphen, together with their married daughter Josephine Manwelante and two grandchildren Marie and Joanna. According to the article, they had spent “days and nights in cellars, and the old man had narrowly escaped injury from a shrapnel shell”.

Another lady, Madame Dyke, was originally from Wolverhampton, but had been living in Antwerp for the past 35 years. She came back to Wolverhampton together with her daughter and stayed at the house of her sister, Mrs Hadley, at the Crown and Anchor Hotel in Bilston Road. Madame Dyke described the Zeppelin raids and “the terrible consequences wrought by the machine”.

The fund-raising efforts for the Belgian refugees were coordinated by the local Belgian Refugees Committee. This will be looked at in a separate blog post. These included whist drives by the Wolverhampton Catholic Friendly Society and events organised by local school children. Many of the school log books include visits from Belgian refugees, such as that of St Michael’s CE (Controlled) Primary School, Tettenhall and the Fraser Street Council School in Bilston. This brought the events abroad closer to home.

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