Tag Archives: Southampton

John William Bailey

30 Wednesday Aug 2017

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Susan Martin, a volunteer on the Queen Street project, has contributed the following:

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John William Bailey was born in Wolverhampton in 1892, the son of John Henry Bailey and Mary Ann Bailey (nee Roberts). He was known as William. In 1901 the family was living 1 New Buildings Heath Town and in 1911 at 244a New Cross. His father was a carter and on the 1911 census William was working as a vermin trap maker (trap making was an industry peculiar to Wednesfield). He had a younger brother, Sidney Harold, and sisters both older and younger, Annie Ada, Alice Octavia, Jessie Mary, Victoria Jane, Olive Mary.

Between 6 April 1911 and 10 April 1912 William joined the 1st Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment. His regimental number was 9119. The Battalion was in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa at the time. It returned to  Southampton on the 19 September 1914 and joined 22nd Brigade in 7th Division in Lyndhurst. William embarked to Zeebrugge on 4 October to assist in the defence of Antwerp and the Battalion took up defensive positions at important bridges and defences to aid in the retreat of Belgian army. Amongst the first British troops to entrench in front of Ypres, the Battalion suffered extremely heavy losses in First Battle of Ypres. The Birmingham Daily Gazette 18/12/1914 stated that information had reached Wolverhampton yesterday of the death from wounds received in action of Pvt Wm Bailey of 1st S. Staffs,

The deceased was 22 years of age and his parents lived at New Cross, Heath Town. His mother states that as far as she knows he was wounded near Ypres 7 weeks ago, being shot through the lungs and in the leg. He lay in hospital at Boulogne during that period and though an attempt was made it was not possible to bring him back to England.

William had died in the 7th Stationary Hospital Boulogne on 14 December 1914. His effects amounted to £7 7s 7d and were sent to his father. He is buried in Boulogne Eastern Cemetery. William is commemorated on the Heath Town Park memorial and may also be the W Bailey on the Queen Street Congregational Church Memorial .

John Edward Chadwick

16 Tuesday May 2017

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chadwickJohn was born on 30 September 1879 in Longton, by Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, the son of John and Eliza Annie Chadwick. By 1911, he was living with his parents at 727 Parkfield Road, Wolverhampton. John was a hotel porter. At some point he worked at Bullers Ltd in Tipton. He also served with the 1st Battalion of the South Staffordshire Regiment during the South African War.

When war broke out, he volunteered for service (number 9768) and was sent to France, serving from 17 December 1914. He was invalided home to Manchester Military Hospital, where he was treated for frostbite. He recovered, and after stints in Lichfield, Jersey, and Southampton, he returned to France. He succumbed to gastritis and was sent back to Leeds Military Hospital, where he died on 31 December 1915. An account of this was printed in the Express & Star on 7 January 1916. He was buried at Wolverhampton Borough Cemetery.

Sarah Barker

27 Sunday Sep 2015

Posted by in Daily life, Home front

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Sarah Barker was born in Wolverhampton in 1870, the daughter of John and Sarah Barker. By 1891, she was living at 11 Snow Hill with her parents, brothers William, Frederick and Ernest, sisters Florence, Grace and Ethel, and servant Elizabeth Yates. She was listed as a school mistress. By 1901 the family were at 143 Penn Road. Sarah appears alongside her mother Sarah Barker, sisters Mary, Gradce and Ethel, brother William and servants Edith Restance and Martine Cambridge. She is at the same address in 1911 (the house now being known as “Hillside”), along with her mother Sarah Barker, sisters Mary, Grace and Ethel Barker, and servants Alice Greensill and Lucy Matthews. By this date, Sarah has become a housekeeper.

On 5 February 1917, Sarah enlisted with the British Red Cross as a cook, working first at Ingham Old Hall, Stalham, in Norfolk and later at Mayfield Hospital, Woolston, Southampton. Finally she moved to Longfields Hospital until 19 February 1919. She has two cards among the Red Cross collection, and her second card gives more detail about her engagements:

[crossed out: General nursing with Lampton Gen. Hosp. 1 mth 4 hrs per day. Sandon Hall. Night nurse 1 mth 11 1/2 hrs per day] Ingham Hosp: head cook. 4 mths 9 hrs per day. Mayfield Hosp: Woolston. Head cook 1 mth. Surgery nurse 2 mths. Mayfield & Bitterne Hosp: Superintendent of Kitchen 3 mths, 8 hrs per day. With the exception of the last engagement all work has been voluntary.

This card states that she was paid £45 per annum, she was on duty for 10 hours a day for five months, and her duties included the “entire catering & management of kitchen, clothing stores, & Kit”. There is additional information on the rear of the card:

[crossed out: Nursing in Gen. Hosp. W’hampton in the yr 1915 80 hrs] [crossed out: As Night nurse, Sandon Hall, in the yr 1916 322 hrs] As Head Cook, Ingham Hosp. Feb, March, April, May 1917. 1008 hrs As Surgery Nurse, & Cook at Mayfield June-Sept 1917. 672 hrs As Superintendent of Kitchen Mayfield June-Sept 1918. 672 hrs As Quartermaster, Longfield Hosp, Nov Dec 1918, Jan, Feb, March, April 1919. 1472 hrs [Total] 4226 hrs.

Sarah appears to have never married, and died in 1942.

 

Bernard Louis Shotton

17 Wednesday Jun 2015

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There is an entry in the Wolverhampton Council’s Education Committee minutes on 18 July 1916 that one of its teachers, Private B. L. Shotton, has been wounded in action. It is likely that this is Walter’s brother, Bernard, as his full name according to his birth registration was Bernard Louis.

Like his brother, Bernard was born in King’s Norton, in his case on 13 January 1894. He appears alongside Walter at 186 Bilston Road, Wolverhampton, in the 1901 census. As is clear from the minutes, at some point he trained as a teacher.

Bernard enlisted with the Royal Warwickshire Regiment (number 305151) and, although he was wounded in action, he survived the war. He married Nellie M. Austin in Aston in 1918, and they had two children, Norman and John, between 1925 and 1927. Bernard died in Southampton in 1973.

Harry Heath

17 Friday Apr 2015

Posted by in Front Line, Men who served

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The Express & Star published a letter on 1 May 1915 from a Corporal H. Heath, who was being held prisoner in Göttingen, in Germany. It appealed as follows:

Sir, – I beg to ask you on behalf of about thirty Wolverhampton N.C.O.s and men of the 1st South Staffordshire Regiment, who are prisoners of war at Göttingen, if any gentleman, lady, or society who are collecting clothes, boots, or groceries for prisoners of war, would kindly forward some of them to be distributed amongst the prisoners here.

The prisoners are urgently in need of them, as they have been here since early November and have not receiving anything owing to most of their parents not being able to assist them. – I remain, your obedient servant,

H. HEATH, Corporal S. S. R.

Harry Heath was born in Wolverhampton on 25 December 1890. His prisoner of war records confirm that he was captured at Ypres on 26 October 1914, that he was not wounded, and was initially held at Cassel. His next of kin was given as his mother, who lived at 15 Zoar Street.

There was a further letter from Harry published in the Express & Star in August 1915. This time it was writing in response to a list of missing men, stating that it had been posted up in the prisoner of war camp, but nobody had any information regarding those men.

He was moved around a bit, and by 1918 he had been wounded in the head. On 25 November 1918 he was repatriated, and was among a list of prisoners of war who had arrived in Southampton. He was listed as “severely sick” and taken to King George’s Hospital in London. He appears to have recovered, as I have not been able to find a record of his death.

Arthur Street

22 Sunday Jun 2014

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Arthur Street is another of the Police Constables mentioned in the Chief Constable’s Report Book.

He joined the Police Force on 22 June 1914, so had only served a month with the police when War broke out and he was called upon to rejoin his Regiment. Already on 7 September 1914, he is mentioned again in the Report Book, when “P.C. Street has been wounded and is now in Hospital at Southampton.” By September 21, there is a longer entry:

I regret to say that P. C. Arthur Street who was called up to rejoin his former Rgt – Coldstream Guards – died on the 9th inst. in Hospital at South Sea. He had been wounded in the hand at the Front and was going on well when lockjaw […] from which he died – he was married only 2 days before going to the War.

His widow has received £5 from his Supt. and will be entitled to a small pension.

The question of what she may receive from this […] is now for consideration. According to the Act of Parl[iament] which became Law on Tuesday last – Police Constables have considerable discretion in this matter and I suggest that this case, and any others which may arise, should be gone into by the sub Committee

Very little further is known about this man. There are various birth possibilities too, as, just because he served with the Wolverhampton Police Force does not mean he came from Wolverhampton, particularly as he had only been with the police a month. His entry on the Commonwealth War Graves Committee website states that he was in the 3rd Battalion of the Coldstream Guards, and that he is buried at Portsmouth (Highland Road) Cemetery, which would tie in with him being in hospital in South Sea or Southampton, depending on which entry in the book is correct. His medal card is also available at the National Archives, and he is commemorated on the Wolverhampton Roll of Remembrance.

In the 1911 census there is an Arthur Street in the Coldstream Guards at Marlborough Lines, Aldershot. His birthplace is given as Litchfield (mistranscribed as Atchfield). His entry in Soldiers Died in the Great War gives his birthplace as Burton-on-Trent, but this may actually be the address of the next-of-kin as recorded in the service records. There is a marriage registered in Burton in September 1914 to a Gertrude A. Hollings, so this is probably the same individual. There was also an Arthur Street of the right age born in Burton who is a brewery labourer in the 1911 census.

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