RWF men of the Midlands: new book

[Muerrisch]

Firstly I declare an interest. I wrote the Foreword, and contributed a little material. Those who bought my Duty Done will note that this book is similar but geographically driven, not 2nd Battalion confined.

The book goes to the printer in the next few days, and, quite simply, I believe the GWF members should have a chance to buy it.

It is a 20 year labour of love by a Brummie, son of a decorated 2nd RWF L-Cpl.

217 pages of A4 crammed, absolutely crammed, with biographies and many many photographs of Midlanders in the RWF 1900 to 1919.

The author and I are determined that this memorial to the men should see the light of day, and are financing a very short production run to see how it goes. I believe it will be hoovered up: many of the men's famillies still live in Birmingham, and these people [many of them contributors of photos, anecdotes, artefacts] will want a copy with "our Fred" honoured at last.

So there you are: £20 a pop to include 2nd class UK post and packing.

Please PM me with your email address if interested.

Before I add here the Contents list, note that I have reported myself to the Mods who will, I am sure, see fair play.

Contents

Dedication and Foreword

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Terms used in the book and abbreviations

Chapter 1 Why Men of the Midlands?

Chapter 2 Welsh or Welch.

Chapter 3 Britannia and her boys. The British Volunteer. The 1^st Cadet Battalion R Warwickshire R

Chapter 4 Tour of Overseas Service of the 2^nd Battalion Royal Welsh Fusiliers.

Chapter 5 Types of houses in the slum areas of Birmingham, tunnel backs and back to backs.

Chapter 6 A note on “The Regiment”, and the Numbers allocated to all soldiers

Chapter 7 The Royal Welsh Fusiliers recruiting drive in Birmingham on 25^th Oct. 1915.

Chapter 8 The Great War Black Day

Chapter 9 Part One: Men of the Midlands who enlisted into the Royal Welsh Fusiliers.

Chapter 10 Boxing

Chapter 11 The Red Dragon Crater 22^nd June 1916; trench map; Red Dragon Crater casualties; tracing the Ducks

Bill Mine.

Chapter 12 Finding and the reburial of Private Richard Clarke 11115, B Company 2^nd Battalion RWF

Chapter 13 Part Two: Men of the Midlands who enlisted into the Royal Welsh Fusiliers.

Chapter 14 Army Crimes.

Chapter 15 The Hall of Memory Birmingham; RWF in the Book of Remembrance; RWF not in the Book

Chapter 16 Men in the RWF in Birmingham’s Electoral Roll of Absent Voters 1918.

Chapter 17 Men in the RWF in Birmingham’s Electoral Roll of Absent Voters 1919

Chapter 18 Medals.

Chapter 19 Additional information wanted on the following men; and late additions.

Chapter 20 Photographs of the barracks at Lichfield, Templemore, Limerick, Crownhill and Wrexham.

Chapter 21 Ships.

Chapter 22 Section map of the Somme.

Chapter 23 1^st and 2^nd Battalion Battle Stations and record of services.

Chapter 24 Chakrata, Birmingham men in the RWF in the 1911 census of the Roberts Barracks Quetta.

Chapter 25 The Nechells Monument

Chapter 26 Sources

[John(txic)]

Grumpy,

Could you post a picture of the front cover, please?

Ta.

[Muerrisch]

I will try but technically challenging!

[Muerrisch]

It is a huge pdf, so best if you PM and I send to your email?

[Maricourt]

May I also join GWF member GRUMPY in recommending this book. I have been lucky enough to see parts of it and I cannot wait to read the whole book. I wish the author the very best of luck with it.

Maricourt

[Mark Hone]

Is my great-uncle (and avatar) Charles Cyril Evans, 10th RWF, from Small Heath, Birmingham, mentioned?

[Muerrisch]

[quote name='Mark Hone' timestamp='1361729013' post='1871648']

Is my great-uncle (and avatar) Charles Cyril Evans, 10th RWF, from Small Heath, Birmingham, mentioned?

Yes

Private Charles Cyril Evans 36320 10^th Bn RWF Born c1896 Birmingham son of Francis H. and Charlotte E (Lottie) of 14 Glovers Road Small Heath. Enlisted on 25^th Oct.1914 in Birmingham, trade on enlistment was a Piano Forte Maker working for Messrs. Sames of Camp Hill Birmingham

and considerably more, and with a different photo

[Mark Hone]

Wow, who provided you with the info, if not me? I was under the impression that my avatar photo was the only one of him extant. I think you mean October 1915 for his date of enlistment in the RWF recruitment drive. Cyril ( he enlisted under the name Charles because he thought that Cyril was a 'cissy' name) disappeared from home. His mother was distraught and her daughter, my nan took her to the pictures to distract her. As they watched the newsreel showing the RWF parading through Brum, my great-grandmother supposedly shouted out ' There's our Cyril, behind the goat!'. He was wounded at Kemmel in a German trench raid in early 1916, returned in time for the battalion's ordeal at Delville Wood in July 1916 ( two VCs and shot up in a 'friendly fire' incident by the Essex Regiment) before dying at Serre on 13th November 1916. He is commemorated on Thiepval and is the reason that I am interested in the Great War.

His cousin, Cyril Wattis, of 5th RTR, named in his honour, was killed almost exactly 25 years later, on 23rd November 1941 during Operation 'Crusader' in the Western Desert and is buried at Knightsbridge CWGC Cemetery

[Muerrisch]

Wow, who provided you with the info, if not me? I was under the impression that my avatar photo was the only one of him extant. I think you mean October 1915 for his date of enlistment in the RWF recruitment drive. Cyril ( he enlisted under the name Charles because he thought that Cyril was a 'cissy' name) disappeared from home. His mother was distraught and her daughter, my nan took her to the pictures to distract her. As they watched the newsreel showing the RWF parading through Brum, my great-grandmother supposedly shouted out ' There's our Cyril, behind the goat!'. He was wounded at Kemmel in a German trench raid in early 1916, returned in time for the battalion's ordeal at Delville Wood in July 1916 ( two VCs and shot up in a 'friendly fire' incident by the Essex Regiment) before dying at Serre on 13th November 1916. He is commemorated on Thiepval and is the reason that I am interested in the Great War.

Don't shoot the messenger!

Have given author a good telling off re 1914 .... he will blame the proof-reader, who will in turn blame ........

[Mark Hone]

I'll let you off this time.

[Alan Tucker]

Seems an interesting study apart from the dubious title of Chapter 5 - 'Types of houses in the slum areas of Birmingham, tunnel backs and back to backs'. Why use the perjorative term 'slum areas' when working class areas might be more appropriate although within working class areas there would be a variety of housing - court, tunnel back, back to back, terrace etc.

Incidentally of the 10374 Brummie deaths recorded by CWGC the RWF come 16th with 150. 1st - Royal Warwicks - 2501. 2nd - Worcs - 1071

[Muerrisch]

Seems an interesting study apart from the dubious title of Chapter 5 - 'Types of houses in the slum areas of Birmingham, tunnel backs and back to backs'. Why use the perjorative term 'slum areas' when working class areas might be more appropriate although within working class areas there would be a variety of housing - court, tunnel back, back to back, terrace etc.

Incidentally of the 10374 Brummie deaths recorded by CWGC the RWF come 16th with 150. 1st - Royal Warwicks - 2501. 2nd - Worcs - 1071

The author refers to being raised in the slums himself ....... 'pejorative' is in the mind of the beholder ........... the book is full of the grief of the dwellers in the slums, and anger at their treatment.

This grief cannot be assuaged by PC phrases such as 'working class' substitued for 'slums'.

I think if you bought the book you would take the point.

If you wish to discuss the matter with him I can act as middle man.

I will refute the death figures in due course from my independent research, but please note that the subtitle is 'Midlanders', and the author defines that specifically..

[Alan Tucker]

Anger at their treatment by who? The most important document on Birmingham housing - the 1913 Special Housing Inquiry Committee - is full of evidence on the state of the housing of the 'poor' but nowhere does it use the term 'slum' or 'slum areas'.

You will not be able to refute my Birmingham figures as they are the best you can get from an obvious methodology - use of CWGC. There may be alternative methods of calculation e,g, using Soldiers died but I doubt whether that would provide much different - about 1.45% of all Brummie deaths. I have the Birmingham Roll but it would be too laborious to pull out the number of RWF deaths.

[LarsA]

I'm in luck! Cleared some bookshelves today, lots of space for new RWF material now.

Anything on G or C Crookes, or possibly Leonard Aston? Will buy a copy anyway.

ATB,

Lars

[Muerrisch]

Anger at their treatment by who? The most important document on Birmingham housing - the 1913 Special Housing Inquiry Committee - is full of evidence on the state of the housing of the 'poor' but nowhere does it use the term 'slum' or 'slum areas'.

You will not be able to refute my Birmingham figures as they are the best you can get from an obvious methodology - use of CWGC. There may be alternative methods of calculation e,g, using Soldiers died but I doubt whether that would provide much different - about 1.45% of all Brummie deaths. I have the Birmingham Roll but it would be too laborious to pull out the number of RWF deaths.

I will be happy to continue this discussion by PM if you wish, but it is a distraction from the thread.

You think the word slum is pejorative, the author is fully entitled to use the word, and it seems pointless discussing it as you and he disagree. To give a hint of his "voice" read this shockingly evocative opening to his Introduction which is appended below.

Regarding deaths of Midlanders in the RWF in the war, my database from official records provides 80 Birmingham born men with pre-1914 regimental numbers died in the war: and my data-base is ONLY one battalion, the 2nd. Given the massive recruiting drives, let alone the rush to enlist, I do find a grand total of 150, all battalions, all years, all enlistments, very difficult to swallow. I will, as I offered above, correspond by PM, and will revisit my extensive database for you. However, back to the book.

I am pleased to say the orders are pouring in, and I believe, given your interest, you may be glad to have a copy.

I was born in 1944 at 80 Cromwell Street Nechells, the house my father George Richard Knight went to his grave from in 1948. Growing up I saw how men from the Great War were forced to beg by entertaining crowds outside football matches, men with no legs pushing themselves along with their hands on little homemade boards with wheels whilst holding collection tins out so they could get a few pennies (if they were lucky) while another man with no arms played a mouth organ held in a frame on his shoulders and danced a jig. A scene I have never forgotten.

I'm in luck! Cleared some bookshelves today, lots of space for new RWF material now.

Anything on G or C Crookes, or possibly Leonard Aston? Will buy a copy anyway.

ATB,

Lars

Lars, a bit busy with orders at the moment, will get back to you. Have reserved a copy.

[Alan Tucker]

What is interesting about the quotation is that this is the very first time I have ever heard of such dire circumstances for Great War vets post-Second World War. What is said sounds more like what we know about the inter-war period.

[John(txic)]

Grumpy,

Can you PM me an e-mail address so that my friends who are not on the GW Forum can purchase a copy?

Regards,

John

[Muerrisch]

Grumpy,

Can you PM me an e-mail address so that my friends who are not on the GW Forum can purchase a copy?

Regards,

John

On its way!

[Muerrisch]

What is interesting about the quotation is that this is the very first time I have ever heard of such dire circumstances for Great War vets post-Second World War. What is said sounds more like what we know about the inter-war period.

Alan, trying to PM you, is box full please? In any case, mine has space if you want to get in touch.

[Alan Tucker]

Now clear

[Muerrisch]

Now clear

sent 25/2026.

[Muerrisch]

ON SLUMS

extract from Carl Chinn's book ....Homes for the People

Chinn holds the position of Professor of Community History at the University of Birmingham.

Before 1914, housing reformers were motivated by a genuine concern for the distress of the poor, and by a fear that they threatened the social order. For many, better housing was a humanitarian gesture but it was also practical as it would lead to fitter and less discontented workers. Despite the increased emphasis on social concern after 1919, this element of expediency did not disappear from the housing question. During the last year of the war, 41% of conscripts were medically graded as unfit for military service. The future of the nation was believed to be dependent on raising these men, classified as C.3, in to the A.I. category of fitness and strength. Decent housing, it was felt, would do this, as well as avoid unrest and improve the 'morals' of the poor. Justness and political judgement, then, made the government aware that urgent action was needed if the housing problem was not to lead to graver social problems. But heroes were returning to even more depressing conditions than they had left. In Birmingham, an investigation revealed that out of 600 discharged soldiers with tuberculosis, no less than 107 were living in dwellings containing two families. Thus, men with an infective disease were sleeping in the same room as their wives and children. The housing problem keenly affected many people; it demanded a drastic solution.

The First World War had a tremendous effect on attitudes towards the housing problem. Britain's rulers and prosperous classes had been amazed at the patriotism of the working class. Men and women had volunteered in their hundreds of thousands to fight and work for a country which had failed the poor; which had given them poverty rather than comfort, ill-health instead of vitality, slum housing in place of decent homes. The realisation dawned that the poor were not a separate race, that they were as much British as were the middle class. Their efforts in contributing to victory had to be recognised and rewarded, and an unwritten social contract evolved. The sacrifice of the people was to be matched by a government commitment to major social reforms once the war was ended. Expectations were raised that women would be given the vote, that there would be educational reform, the extension of national insurance, and much else. But the greatest hopes were attached to a solution to the housing problem. Lloyd George, the Prime Minister and his cabinet recognised that this was the crux of any social reform. They began to plan a housing policy which was to be started once Germany was defeated. It was symbolised by the slogan, 'Homes Fit for Heroes', which swept the land and was taken up by the working class with fervour and eagerness.

BUT

In 1947 the Minister of Health confirmed Birmingham's Compulsory Purchase Order on its redevelopment areas. The scene was set for slum clearance and rehousing on a scale never before witnessed in the city, and there was little doubt that it was needed desperately. Soon after the war the council had ordered a comprehensive housing survey of Birmingham, and its results made depressing reading. Since 1936 demolitions and bombing had reduced the number of back-to-backs by nearly 10,000, but still over 19.000 were left - almost 60% of them in the redevelopment areas. There lingered around 6.500 dwellings without a separate water supply. and again 60% were in one of Birmingham's five blighted districts. 35,000 houses still had shared toilets, 81,500 had no bath, and appallingly, there remained 417 dwellings with no gas or electricity. These statistics could give only a vague impression of the distressing conditions under which tens of thousands of Brummies lived. Valiantly they defied tremendous odds, striving to lead decent lives in the most inhospitable environment. After such shocking revelations, Manzoni hoped that the council would transfer its resources to slum clearance. But it was preoccupied with the grave problem of a burgeoning housing register, and redevelopment was put on hold.

[Chrome]

So True

[Chrome]

Exract from

Take Heart, History and Change in Birmingham’s Heartland by Elizabeth Frostick and Lucy Harland

In 1937, Duddeston and Nechells became the first redevelopment scheme in Birmingham. By that time, out of the 7000 houses in the area, 5000 had been identified as unfit for human inhabitation

It was not until the 1950’s that slums in Cromwell Street were demolished

[Chrome]

BIRMINGHAM GAZETTE TUESDAY 19 APRIL 1921

HELPED TO SAVE GUNS FROM BOERS

DEATH OF BIRMINGHAM V.C.

FAMILY LEFT DESTITUTE IN ONE ROOM TENEMENT

A gallant V.C., who gained the highest military award at the time of the Boer War, has just died in a one-roomed tenement which he shared with his wife and five children in a house built in a squalid court in Long Acre, Nechells, Birmingham. Private George Ravenhill, of the 2nd Battalion, Royal Scots Fusiliers, was drafted to Natal when the Boer War broke out. He was then 26 years of age, and had been married the previous year. At that time his home was in the same court in Nechells in which his family are living now and where he has spent his last years

SERVED IN THE GREAT WAR Ravenhill, although his death was sudden, had been far from well for some time. He was a well-built man, and stood six feet high. When the present war broke out he again offered his services, and was discharged with a disability pension after being in the army about three years. He leaves eight children. Of the five living in Nechells the eldest is 14 and the youngest 2½ and they are stated to be practically destitute. They are certainly living under deplorable housing conditions, which must be detrimental to their health. It is hoped that a military funeral may be arranged for next Saturday. The local branch of the Discharged and Demobilised Sailors and Soldiers, Comrades of the Great War and Officers’ Association is making every effort to ensure the gallant V.C. receiving such a funeral, with honours, as well as to relieve, as far as practicable, the present great distress of the family.

BIRMINGHAM GAZETTE. FRIDAY APRIL 22 1921

DEAD V.C.’s “LEGACY” WIFE AND CHILDREN LEFT IN POVERTY With the object of rendering assistance to the widow and children of the late Private G.Ravenhill V.C., whose funeral will take place tomorrow, a concert is being arranged by Councillor Norman Dean, to take place at the George Hotel, Saltley Road, Birmingham, on 6 May. Mr Dean states that the family are in urgent need. Mr John Davison, Labour (Smethwick), asked the Lord Privy Seal, in the Commons yesterday, whether his attention had been called to the case of Private George Ravenhill V.C., 2nd Battalion, Royal Scots Fusiliers, who had just died under distressing circumstances in Long Acre, Nechells, Birmingham; whether he is aware that this soldier occupied a one-room tenement, with his wife and five children, whose ages ranged from 2½ to 14 years; that they were practically destitute, and living under conditions detrimental to their health; and whether he would take steps to provide adequate maintenance and decent housing accommodation for the family. Lieutenant-Colonel, the Hon.E.F.Stanley, who replied, said while it was true that this soldier was awarded the V.C. in 1901, there were special features connected with this case as to which he was communicating with the hon.member