Birmingham City Battalions Book

[Simon_Fielding]

Birmingham City Battalions Book of Honour.

Edited by Sir William 11. Bowater. London: Sherratt & Hughes. 1919.

14th, 15th, and 16th Battalions.

Does anyone recognise this book or have any other information on it? I looked in the British Library catalogue with no success...

Any clues?

Simon

[Mark Hone]

Yes, I have perused the copy in Birmingham Central Reference library in the past. It is basically a collection of lists of names of men who served together with group photos. Sadly my cousin Matthew McKee is listed as away when his platoon photo was taken! Terry Carter made much use of it in his excellent 'Birmingham Pals' book I expect.

[Simon_Fielding]

Fantastic! Thanks Mark. I was wondering whether it was a figment of my bibliographical imagination. I'm in Brum in two weeks time, and will take a look at it.

Regards

Simon

[Terry Carter]

AT last a question on the forum that I can answer with confidence!!!

The Birmingham City Battalions Book of Honour was published in 1919 and it was edited by Sir William Bowater, Hon. Colonel 14th Royal Warwicks (1st Birmingham Bn.), Chairman, City Battalions Equipment Committee, Former Lord Mayor and raiser of the Birmingham's three City battalions in September,1914.

In reality it is a two-part book. The first 155 pages concern the City Battalions. There is a section detailing the raising, training and war service followed by a list of distinctions.

Then there is a list of men from the three battalions who were commissioned; giving the date of commission and their former service number. However it does not give the battalion the man was commissioned to.

This is followed by a list of subsribers to the Equipment fund which raised around £17,000. The largest donation being £1,000 given by the B.S.A.

Then there are the platoon photographs for each battalion. There are group photographs of each battalion's officers, N.C.O.'s followed by photographs of the 16 platoons that made up each battalion. There is also a group photo of the 1st B'ham Stretcher Bearers and the 1st B'ham Machine Gun Section.

The photographs were taken around July, 1915, when the men had received the khaki uniforms, although some n.c.o.'s of the 1st B'ham still appear to be in the navy blue uniform.

By then around 400 of the original volunteers had been commissioned, thus, men who enlisted during the early part of 1915 can be distinguished by having a service number higher than 1100.

Unfortunatley, the list of men with each platoon photograph does not indicate were they are placed in the photograph.

The second part of the book of 260 pages is a Roll of Honour supplied by approximately 130 Birmingham business's, factories, council departments etc. of their workforce who enlisted into the various services. Some of these Rolls only give names. Others give regiments and battalions and also indicate whether a man was wounded or killed.

The B.S.A. (Birmingham Small Arms) Roll also contains a group photograph of the officers and n.c.o.'s of the B.S.A. ("O" Coy) Company of the 6th Bn. Royal Warwicks T.F.

So, Simon, if there is a research question I can help you with please let me know. Unfortunately Pte John Joseph Heath 15/1594 is not in the group photos.

Thanks for the kind remarks about my book Mark.

Regards all

Terry Carter