Captain Clement Martineau

[Matt Dixon]

I know this much about this man:

Captain Clement Martineau, 10th Royal Warks, son of Geoffrey and Jessie Martineau of Touchwood Hall, Solihull, who died of wounds aged 21 in a German Field Hospital and is buried at Courtrai, Belgium.

He is commemorated on the Solihull War memorial, and also on a plaque in St Alphage church in Solihull.

Can anyone else provide any more information about this chap?

[SteveE]

Commission as Second Lieutenant (on probation), London Gazette #28851, dated 21st July 1914.

The Royal Warwickshire Regiment,

Cadet Colour-Serjeant Clement Martineau, from Solihull School Contingent, Officers Training Corps, to be Second Lieutenant (on probation). Dated 22nd July, 1914.

Link to Gazette is Here

[SteveE]

Promotion to Lieutenant, London Gazette #29055, dated 2nd February 1915.

The Royal Warwickshire Regiment.

10th Battalion—

Second Lieutenant C. Martineau, Special Reserve, to be temporary Lieutenant. Dated 26th December, 1914.

Link to Gazette is Here

Can't find his promotion to Captain at the moment.

Hope this helps.

Steve

[Matt Dixon]

Thanks all information greatfully received.

[melliget]

The CWGC give his date of death as 05/05/1918.

[Terry Carter]

In the casualty list published on 30 April 1918, The Birmingham Daily Post, had him as Wounded and Missing. Might have been involved and wounded in the same action which earned Captain J R Gribble the V.C. on 23 March 1918. The 10th RWR were put into the 154 Bde of the 51st Div and ordered to hold to the last man. The battalion held a section of the line near Beaumetz.

regards

Terry

[paul@paulmanning.net]

Here's his photograph, which I purchased together with a scroll. I also attach a photo of Touchwood Hall, Solihull.

His mother apparently keep a candle in the window of Touchwood Hall until she died, or left the Hall. She is also said to have left her front door open for "weary travellers" to get refreshments in the hall.

Apparently Clement was also mentioned on a Channel 4 programme, Lost Generation.

Can anyone find the date of his promotion to Captain? I know these are in the London Gazette, but are all these online and do I need a subscription?

All the best

Paul

[Alan Tucker]

Touchwood Hall no longer exists and the site is now Solihull's Mell Square shopping centre. When the new shopping centre was opened in recent years it was named the Touchwood Centre.

Clement Martineau has got to be related to the Birmingham Martineau's. Colonel Sir Ernest was CO 1/6th Royal Warwicks (TF) when the war broke out and Lord Mayor of Birmingham. In September 1914 he gave up his Mayoralty to Bowater (founder of the Bham Pals) in order to be with his battalion. He went to France with them in March 1915 but left for home sick on May 11 1915 and did not return. As the list shows the Martineau's were an elite Birmingham family alongside the Chamberlains, Kenricks, Cadburys etc.

[Verrico2009]

His 1915 Star is attributable to his service as a Lieutenant, the other two as a Captain - might give more idea of when he was promoted? Theatre of war first served in: (1) [France?]; date of entry therein: 18.7.15. "Dead 5/5/18". Father G[eoffrey] A[rthur] Martineau Esq of Touchwood Hall, Solihull.

If there are service records for him, wouldn't they still be with the NA - my understanding is that officers' records haven't been digitised yet?

[David_Underdown]

All the gazettes are online (back to the 1650s), and are freely searchable and viewable. However, becasue of the way the text has been produced from the scanned copies, the results can be a little hit and miss. I would expect (though could be wrong) that Martineau won't be that common a name, and aprticualr if you restrict the search dates to WWI (you can select from the drop down about "historic events", which will give you the official dates), you should get reasonable results. Search page is http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/search

[Alan Tucker]

I posed the question earlier that Captain Clement Martineau of Solihull had to be related to the Birmingham Martineaus. I have since done some research and the answer is yes but some time back into the past. In fact they all (in 1881 there were only 122 Martineaus in Britain) go back to Gaston Martineau who arrived in England as a Huguenot refugee in 1686 and settled in Norwich for several generations until Robert Martineau came to Birmingham in 1828 after his uncle Peter Finch Martineau had already left Norwich for London c1785. All the key Norwich Martineaus were surgeons including the notable Philip Meadows Martineau (1752-1829), brother of Peter Finch Martineau. Those that moved went into business. In London Peter Finch Martineau became a brewer, then a sugar refiner in the East End and also a banker in St Albans, where he lived for a time.

Clement Martineau is descended from Peter Finch Martineau (1755-1847), a scarlet dyer at Norwich. He married Catherine Marsh,his second wife, and died at Brixton Hill, London. Their son David Martineau (1788-1836) married Catherine Hyde. David died at Tulse Hill, London. One of their children was Francis Edgar Martineau (1828-1893), Clement's grandfather. Francis was born in Lambeth, Surrey but came to Solihull in 1861 having been in business in Birmingham from 1855 with his cousin, Edward Kentish Martineau (son of Robert Martineau the first one to move to Birmingham), as a brassfounder and toolmaker.. Twenty years later he was employing 185 hands at the Globe Works,14, New Town Row, Birmingham. The works manufactured iron hinges. Francis married Georgina Hutchins from Streatham in 1858 and Clement's father, Geoffrey, was one of their nine children. Geoffrey was born in 1861 and died on 31.12.34 having lived in Solihull most of his life - he was a partner in Matchell and Martineau of Bradford Street, Birmingham. When Geoffrey retired Clement's son, Gaston (born 1900), took over the partnership. None of the Birmingham Martineaus attended Geoffrey's funeral. Geoffrey was apprenticed to his father's business at the age of 19. Clement also had a brother Philip, who had been a schoolmaster.

(That's enough Martineaus - ed)

[Alan Tucker]

Found this in Solihull Church recently