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Medals to the Worcester Regiment 3 weeks 1 day ago #98713
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Picture courtesy of Spink [ QSA (3) ]; KSA (2) 4079 Corpl: J. Southall. Worcester: Regt.) MID London Gazette 10 September 1901. Joseph Southall was born at Cradley Heath, Worcester in 1876 and attested there on 13 June 1894. Twelve days later he was listed as 'In Prison' where he remained for the next two months before joining his Regiment, he was posted to the 2nd Battalion in Malta in March 1896. Briefly posted to Bermuda in October 1899 he joined the War in South Africa on 17 December 1899, being 'mentioned' there. Returning to Britain on 15 September 1902 he was discharged on 12 June 1906. Dr David Biggins
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Medals to the Worcester Regiment 3 weeks 1 day ago #98724
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Spink have not made a very good job of deciphering the service dates of 4079 Joseph Southall. As regards his movements around the globe he was in line with the rest of the 2nd Worcesters and was posted from Malta to Bermuda in October 1897. Spink have misread a badly written 7 for a 9 and ignored the next column which shows he spent 2 years and 65 days in Bermuda.
Spink mention Joseph’s first spell in jail just after he enlisted but he also spent twice as long in jail the following year. He also spent a short time in jail in Bermuda. His behaviour obviously improved once he went to war as he was promoted to Lance-Corporal seven months after the battalion arrived in South Africa although he seemed to have to wait another seven months to receive the extra pay. He was not promoted to Corporal until a fortnight before the war ended. His “Mention in Dispatches” needs putting into context as he was one about 40 NCO’s & Privates of the Worcestershire Regiment mentioned in Bob’s September 1901 Report as this clipping from the Bromsgrove & Droitwich Messenger of 14 September 1901 shows. In fact Bobs really got carried away as the full list of MiD’s occupied seven and a quarter pages of the Army & Navy Gazette of the same date. My maternal Grandfather was MiD in the Great War and he was very disparaging about it. He was held back after the war in Salonika to help sort out the mess and whilst still there received sympathetic & indignant letters from his former comrades, already back home, about his plight especially as he had not seen my mother for 3 years and most of them were single men. The MiD Scroll, which hangs on my study wall is dated July 1919 but my Grandfather did not see my mother until September 1919. The letters from home were also indignant about the state of the country and the lack of a heroes welcome they had received. I am in possession of letters written during WW2 to the Old Boys Association of my Grammar School by Old Boys serving in the armed forces. One was from an Old Boy who had just been MiD and in response to the congratulations he had received answered that he had no idea why he had been mentioned and presumed his name had been drawn out of a hat by his commanding officer when he had been instructed to supply some names. Joseph’s QSA was typical of those received by members of the 2nd Worcesters with three clasps – Wittebergen, Cape Colony & Transvaal. Sorting out his full life is proving difficult. As Spink say his place of birth is given as Cradley Heath, County of Worcester on his attestation papers. At the time Cradley Heath was definitely in Staffordshire (and the Black Country) but there was a village not far away called Cradley which was just over the border in Worcestershire.
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Medals to the Worcester Regiment 3 weeks 1 day ago #98725
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David, you are absolutely right about the old county boundary as the River Stour is the dividing line between Cradley and Cradley Heath.
All within the West Midlands these days!
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Medals to the Worcester Regiment 3 weeks 59 minutes ago #98740
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Continuing on from the last few posts on this thread, the life & times of 4079 Joseph Southall, 2nd Battalion Worcestershire Regiment. (Southall appears to be a very common name in the West Midlands hence the original difficulty in sorting this out.)
Joseph Southall was born 11 April 1876 in Cradley Heath, and all four census returns he can be found on say "Cradley Heath, Staffordshire". His exact date of birth means that when he attested in Worcester on 13 June 1894 and gave his age as 18 years and 2 months he was telling the absolute truth and nothing but the truth. At the medical he measured 5 feet 7¼ inches and could expand his chest from 33 to 35 inches. However, he only weighed in at 8 stone 9 lbs and that might be why he received the “Special” tag under the comments about his tattoos which involved flags on his forearms. His father was William (b 1850) and his mother Elizabeth Woodall (b 1850). The 1881 census found the family living with Elizabeth’s parents at 38 Church Street, Dudley, Worcestershire. At the time Joseph had a younger sister and brother, the latter had died by the time of the 1891 Census. At the time of the 1891 Census the family were no longer living with Elizabeth’s parents and had moved to Leamington Spa, Warwickshire. In the intervening decade there had been four additions to the family. When Joseph attested in 1894 he gave his father’s address as 51 Church Street, Dudley and the 1901 Census found that address occupied by Elizabeth’s brother and his family. In 1901 Elizabeth & William and family minus Joseph were living at 10 Dudley Street, Brierley Hill, Staffordshire, they had another child a couple of years before Joseph joined the army when they were still living in Leamington Spa. At each of the above censuses Joseph’s father had a different job but they were all associated with the tanning/leather industry. In 1891 Joesph was working as a “gardener’s assistant” but his 1894 attestation papers gave his occupation as a “fender fitter” which probably meant he fitted fenders to domestic stoves and ranges. His military service has been covered in the previous posts. Just under two years after Joseph returned home from South Africa in 1902 he married Alice Beatrice Price, born in Brierley Hill and seven years his junior. The marriage was registered in the Dudley Registration District which at the time did not include Brierley Hill so I suspect the marriage was actually held in Dudley. The 1911 Census found Joseph and Beatrice, which I think she preferred to be called, living at 3 Level Street, Brierley Hill. The return, filled out by Joseph, listed three children in the following order: Edward Alexander age 1, Eric age 5 and Winifred Irene age 1. The enumerator drew a blue line through Edward Alexander and wrote “Dead” against his name which made the return tally with the numbers of living and dead children that Joseph had given. Joseph gave his occupation as “general labourer” employed at an “ironworks”. I can find no definite evidence that Joseph served in the Great War but the contents of his 1921 Census return suggest he did and in any case he would have been just young enough to be caught up in conscription if he had not already volunteered. By the time of the 1921 Census they appear to have moved next door to 5 Level Street – perhaps a move seeking extra space because their family was now four strong and Beatrice’s parents were living with them. The ages of the children are interesting - Eric now age 15, Winifred age 11, Alec age 2 and Ida age 8 months. At the time of the 1921 Census Joseph was out of work but he still had to give details of his last employment: “Steel works labourer” at the “Round Oak Steelworks” located in Brierley Hill. Joseph’s parents, both aged 71 and his father still working in the leather industry, can also be found on the 1921 Census living in Brierley Hill. The 1939 Register found Joseph & Beatrice still living at 5 Level Street. Joseph was still a “Steelworks Labourer” and unmarried Alec was still living at home and also working at the steelworks – Round Oak Steelworks closed down in the early 1980’s.and a couple of years later the cover of Depeche Mode’s “Some Great Reward” album figured the bleak side of one of Round Oak Steelworks more modern buildings. Joseph Southall is far too common a name, especially in the West Midlands, to determine when Joseph passed away but a local paper provided the answer for Beatrice – 3rd March 1963, age 79 and still living at 5 Level Street. The notice in the “Deaths” column gave no clue about whether Joseph had already passed on or was still alive.
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Medals to the Worcester Regiment 2 weeks 6 days ago #98745
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Steve – the 2nd Worcesters have really got under my skin, in a nice way. When I was a Grammar School boy I saw Worcestershire as a green and leafy escape from surburban & industrialised Smethwick. Thus I expected the rank & file of the 2nd Worcesters who went to SA to almost exclusively be the sons of agricultural labourers. Instead we have a significant number as hard as nails (i.e. sons of nail makers in Bromsgrove), those as sharp as needles (i.e. sons of needle makers in Redditch) & the salt of the earth (i.e. sons of salt makers from the Stoke Prior area, which, due to the enterprise of the “Salt King”, had rather done for the saltworks at Droitwich by the time of the ABW).
Despite his absent military paperwork I have managed to discover that 2884 J Tolley, whose QSA I believe you possess, was the son of a salt worker and had at least 14 siblings. In finalising his write up, which I hope to post in the next couple of days, I have discovered two more sons of salt workers, one of whom was amongst the wounded on 12th February 1900. I can even show you exactly where they were raised! British Row on the map below. A likely location for John Tolley's childhood home is one of the things I am trying to finalise and it may be just off the map. I believe Avoncroft Museum is just to the NW of the map and since my only visit there (about 40 years ago) they have reconstructed a Nailer’s Cottage from Bromsgrove. I think I am still awaiting finding the son of a glassworker from Stourbridge but need to check that and what do I call them? – “brittle as glass” does not sound right and I have already used “sharp”. Regards, David. |
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Medals to the Worcester Regiment 2 weeks 4 days ago #98775
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3 years 3 months ago DJB posted the following:
Picture courtesy of Lockdales QSA (1) Cape Colony (2884 Pte J Tolley Worcester Regt.) He died of disease 30 January 1900 at Slingersfontein. Served with 2nd battalion. QSA verified on WO100/184p144. No service papers. My additions to the above: The 2nd Worcesters set foot on South African soil on 12th January 1900. As stated above 2884 Private John Tolley “died of disease” 30 January 1900. I doubt if John Tolley set a record for the shortest time for death after arrival but he must have been in the top 10. He died of pneumonia and was not the first of the 2nd Worcesters to die during their South African campaign as two succumbed to pneumonia on the voyage out. So as his service papers are not extant how do I (and Moranthorse1) know he was called John? – that ever giving source of information about the Worcestershire Regiment in South Africa, the Bromsgrove & Droitwich Messenger. This from their 10th March 1900 issue: Poignantly John died three days after he wrote the letter and “a touch of fever” must have been a major understatement. Even more poignantly his parents almost certainly received the letter after they had already learnt of his death. Being a member of B Company, if he had still been alive, he would have been in Slingersfontein Camp on 12th February 1900 rather than on the heights of the Worcester kopjes exchanging deadly fire with the Boers. He expected to be in the Orange Free State within a few days – the 2nd Battalion were to cross the Orange River 48 days later on 15th March 1900 (according to the diary kept by one of their officers). I have deliberately included the start of the next article to show how the 2nd Battalion were ahead of the 1st Battalion in tackling the South African “problem”. When the conflict started the 1st Battalion were at home but the 2nd Battalion were in Bermuda. During November 1899 the 2nd Battalion were told their next posting was to be Halifax, Canada. A telegram went to the War Office and they acquiesced to the contents and in December 1899 they returned to England and after 10 days for “refitting” were on their way to South Africa, presumably leaving the 1st Battalion behind in an indignant state. Stoke Heath lies just to the south of Bromsgrove and, as the extract from the 1901 OS map below shows, immediately to the north of the village of Stoke Prior. Further south on the map can be seen the northern part of Stoke Prior Salt Works which at the time of the Boer War was one of the major producers of salt in the British Isles. Census returns show it is where John’s father, James, worked, at first as a labourer and by the time John went to war, as a “saltmaker”. James Tolley was born in 1831 and in 1868 married Ann Eades in St Michael’s Church, Stoke Prior. John was their third child, the first two being named after their parents, and arrived in 1871 but just too late to be included with them on the 1871 Census. John was baptised on 23 July 1871 in St Michael’s making John born between 3 April and 22 July 1871 and 28 years of age when he died in faraway South Africa on 30 January 1900. John’s two older siblings died shortly after he was born and the 1881 Census shows 10 year old John was the eldest of 8 surviving children, the youngest being 5 months old. John is not listed on the 1891 Census and had presumably enlisted in the Worcestershire Regiment when he was 18 or 19 years old. However, by 1891 James & Ann had added to their family to the extent that the family now occupied two cottages! Further additions had been made by the time of the 1901 Census and when the youngest was born in 1894 James was 63 years old and Ann 47! Altogether they had produced 17 children who lived long enough to be recorded on census returns. Further investigation showed James had been married before and his first marriage had produced two children who appeared on the 1871 census but died about the same time as James and Ann junior – thus it would appear that John was lucky to see his 28th birthday even if he was unlucky not to see his 29th. James, the father of at least 19 children, died in early February 1902 aged 71 about 11 months after he had learnt of the death of his soldier son. Ann the mother of at least 17 children died 5 years later aged 59. Researching his life as far as is possible, I have grown rather fond of John Tolley and his large family. I find his short optimistic letter home very considerate telling his parents not to worry when really they had a lot to be worried about. No doubt if they had had the wherewithal James & Ann would have installed a plaque to their soldier son in St Michael’s and one wonders if, for the same reason, there are any Tolley headstones to be found in the churchyard. Today I believe John’s QSA has been repatriated to Worcestershire. (Steve, in due course I will email you all the census returns etc for the Tolley family) One thing leads to another and during my research I discovered an article in the Bromsgrove & Droitwich Messenger of 3 February 1900 listing all the “Bromsgrove & District Men” serving in the Boer War – the list includes their home addresses and occupies a column and a half. John was included with a note saying he was seriously ill. Two other men are listed as living at Stoke Heath and one at Stoke Pound, which can be found on the east of the map. Referring to the map I posted previously which shows the southern half of the salt works and British Row & Sagebury Crescent comprising cottages built to house the saltworkers and their families – British Row received two mentions and Sagebury Terrace six! So quite a limited area of Worcestershire supplied half a platoon. Limited research to date shows at least one resident of Sagebury Terrace was subsequently killed in action. My next post looks as though it will be entilted “The Salt of the Earth”.
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