BROOK STREET

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Bennett's Grocery & Tobacconist

Brook Street

BENNETT, Albert

Rank : Writer
Regiment : HMS Arethusa Royal Navy
Service number : A0
Conflict : WW1
Date of death : 4th August 1919 aged 27
Memorial : Stourbridge King Edward VI Grammar School WW1 Memorial
Also appears on : Stourbridge War Memorial. Stourbridge Hill Street Council School.
Credits : Researched by The Black Country Society, researched and transcribed by Sandra Taylor.

Details:
 

Albert Bennett was born on 29th September 1891. He was educated at Hill Street Council School and attended Stourbridge Grammar School from 1906 to 1910. He was a member of the New Road Methodist church, and his father is recorded as Edward Bennett, a Retail Grocer (Proprietor) and the family resided at Brook Street, Stourbridge.

He left King Edward VI in 1910 and took employment as an elementary school teacher.

He enlisted in the Royal Navy, probably before 1914, and served on HMS Arethusa as a Writer.  The ship took part in the battles of Heligoland Bight in 1914 and the Dogger Bank on the 24th January 1915 when the German armoured cruiser, Blucher, was sunk.

However, Arethusa was seriously damaged by mines on the 11th February 1916 and Writer Albert Bennett was invalided out of the navy in October 1918.

He died on the 4th August 1919.

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67 Brook Street

SKELDING William

Rank : Private
Regiment : 9th Battalion Worcestershire Regiment
Service number : 13881
Conflict : WW1
Date of death : 9th August 1915 aged 20
Buried : Commemorated on Helles Memorial, Turkey, Panel 104 to 113.
Relatives : Son of David and Jane Skelding, 67 Brook St., Stourbridge
Memorial : Stourbridge War Memorial
Credits : Researched by The Black Country Society.

Details:
 

William Skelding attended Hill Street Council School.  Prior to the war he was employed by Mr E. Rutland, the wine merchant.  

He was one of the earliest Stourbridge men to volunteer in 1914 and joined the 9th (Service) Battalion of the Worcesters.  

After training they were sent  to Gallipoli in June 1915, where the initial attack in April had failed to capture the peninsula.  

The Worcesters landed on the 6th August at Suvla Bay without opposition.  They moved cautiously forward, but their assault on the Turkish position on the 9th August was a disaster.  No ground was gained and the casualties were huge.  

Private William Skelding was one of those killed in action.  

 

 

 

 

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27a Brook Street

BENNETT Frederick

Rank : Private
Regiment : 2nd Battalion Worcestershire Regiment
Service number : 27635
Conflict : WW1
Date of death : 10th August 1916 aged 30
Buried : Commemorated on Thiepval Memorial, France, Pier and Face 5A and 6C.
Relatives : Son of Edward and Priscilla Bennett, 27A Brook St., Stourbridge, Worcestershire; husband of Olive Mary Bennett
Memorial : Stourbridge War Memorial
Credits : Researched by The Black Country Society.

Details:
 

Frederick Bennett was the second son of Mr and Mrs E. Bennett of 27a Brook Street, Stourbridge, and two of his brothers were also in the army.

In March 1916 he married Olive Cottrell of 39 Brook Street.  He had been an apprentice with Mark and Moody and was Manager at Messrs Sharp Bros.

He enlisted in the Worcesters and joined the 2nd Battalion.  They spent the winter of early 1916 in Artois, and were then sent to the Somme to take part in the second phase of that long battle. They suffered heavily and retired for reinforcements before returning on the 7th August for the attack on High Wood.  

German resistance was very stubborn, and before the next attack enemy shelling resulted in more casualties. Private Fredrick Bennett was one of those killed in action, aged 30, on the 10th August. He is also commemorated on the St. Thomas’s church memorial, together with his brother, Ernest.

Frederick Bennett has no known grave.

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27a Brook Street

BENNETT Ernest

Rank : Private
Regiment : 4th Battalion Worcestershire Regiment
Service number : 21235
Conflict : WW1
Date of death : Killed in action on 17th April 1918
Buried : Commemorated on Ploegsteert Memorial, Belgium, Panel 5.
Birthplace : Brierley Hill, Staffordshire, resident Birmingham, enlisted Stourbridge, Worcestershire
Memorial : Stourbridge Old Swinford Hospital School
Also appears on : Stourbridge War Memorial. Stourbridge St Thomas's Church.
Credits : Researched by The Black Country Society.

Details:
 

Ernest Bennett was born on 28th July 1881.  

He was the son of Edward and Priscilla Bennett of 27a Brook Street, Stourbridge and  was sent to Old Swinford Hospital in 1891.

In 1895 he was apprenticed to Mr Lavender, a tailor of Stourbridge. 

He enlisted in January 1915 and joined the Worcesters.  He was posted to the 4th Battalion which saw action in the 29th Division at Gallipoli in 1915, then on the Somme in 1916 and at Passchendaele and Cambrai in 1917.  

In the second of their Spring offensives, in 1918, the German forces attacked near Armentieres on the 9th April. In several hard days fighting the Worcesters suffered heavy casualties including Private Ernest Bennett, who was killed by a shell on the 17th April.  He was 36 years of age.

His younger brother, Private Fred Bennett, was killed in action in France on 10th August 1916.

Ernest Bennett has no known grave.

 

 

 

 

 

82 Brook Street

GOULD Philip

Rank : Private
Regiment : 3rd Battalion Worcestershire Regiment
Service number : 9714
Conflict : WW1
Date of death : 20th February 1918 aged 39
Buried : Stourbridge Cemetery, Worcestershire, England, Grave D. 763.
Birthplace : Old Swinford, Stourbridge
Relatives : Son of James Gould; husband of Phoebe Gould, 82 Brook St., Stourbridge
Memorial : Stourbridge War Memorial
Also appears on : Stourbridge St Thomas's Church.
Credits : Researched by The Black Country Society. Service records researched and transcribed by Sandra Taylor.

Details: 

Philip Gould lived with his wife Phoebe at Brook Street, Stourbridge, and enlisted in the Worcestershire Regiment for 1 years service on 4th November 1914 at Worcester.  On his attestation paper he gave his place of birth as Oldswinford, Stourbridge, Worcestershire, his age as 35 years 330 days and his occupation as a Coach Painter.  He had previously served in the 1st Volunteer Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment.  Philip was 5 feet 3½ inches tall with a fair complexion, blue eyes and light brown hair.  He remained on home service until 18th December 1914, joining the expeditionary force in France on 19th December 1914.  Philip was wounded in action with a gunshot wound to his right arm on 20th March 1915 and after treatment in France he returned to England on 24th March 1915.  He was discharged from the army as no longer physically fit for war service on 26th August 1915 and he was granted an army pension to support himself, his wife and the couple’s six children.  

On 12th December 1916 he was awarded a Silver War Badge.

He died suddenly on 20th February 1918.

 

 

 

 

 

13 Brook Street 

CLIFF Henry James

Rank : Corporal
Regiment : 8th Canadian Railway Troops
Service number : 258917
Conflict : WW1
Date of death : 5th June 1917 aged 28
Buried : Underhill Farm Cemetery, Grave No A.8.
Relatives : Eldest son of Emma Cliff, 13 Brook Street, Stourbridge, Worcestershire and the late Albert Stephens Cliff
Memorial : Stourbridge War Memorial
Also appears on : Stourbridge King Edward VI Grammar School WW1 Memorial.
Credits : Researched by The Black Country Society. School records courtesy of King Edward VI school archives, researched and transcribed by Sandra Taylor. Canadian Service Records researched and transcribed by Sandra Taylor.

Details:
 

Henry Cliff attended Stourbridge Grammar School from 1901 to 1904,his father is recorded as Albert Stephens Cliff, a Tailor’s Cutter. Henry had previously been educated at Wollaston Road School. He left King Edward VI Grammar School on 19th December 1904.  

He emigrated to Canada in 1909 and, when war came, he was living at Calgary.  He volunteered for service with the Canadian Expeditionary Force and served with the 8th Canadian Railway Troops.

Henry was described as: 5 feet 5½ inches tall with a fair complexion, blue eyes and brown hair.

In 1917 the Canadians were on the front line south of Ypres. Sergeant Henry Cliff was killed on the 5th June near Ploegsteert Wood.