ENVILLE STREET

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21 Enville Street

CLASPER, Joseph

Rank : Private
Regiment : 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards
Service number : 25906
Conflict : WW1
Date of death : 5th April 1918
Buried : Commemorated on Arras Memorial, France, Bay 1.
Memorial : Stourbridge War Memorial
Also appears on : Stourbridge St Thomas's Church.
Credits : Researched by The Black Country Society. Cathedral Roll of honour books researched by Sandra Taylor.

Details:

Appears in the Worcester/Worcestershire Roll of Honour Book for army casualties located in Worcester Cathedral.

Joseph Clasper lived at 21 Enville Street, Stourbridge, and was the third son of Richard and Sophia Clasper to die in the Great War.  He had been an office boy for the County Express for a year and then worked at Weaver’s Garage.  He was 6′ 2″ and enlisted in the Grenadier Guards in 1914.  He joined the 1st Battalion which went to France in December 1914.  Over the next three years he was wounded three times, once so seriously that he convalesced in Britain for 9 months.  In May 1918 the Guards Division was involved in halting the German offensive in Artois.  It was a costly period and Guardsman Joseph Clasper was killed during an artillery barrage.  He was 20 years of age.

Joseph Clasper has no known grave, the photograph available shows his name on Arras Memorial.

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24 Enville Street

CLASPER, John

Rank : Private
Regiment : 2nd Battalion Coldstream Guards
Service number : 16162
Conflict : WW1
Date of death : 1st December 1917
Buried : Commemorated on Cambrai Memorial, Louverval, France, Panel 2.
Memorial : Stourbridge War Memorial
Credits : Researched by The Black Country Society. Cathedral Roll of honour books researched by Sandra Taylor.

Details:

Appears in the Worcester/Worcestershire Roll of Honour Book for army casualties located in Worcester Cathedral.

John Clasper lived at 24 Enville Street, Stourbridge, and was the second son of Richard and Sophia Clasper to die in the Great War. He attended the Enville St. Council School and later joined the Birmingham City police. When war came, he enlisted in the Coldstream Guards. He was sent to the 2nd Battalion in the Guards Division which had fought at Loos in 1915, the Somme in 1916 and the Third Battle of Ypres in 1917. They fought again at Cambrai and were in the front line on the 24th November. Private John Clasper was killed on the 1st December after repelling the German counter-attack to recapture Gouzeaucourt Wood. A letter from his Captain said, “It was sheer bad luck that he was killed. He had come through one of the hottest attacks that ever this Guards Brigade has ever done, and then the following day a shell pitched right into the trench they had dug, and killed him and two of his friends. He was one of the best men I had.” He is also commemorated on the St. Thomas’s church and the former Enville St. School memorials.

John Clasper has no known grave, the photograph available shows his name on Cambrai Memorial.

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21 Enville Street

CLASPER, Edward

Rank : Private
Regiment : 9th Battalion Worcestershire Regiment
Service number : 23166
Conflict : WW1
Date of death : 5th May 1917
Buried : Commemorated on Basra Memorial, Iraq, Panel 18 and 63.
Birthplace : Amblecote, Worcestershire, resident Stourbridge, Worcestershire, enlisted Worcester
Memorial : Stourbridge St John's School now in Stourbridge St John's Church
Also appears on : Stourbridge War Memorial. Stourbridge St Thomas's Church.
Credits : Researched by The Black Country Society.

Details:

Edward Clasper lived at 21 Enville Street, Stourbridge, and was the first son of Richard and Sophia Clasper to die in the Great War.  He was a married man with four children and had worked as a retort builder for Messrs. E.J. and J. Pearson at the Delph.  He enlisted on the 30th June 1915 and joined the 9th (Service) Battalion of the Worcesters.  This battalion was sent to Gallipoli in July 1915 and landed at Suvla Bay on the 6th August.  It moved to Mesopotamia in 1916 in another attempt to defeat the Turkish forces and Edward Clasper joined them in June 1916.  In the hot summer there was little action, but a major attack was planned to advance up the Tigris and take Kut, where a small British force had been obliged to surrender in April.  The attack on Kut took place on the 25th January 1917, but there were heavy casualties.  Edward Clasper was taken prisoner and sent back to Raselin in Turkey.  Here he died on the 5th May of typhoid fever.  Private Edward Clasper was 38 years of age.  He is remembered on  his parents’ grave in Amblecote churchyard.

 

28 Enville Street

WYRE, ALBERT

Private

WYRE, ALBERT

Service Number 24484

 

Died 08/01/1918

Aged 28

 

7th Bn.

Queen's Own (Royal West Kent Regiment)

 

Son of Thomas A. and Eliza Wyre, of 28, Enville St., Stourbridge, Worcs.

 

 

 

 

55 Enville Street

HALL Sidney Thomas

Rank : Able Seaman
Regiment : H.M.S. Queen Mary Royal Navy
Service number : J6694
Conflict : WW1
Date of death : 31st May 1916 aged 22
Place of death : Battle of Jutland, North Sea
Buried : Commemorated on Portsmouth Naval Memorial, Hampshire, England, Panel 13.
Relatives : Son of George and Rosanna Hall, 55 Enville St., Stourbridge, Worcestershire
Memorial : Stourbridge War Memorial
Credits : Researched by The Black Country Society. Additional Queen Mary information researched and transcribed by Sandra Taylor.

Details:
 

Sidney Hall was born on the 6th November 1893, the son of Mr and Mrs George Hall of 2 Cecil Street, Stourbridge, and he attended Wollaston School and the Wesleyan Sunday School at Gig Mill. Before 1914 he lived at 55 Enville Street.

He enlisted in the Royal Navy as Boy 2nd Class on 7th January 1910 rising to Boy 1st Class on 29th June 1910. On his 18th birthday he enlisted as an Ordinary Seaman for 12 years’ service and was promoted to Able Seaman on 3rd December 1912.

Sidney joined HMS Queen Mary on the 4th September 1913; he was killed in action on 31st May 1916 during the Battle of Jutland.

During this battle HMS Queen Mary was hit and blew up with a loss of 1,266 men.

There were only 9 survivors and the loss of the Queen Mary was the greatest single British naval loss of the First World War.

Sidney Hall has no known grave.

 

 

71 Enville Street 

LEE Frederick Thomas

Rank : Driver
Regiment : 208th Horse Transport Company Army Service Corps
Service number : T3036220
Conflict : WW1
Date of death : 6th November 1918 aged 22
Buried : Struma Military Cemetery, Greece, Grave II. A. 13.
Relatives : Son of Thomas and Eliza Ann Lee, 71 Enville St., Stourbridge, Worcestershire
Memorial : Stourbridge War Memorial
Also appears on : Wollaston St James's Church. Stourbridge St Thomas's Church.
Credits : Researched by The Black Country Society. Cathedral Roll of honour books researched by Sandra Taylor.

Details:
 

Frederick Lee was born in Wollaston in October 1896.

His father, Thomas, was an edge tool maker and by 1914 the family were living at 38 Enville Street, Stourbridge. He attended Wollaston School from 1904 to 1910 and was employed before the war as a fitter at the gas works. 

Frederick volunteered on the 6th December 1914, and had seen nearly four years’ service. He served as a driver in the Army Service Corps and was sent to Salonika in the Balkan theatre, where he joined the 208th Horse Transport Company.

Military action against Bulgaria had ceased by November 1918 but he caught pneumonia and was sent to a military hospital.

Driver Frederick Lee died on the 8th November, five days before the Armistice with Germany.

His younger brother Bert, who served in the West Surreys died six weeks earlier.

 

 

71 Enville Street   

LEE Bert

Rank : Lance Corporal
Regiment : 6th Battalion The Queen's (Royal West Surrey Regiment)
Service number : 67388
Conflict : WW1
Date of death : 22nd September 1918 aged 19
Buried : Doingt Communal Cemetery Extension, France, Grave I. B. 45.
Relatives : Son of Thomas and Eliza Ann Lee, 71 Enville St., Stourbridge
Memorial : Stourbridge War Memorial
Also appears on : Wollaston St James's Church.
Credits : Researched by The Black Country Society. Cathedral roll of honour books researched by Sandra Taylor.

Details:

Bert Lee was born in Wollaston in June 1899. His father, Thomas, was an edge tool maker and by 1914 the family were living at 38 Enville Street, Stourbridge. Bert attended Wollaston School from 1908 to 1913 and left to become a moulder. He was apprenticed to Messrs. Baker of Hagley Road and had also worked in the Rowley granite quarry. 

Bert Lee enlisted in August 1917 and went to France on the 2nd April 1918 with the 6th Battalion of the West Surreys in the 12th Division. He joined a battalion in need of reinforcement after it had suffered heavily in the first German Spring offensive.

After re-training they moved to the Somme for the Advance to Victory and from August fought across the old 1916 battlefield. On 18th September they were engaged in a frontal attack on the German lines at Epehy. Resistance was strong, but the attack was successful. Lance Corporal Herbert Lee, however, was wounded in the attack and died of wounds on 22nd September.

His brother Frederick, who was a driver in the Army Service Corps., died six weeks later.

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127 Enville Street 

BROOKS Richard

Rank : Private
Regiment : 4th Battalion Worcestershire Regiment
Service number : 19049
Conflict : WW1
Date of death : 4th June 1916 aged 25
Buried : Stourbridge Cemetery, Worcestershire, England, Grave O. 122.
Relatives : Husband of Florence Ogle (formerly Brooks), 127 Enville St., Stourbridge
Memorial : Stourbridge War Memorial
Credits : Researched by The Black Country Society.

Details:
 

Richard Brooks was the son of Mr Brooks of 65 Enville Street, Stourbridge, and he attended Enville St. Council School.

Before 1914 he was employed at Foster’s Ironworks and he was married to Florence with three children.

He volunteered, probably in 1914, and enlisted in the Worcesters. He went to Gallipoli with the 4th Battalion where he was wounded in the temple. Richard returned to Britain and was discharged from the army.

However, his injuries remained and he died in the Corbett Hospital on the 4th June 1916. He was 25 years of age and was buried with full military honours in Stourbridge Cemetery.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

103 Enville Street          

KIMBERLEY Charles Edward

Rank : Driver
Regiment : B Battery 150th Army Brigade Royal Field Artillery
Service number : 124826
Conflict : WW1
Date of death : 19th October 1917
Buried : Canada Farm Cemetery, Belgium, Grave III. D. 45.
Relatives : Son of Mr and Mrs John Kimberley, 103 Enville St., Stourbridge
Memorial : Stourbridge War Memorial
Also appears on : Stourbridge St Thomas's Church.
Credits : Researched by The Black Country Society. Cathedral roll of honour books researched by Sandra Taylor.

Details:
 

Charles Kimberley was the second son of John Kimberley of 53 Enville Street, Stourbridge.  He worked as a baker and confectioner for Ernest Cook of Worcester Street.

He enlisted in the Royal Field Artillery as a driver and was sent to B Battery of 150th Brigade.  They were attached to the 30th Division which came into the front line for the Third Battle of Ypres.  

Driver Charles Kimberley was wounded, probably near Poelcapelle, and taken to a Casualty Clearing Station.  He died of wounds on the 19th October.  He was 28 years of age.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

31 Enville Street

MILLWARD John William

Rank : Private
Regiment : 9th Battalion Worcestershire Regiment
Service number : 20649
Conflict : WW1
Date of death : 25th January 1917 aged 24
Buried : Amara War Cemetery, Iraq, Grave XIX. E. 17.
Birthplace : Ravensitch, Amblecote
Relatives : Son of Mr and Mrs W. Millward, 31 Enville St., Stourbridge, Worcestershire
Memorial : Stourbridge War Memorial
Also appears on : Lye and Wollescote War Memorial as William Millward. Lye Christ Church Window as William Millward.
Credits : Researched by The Black Country Society.

Details:
 

John Millward volunteered for the Worcesters and joined the 9th (Service) Battalion along with many Stourbridge men.  

After training, the battalion joined the 13th Division and were sent in July 1915 to the Dardanelles.

Their experiences on the Gallipoli peninsula were both costly and frustrating and they were evacuated in December.  They did not return to Britain, however, but were to continue the struggle against the Turks in Mesopotamia and, notably, to rescue General Townsend’s force besieged at Kut.  They arrived in February 1916 and attempted a relief in April.  It failed and Townsend’s force went into captivity.  

The next advance was left until cooler weather, and the crucial attack on Kut was made by the Worcesters on the 25th January 1916.  Kut fell the next day but 107 men had been killed.  Six of these were Stourbridge men, including Private John Millward. 

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86 Enville Street   

Poole, Charles

Private

POOLE, CHARLES

Service Number 18095

 

Died 23/05/1916

Aged 36

 

7th Coy.

Machine Gun Corps

 

Son of Benjamin and Elizabeth Poole, of Stourbridge; husband of E. J. Poole, of 86, Enville St., Stourbridge, Worcestershire.

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The Hemplands, off Enville Street

MURRAY, Harry

Rank : Lance Corporal
Regiment : 3rd Battalion Worcestershire Regiment
Service number : 20822
Conflict : WW1
Date of death : 28th April 1916
Buried : Commemorated on Arras Memorial, France, Bay 6.
Memorial : Stourbridge Our Lady and All Saints Roman Catholic Church
Also appears on : Stourbridge War Memorial
Credits : Transcribed and researched by The Black Country Society.

Details:

Additional information on the memorial: 3rd Wor’strs 26 Apl. 1916

Harry Murray lived at The Hemplands, Stourbridge. He volunteered in 1914 for the Worcesters and was posted to the 4th Battalion on Gallipoli in September 1915. This battalion endured some of the worst conditions in the Autumn of 1915 and Harry Murray was seriously affected by dysentery after serving only 19 days. He was sent back to Britain to recover, convalesced in Wales and was then posted to the 3rd battalion. In April 1916 they moved to Vimy Ridge, which had been in French hands to that point. The British line was half way up the slope, which had already been honey-combed by tunnels. It was unusual fighting terrain. Each trench seemed to lead to a crater, and the two front lines, which were quite close, weaved between. There was little patrolling of no man’s land, but frequent bombings as small groups of men tried to fight their way up a short stretch of trench. The battalion entered the front line trenches for the first time on 26th April and immediately a small party occupied a post on the lip of Broadmarsh Crater. Two days later the Germans responded by blowing one of their biggest mines to date under the left flank of the Worcesters’ line. At the same time they attacked in force and overwhelmed the party on the crater. There was much dogged resistance, but the number of fourteen men missing believed killed probably represented those at the edge of the crater. They included Lance Corporal Harry Murray.

Harry Murray has no known grave, the photograph available shows his name on the Arras Memorial.

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12 The Hemplands, off Enville Street

BEAVON, John

Rank : Private
Regiment : 9th Battalion Worcestershire Regiment
Service number : 27000
Conflict : WW1
Date of death : 25th January 1917 aged 21
Buried : Amara War Cemetery, Iraq, Grave XXVII. C. 1.
Relatives : Son of Mr. and Mrs. James Beavon, of Hemplands Rd., Stourbridge, Worcestershire
Memorial : Stourbridge War Memorial
Also appears on : Stourbridge Our Lady and All Saints Roman Catholic Church with the additional information: 9th Wor'strs 25 Jan. 1917
Credits : Researched by The Black Country Society.

Details:

John Beavon lived at 12 Hemplands Road, Stourbridge, and was a member of the Roman Catholic Church in Stourbridge.  He volunteered for the Worcesters and was sent to the 9th (Service) Battalion along with many Stourbridge men.  After their training the new battalion joined the 13th Division and was ordered to Gallipoli – a far cry from Stourbridge. They went to reinforce the troops who had landed in April 1915 but who had not been able to breach the Turkish defences.  The Worcesters’ experiences on the Gallipoli peninsula were frustrating and unpleasant and the whole force was evacuated in December 1915. They did not return to Britain, however, but continued the struggle against the Turks in Mesopotamia (Iraq) and, of pressing urgency, attempted to rescue General Townsend’s small force besieged at Kut on the Tigris.  The relief force failed and Townsend’s men went into captivity.  The next advance was left until cooler weather and the crucial attack on Kut was made by the Worcesters on the 25th January 1916.  Kut fell the next day but 107 men had been killed, including six Stourbridge men one of whom was Private John Beavon.

 

 

63 Enville Street

WALSH, James

Rank : Private
Regiment : 1st Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment
Service number : 16589
Conflict : WW1
Date of death : Killed in action aged 25 on 10th May 1916
Buried : Bronfay Farm Military Cemetery, Bray-sur-Somme, France, Grave I. B. 10.
Birthplace : Born and resident Stourbridge, Worcestershire, enlisted Bradford, Yorkshire
Memorial : Stourbridge War Memorial
Also appears on : Stourbridge Our Lady and All Saints Roman Catholic Church as James J. Welsh with the additional information: 1st S. Staffs. 10 May 1916. Stourbridge War Memorial as J. Walsh and J.J. Welsh.
Credits : Transcribed and researched by The Black Country Society. Cathedral roll of honour books researched by Sandra Taylor.

Details:

Appears in the Worcester/Worcestershire Roll of Honour Book for army casualties located in Worcester Cathedral with the details: The South Staffordshire Regiment.

James Walsh was the son of Mr E. Walsh of Queen Street, Stourbridge. He lived at 63 Enville Street where he was a store keeper/owner. He was a member of the Methodist church and volunteered in December 1914. He joined the South Staffords and was posted to the 1st Battalion in the 7th Division. This battalion suffered heavily at Loos in September and remained in Artois and in February 1916 moved to the quiet Somme area. There was, however, a great deal of enemy shelling with increased effectiveness in May. Private James Walsh was killed in action on the 18th May. He is also commemorated on the Stourbridge St. Thomas’s church memorial.

 

 

45 Enville Street  

THOMAS, Percy Victor

Rank : Private
Regiment : 6th Battalion Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry
Service number : 16908
Conflict : WW1
Date of death : Killed in action aged 20 on 17th September 1917
Buried : Ypres Reservoir Cemetery, Belgium, Grave XI. C. 29.
Birthplace : Born and resident Stourbridge, Worcestershire, enlisted Birmingham
Relatives : Son of Elijah and Elizabeth Thomas, 45 Enville St., Stourbridge
Memorial : Stourbridge War Memorial
Credits : Researched by The Black Country Society. Birth registration and Cathedral Roll of Honour Books researched by Sandra Taylor.

Details:
 

Percy Thomas lived at 45 Enville Street, Stourbridge, with his parents Elijah and Elizabeth and he attended the Enville St. Council School.  

He enlisted in the Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry and was sent to the 6th Battalion in the 14th Division.  In 1916 the battalion was involved in the fighting at Delville Wood on the Somme, and in 1917 they were engaged in the Battles of Arras and Ypres.  In August they arrived in Flanders and took part in the Battle of Langemarck.  They remained near the front line in September and at some point Private Percy Thomas was wounded.  

He was taken to a Field Ambulance in Ypres where he died of wounds.