I'm having some trouble tying up casualties from this raid. BARRA (Birmingham Air Raids Remembrance Association) have the following listed as fatalities but I am struggling to find them under civilian war dead on the CWGC website. Any help tying up loose ends would be most appreciated. J Abraham of 10, Hartington Road, Lozells. Elsie Aidney of 4/32 Johnson Street, Nechells. John Andrews of 10, Ryder Street. Harry Armstrong of 25, Kelvedon Road. Rose Arnold of Bridge Street. Rita Baxter of 3.37 Johnson Street. William Butler of 28, Victoria Street, Smethwick. Ben Highes of 85, Newcombe Road, Handsworth. Stanley Jackson of 76, Sandhurst Avenue, Ward End. Emily Lane of 91, Slade Road, Erdington. Donald White of 179, Kenelm Road, Small Heath. James Yates of 4/70 Ford Street. A request for help has also been placed on the Flypast Forum. Regards, Kevin Mears
Does not seem to be matches in the UK death index either for 3rd quarter 1942, but have found a John Andrews (age 57) and Rosina Arnold (age 68) but may be a coincidence on the name.
Hi Geoff. I found both of those too on FreeBMD. I looked as far forward as end of 1843 and still drew blanks. It's a strange one. I'll keep digging. Thanks. Kevin Mears
Hello Kevin "The original Roll of Honour was taken from the Commonwealth War Graves list and was augmented after many months of intensive research by our Archivist June Eastlake. Her efforts have resulted in a further 76 names being added to the memorial. " http://www.birminghamairraids.co.uk/media/rollOfHonour.pdf I would suggest you contact BARRA for further info have the additional casualties been ratified by CWGC regards Clive
After that it was named in front-page headlines only after `serious' raids - 11th/12th December 1940, 9th-11th April 1941 and 27th-30th July 1942. As the exact date of raids was given in these reports no specific area of the city was named, like the early London policy. (Remember newspapers took about a day longer to produce and gather news than today and how `serious' a raid had been took about a day meanwhile too for the Air Ministry to find out and decide). http://www.goosemoor-lane.com/dnotice.htm
Silly question, Would they be on the CWGC 'list' if their families had collected, say a relative and buried them in the 'local family church' ? - they may have been visiting friends/family, or brought in to work in specific trades from outside the area?? TD Edited to add: What is the situation re the 'list' if they died of injuries in say Aug or Sept 1942??
Deaths should have been registered. Local authorities would report civilian death due to enemy action to CWGC. Could these be casualties rather than Fatalities.? Aidney is not a commen name - there is a death registered for Elsie May Aidney, Birmingham 1988, age 76. Others are too common to trace. Highes, another unusual name, cannot be traced.
It is looking like the suggestion that it was a casualty list as suggested by Geoff501 above has merit. In addition to the two already mentioned these were the only others I could find that may fit: Name: BUTLER, William Registration district: Birmingham County: Warwickshire Year of registration: 1942 Quarter of registration: Oct-Nov-Dec Age at death:80 Volume no: 6D Page no: 199 Name: ARMSTRONG, William H Registration district: Birmingham County: Warwickshire Year of registration: 1942 Quarter of registration: Jul-Aug-Sep Age at death:78 Volume no: 6D Page no: 262 Name: LANE, Emily Registration district: Meriden County: Warwickshire Year of registration: 1942 Quarter of registration: Jul-Aug-Sep Age at death:70 Volume no: 6D Page no: 591 Name: WHITE, John D Registration district: Birmingham County: Warwickshire Year of registration: 1942 Quarter of registration: Jul-Aug-Sep Age at death:8 Volume no: 6D Page no: 91
Following up on Geoff's suggestion, I used ancestry.co.uk and found Elsie May Aidney living at 4 back 37 Johnson Street, Bromford Ward, Erdington in Birmingham Electoral Register for 1939 (living with her husband, George Henry Joseph Aidney). Elsie was born Dodd, and married George in 1937. She appears in a family tree on ancestry: http://trees.ancestry.co.uk/tree/40632042/person/20026582593?ssrc= and this says she died in 1988, so I can confirm Geoff's possible data of death was the same lady. The others have surnames that are too common to easily search on with the possible exception of Ben Highes but ancestry has no trace of him at all and nobody called Highes died anywhere in 1942. I also looked for Rita Baxter because she lived so close to Elsie Aidney but ancestry does not list anyone by this name dying in 1942. I like Geoff's idea that these people could have been injured - that could then make sense of Blutto's finding some of the names dying a few months later. The council should have linked the names and subsequent deaths together when the CWGC list was compiled but you can imagine each council doing this work in a different way, and devoting different resources to the task. I'm sure a few people who died of their injuries a few months later were missed. (CWGC imposed an arbitrary 'end date' for deaths from injuries of - from memory - 31/12/1947.) I'd be interested to know what got you researching this in the first place, Kevin? best wishes Andrew
