In happier times, the new Brownhills Methodist Church is opened in 1971. Image kindly supplied by David Evans.
This post is in answer to the query of 19th Noveber 2013, when Kathy Hodson of Wolverhampton, contacted me on twitter looking for the war memorial from Browhills West Methodist Church. Well, with huge thanks to reader David Evans, we’ve found it.
Brownhills West Methodist Church did indeed stand on Severn Road, Wilkin Estate, Brownhills West. This place of worship was a flat, modern building, opened in 1971 and was demolished around 2009 after suffering vandalism following it’s closure in 2004.
The new church was a replacement for the Rehoboth Chapel, which stood on the Rising Sun Junction, just on the A5 Watling Street. This chapel was demolished when the current large island was built in the 1960s.
The Rehoboth, which the Roll of Honour is thought to have originated from. Image from Memories of Brownhills Past’ by Clarice Mayo and Geoff Harrington.
We suspect the Roll of Honour initially came from the Rehoboth to the new church. When Brownhills West itself closed in 2004, the memorial was transferred to Silver Street Methodist Church in Brownhills, where it hangs to this day, as photographed by David Evans below.
I actually have a lot more material about these two lost places of worship that David has managed to discover, which I’ll cover in a later post; but thanks to him for this – a great bit of detective work from a man without whom this blog would be buggered, frankly.
Cheers, David, and thanks Kathy, for asking such an interesting question.
The roll of honour that hung initially in the Rehoboth, then moved to Brownhills West Methodist Church, now in Silver Street Church, Brownhills. Click for a larger version, in which the names are legible. Image taken and supplied by David Evans.
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Is this a list of the casualties, or does it include all those who left the area to fight for the country?
Ivor, that’s a very good question, to which I have no answer. Can David Evans help with this at all, please?
Cheers
Bob
We think it’s to honour the fallen but if anyone knows otherwise please shout up.
Hi Ivor
I think this is just a roll of those servicemen and women who lost their lives in the Second World War and who came from the local village, I believe
Regards
David
Thanks David for all the work you have done on this and other posts, well done.
Peter
Hi there Ivor,
I cannot give you a definitive answer to that question, as we also have a query about it. Why? well our mother and father are named on this monument, and both lived to almost the end of the 20th century. Dad served with the South Staffs Pioneer Corps and mom in Womens Royal air. they met at Queensferry and of course later married. According to the company diary,Dad was on the beaches at D-day landings, on the 7th/8th onwards unloading supplies. He had earlier come back to this country having tramped back from Belgium and France etc to the evacuation where so many lives were lost.
Thanks, Mike, David, Kathy and Peter to Bob too who maintains a fascinating Blog. The reason I asked the question is because it seems a lot of people considering the size of Brownhills at that time. I can’t remember details from the War Memorial but I have the impression there were not so many names on it. My friends dad was a POW and a relative was married to a guy who served Burma. Some of my friends also lost their father in the conflict I recognise their names on the list. I also remember the men coming back from the Far East Campaign who showed clear signs of their ordeal and sacrifice, I was 6 years old at the time.
Ivor
Hi Ivor
many thanks for your comments and for your initial question. I have sent an extended note to Brownhills Bob which may help to clarify this matter.If you zoom in to the image you may find the answer for yourself.
kind regards
David
Hi Bob
The “Roll of Honour ” plaque in Norton Canes Methodist Church…second world war, has the inscription “They died that we might live” and bears the names of 29 local servicemen who lost their lives., and also the dates.
Similarly, in Walsall Wood Methodist Church the “Roll of Honour” plaque, second world war, bears the inscription”..who fell in the second world war” and bears the names of 18 local servicemen who lost their lives, and also the dates.
However, the brownhills West “Roll of Honour” seems to be a paper or parchment artefact, and does not bear any inscription to indicate that it lists solely men who died in the conflict. Yet some of the names do have (now) faint lines around them. These names do appear of the cenotaph outside St James Church in Brownhills. So it seems that this Roll of Honour lists those who went to war…and is perhaps a very unusual, and emotive document.
In 1920 a series of red covered “Roll of Honour” books was published nationally. These contain names, military histories etc and comprise entries submitted (by subscription )by servicemen or their families..and the contents were not vetted. Recently ancestry has published a reference to these books with the warning..that whilst they are a useful guide, they are neither comprehensive, some entries may not be accurate..and in two cases that I cross-checked. locally ..but not Brownhills….are simple fiction.
I hope this helps. I do wonder, though, if the Brownhills West Roll of Honour includes the names of the Bevin Boys, conscripted to service..as coal miners..and who not demobbed until 1947, I understand.
Sorry for the lengthy note, Bob, but I think the subject is an important one to clarify
kind regards
David
HI Bob
Brownhills urban District Council Minutes;-
meeting held in committee,13th March 1957
minute914. Walsall Wood Parish. Proposed War memorial.
The Clerk submitted a letter from the Hon Sec of a Committee formed to consider the provision of a War memorial for the Parish of Walsall Wood to commemorate those who lost their lives in the second World War and asking that the Council appoint two representatives, It was decided that Mr Fereday and Dr Roberts shall be the Council’s representatives”
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