The Brierley Hill book of remembrance records the names of those who fell during the second world war and who lived the former Brierley Hill Urban District Council area. I found leafing through the pages and recognising the places where people lived extremely moving.
Mapping the numbers of deaths against dates produces a graph which reminded me of a seismograph: highlighting some of the most awful days and an awful awful war. Two days in particular stand out – 21st March 1918, the start of the Spring Offensive and 13th October 1915. Both of these battles took a terrible toll of life. There is also a tale of a Brierley Hill hero.
An analysis of the 134 individuals identified on the war memorial illustrates the army’s policy of recruiting into locally based regiments. Almost three quarters of these casualties belonged to the South Staffordshire Regiment (41%) and the Worcestershire Regiment (31%).
Unlocking the secrets of Brierley Hill war memorial – a search for the names on Brierley Hill war memorial has revealed the identities of 134 of the 205 names on the monument, including their birth places, date of death, regiment and battalion, and the theatre of war they died in. The post has a downloadable Excel worksheet to help with your own researches.