MEMORIES AND INFORMATION - STAFFS HOME GUARD

22nd STAFFS (WOLVERHAMPTON) BATTN.

 GROUP IMAGES
(Magnified, High Definition)


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These images are of different groups within the 22nd Staffordshire (Wolverhampton) Battalion which was commanded initially by Lt.-Col. A.F.R. Godfrey who was succeeded by Lt.-Col. W.T.D. Morgan

- Battalion Officers - 1942
- Battalion Officers - 1943/44
- A small group of officers
- "C" Coy.
- probably "C" Coy.
- 8 Platoon, "C" Coy.
- Machine Gun Corps

- HQ Group - 1944
- Unknown Coy. with Battalion Band
- Battalion Band


BATTALION OFFICERS - 1942
at "Ellerslie", Riley Crescent, Penn



Officers' names (above)

Back Row
Lieut. J. Dyson - 2/Lieut. R. Smith - Lieut. F. W. Meakin, M.M. - 2/Lieut. F. Woodman - 2/Lieut. J. Holmes - 2/Lieut. H. Redwood - Lieut. F. H. Baker - Lieut. B. L. McMillan - Lieut. P. S. King - Lieut. W. Davis - Lieut. J. R. C. Brain - Lieut. L. J. Miller

Third Row
Lieut. J. C. Lewis - 2/Lieut. R. F. Mummery - Lieut. P. R. Lowe - 2/Lient. J. D. G. Hodgetts - Lieut. D. Appleby, M.M. - Lieut. B. W. Guest - Lieut. C. Perks - Lieut. A. P. Petrie - Lieut. D. J. Duffy - Lieut. J. A. Lloyd

Second Row
2/Lieut. B. C. Powell, M.M. - Lieut. J. B. Hall - Lieut. S. D. Walker - Capt. W. Stocking - Major A. V.|Russell - Lieut. D. M. Maclaren - Capt. L. B. Paling - Lieut. W. C. May - Capt. T. Pursell - Lieut. F. Arnold - Capt B. Butler

Front Row
Capt. W. S. Wright - Capt B. J. R. Evans - Major J. E. Robinson
- Major C. Hamilton Shaw - Major W. T. D. Morgan - Lt.-Col. A. F. R. Godfrey - Capt. J. Stewart - Major E. P. Peel - Major A. W D. Stackhouse - Capt. J. Greene, D.C.M. - Capt. S. T. Richards

The date of this photograph is 22nd February 1942.

Forty-four officers are shown. This compares with the thirty-eight listed at 1st February 1941; and with the sixty-four in 1943/44 shown below.

BATTALION OFFICERS - 1943/1944
at "Ellerslie", Riley Crescent, Penn

The above group shows 22nd Battalion officers at some time in 1943 or 1944. It may even be an image commemorating the end of the service which would happen in early December 1944.

Most of the officers shown in the 1942 photograph are again present. One notable exception is Lt.-Col. Godfrey, the Battalion Commanding Officer, who by now has been succeeded by Lt.-Col. (formerly Major) W.T.D. Morgan.

Identities of many individual officers can therefore be established by reference to the earlier image. Of those who appear for the first time, almost all will be those commissioned after February 1942. Amongst them is 2/Lt. J.H. Penrose, (standing, extreme left).

It is assumed that all the officers shown are members of the Battalion. In this case the officer strength has grown significantly from earlier days and now stands at sixty-four.


A SMALL GROUP OF OFFICERS


A small group of officers - date, occasion and location all unknown.

From left to right:
Capt. T. Pursell - Major A.W.D. Stackhouse - Capt. J. Stewart - Capt. W. Stocking
(n.b. Capt. Stocking is probably, but not positively, identified)

Note the wings worn by Major Stackhouse denoting Great War RFC/RAF service as a pilot, a distinction shared by another 22nd Battn. officer, Capt. W.S. Wright.

(All ranks as of February 1942)


"C" COMPANY
at "Ellerslie", Riley Crescent, Penn

above, 6th and 7th from left, second row from front:
Sgt. Geoff Hanley - Alf Stockton

probably "C" COMPANY

From left to right, front row:
-?-?-? - Lt. J. Holmes - ? - Capt. T. Pursell - Major A.W.D. Stackhouse - ? - Lt. J.A. Lloyd -?-?-?-?-?

(All ranks as of February 1942)

8 PLATOON, "C" Coy. - December 1941
commanded by Lt. J.A. Lloyd

Back row
Bickerton - Hall - Hunt - Bucknall - Jukes - Skarratt
Middle row
Sowden - Hynes - Palmer - Boswell - Weaver - Green - Meddings - Holt
Front row
Hemmings - Miller - Stokes - Lloyd - Box - Grainger - Griffiths - Okeley

MACHINE GUN CORPS
("attached to 22nd Staffs Battn.")
at "Ellerslie", Riley Crescent, Penn

The officer i/c is Capt. S.T. Richards.

In the absence of specific information about the formation of this group and its date, interpretation of this image depends on experience elsewhere, particularly that of a Kent Battalion - KT54. If the latter's story is typical, this image shows 4 Vickers machine gun sections, each section comprising around
6 other ranks and one Officer/NCO. In that Kent Battalion in January 1942, reorganisation led to this instruction: "The Vickers gun teams will work, train and function as a unit". In Kent, the Vickers weapons were withdrawn in the first half of 1942,  presumably in favour of the regular forces, and were replaced by Browning .300 Heavy Machine guns, Colt Machine guns, .300 Lewis guns and extra B.A.R.s.  If these moves were widely mirrored, the above image may illustrate them - numbers of men, level of equipment and specialisation of the unit within the Battalion implied by the phrase "attached to". And it might suggest a 1941 or early 1942 date.
(Information from Mick Ackrill).



HQ GROUP - 1944


Second main row back, 9th from left
Sgt. Geoff Hanley
Front (seated) row, 5th from left
Harry Hill



UNKNOWN COY. with BATTALION BAND
at "Ellerslie", Riley Crescent, Penn

click on image to return to Jack Higgs page

Second row back of Band members, 2nd from right
Pte. Jack Higgs



BATTALION BAND
at "Ellerslie", Riley Crescent, Penn

click on image to return to Jack Higgs page

Middle row, 6th from left
Pte. Jack Higgs



In Memory of all members of the
22nd Staffordshire (Wolverhampton) Battalion,
Home Guard


FURTHER INFORMATION
Other pages in this website with information about the 22nd Battalion and its members:
2/Lt. John Penrose
Pte. Jack Higgs
Sgt, Geoff Hanley


Further information about the Home Guard in Staffordshire is contained elsewhere in various parts of this website. To view the Staffordshire summary page, please use the Mems-Staffs link below or the site SEARCH function..

And if you can add anything to the history of the Home Guard in the West Midlands, please contact staffshomeguard via the Feedback link.

Images  © staffshomeguard 2016 with exception of:
M/c Gun Corps image
HQ Group image © Robert Hanley 2016
Band images © Philip Higgs 2016


Grateful acknowledgement:
To John Green for having brought most of these 22nd Battalion images to the attention of staffshomeguard; to Bev Parker and his Wolverhampton History and Heritage Website  for the Machine Gun Corps image; to Mick Ackrill for information and opinion on Machine Gun section make-up; to "SomersetDave" (Rootschat) for identification of members of 8 Platoon in which his father, Mr.
Sowden, was a member;
to Robert Hanley for information concerning his father and the HQ Group image; and to Philip Higgs for information about his father and the Battalion Band..

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MEMS. - STAFFS.

x131 - February 2016, revised October 2016