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MEMORIES AND INFORMATION - STAFFORDSHIRE HOME GUARD  34th STAFFORDSHIRE (BILSTON) BATTN. THE COSELEY HOME GUARD

Associated pages in this Bilston section of the website:
General Battn. Info. - Maj. H.G. George - 1943 Battn. Parade/Review - 1944 Battn. Display - The Coseley Home Guard (this page)

Bilston and adloining areas were defended by the 34th Staffordshire (Bilston) Battalion and the latter comprised several Companies which in turn contained various factory units, including Sankey's, John Thompson, Cannon and Stewarts & Lloyds. Amongst these units was one responsible for all or part of the Coseley area, probably of Company strength; and within it was a unit comprising employees of the Cannon factory which was charged with responsibility for all aspects of the firm's defence. All these men can be described as serving within "The Coseley Home Guard".

Both the Cannon unit and the overall Company of which the former was a part had sports pavilions as their HQ.  The Company HQ was in the Coseley Cricket Club Pavilion, located adjacent to Christ Church; and the Cannon HQ was the Cannon Sports Pavilion, an impressive building with function, billiards and snooker rooms and forming part of a complex with tennis courts and bowling green. The two buildings were within half a mile of each other and the Cannon pavilion, near to Gough Road, became a Sons of Rest premises when the factory closed.

Amongst the many men who served within the Coseley Home Guard, the following have so far been identified:

A FEW OF THE MEN OF THE COSELEY HOME GUARD (See also the Main Bilston Page) Joe Baugh Ernest Bennett   (Cannon, worked in the foundry for 25 years from 1935, later licensee of Stag's Head, Penn Common; below in 1941) Jack Bennett Billy Bradbury (on parade, 1943) William (Bill) Briscoe  (lived at 7 Norton Crescent) Victor Bunce   (late Royal Engineers in Great War, moulder at Cannon) Bill Clark Sam Clift (1941) Alan Cooke Harry Cross (on parade, 1943) Jim Gibbons See below

Leonard Fieldhouse (Cannon, seen below in 1950) Jack Gill Sam Green - Groucutt Tom Gwinnett Bernard Higgins   (Norton Crescent, Coseley) James (Bill) Jackson   (Northbank Street, Coseley; see image below, James centre, with two serving brothers, Leonard/Len left and Thomas/Cyril right) Ernie Jones Daniel Keay (May have been Quartermaster Sergeant. Remembered for propping up his rifle and golf clubs together, by the front door). Pte. Harold Leonard Lane (Apparently a Coseley man but a member of the 35th Sedgley Battn. Died in a training accident - see below) Dennis Martin Sgt. Samuel Joseph (Sammy) Meldon (Lived at 19 Havacre Lane, Coseley; a survivor of the Great War; gave long HG service; died 1965 at 637 Birmingham New Road, Roseville. See below) Len Millard (1919-1987, famous footballer, later captain of West Bromwich Albion, worked on Bailey Bridge manufacture during WW2, possibly at Thompsons)

Capt. A. F. Oatley (C.O. of Cannon unit) 2/Lt. Fred A. Pardoe (previously Sgt., seen here on parade, 1943) - Potts Alfred George Phillips (b. 1899, served in Great War, P.O.W., lived in Chapel or Ward Street, worked at Stewarts & Lloyds, loyal supporter of Roseville Remembrance Day parades). William Robinson   (Cross Street/Norton Crescent, Coseley; below, William in the Great War) Lt. Arthur Smart (on parade, 1943) Lt. Arthur Edward Turner M.M. Jim Turner Bert Wassell, Frank Willis

The following image is of the Cannon unit taken outside the works sports pavilion and it almost certainly shows most or all of the entire complement. It is dated June 1941 and is likely to be associated with a formal parade, probably to mark the first anniversary of the establishment of the service in 1940.

(Click on the image to view a higher definition version)  

Identifications so far made are:
Front row
5th from left - Joe Baugh; 8th - Arthur Smart; 9th - A.F. Oatley; 10th - Harry Cross;
14th - Ernie Jones; 15th - Bill Clark
2nd row from front 
5th from left - Sam Clift; 12th from left - Leonard Fieldhouse    
3rd row from front
extreme left - Fred Pardoe; 4th from left - Jim Turner; 5th (with knapsack) - Tom Gwinett;
 3rd from right - Bill Bradley
4th row from front
nobody identified
Back row
3rd from left - Ernest Bennett

This image confirms that, at the time, 1941, A.F. Oatley was in command, supported by two fellow officers, Arthur Smart and Harry Cross.

The above image of the Cannon unit raises an interesting mystery.  There survive two versions of this photograph. In addition to the one above, there is a second, at first sight identical version (below)  - the men are in exactly the same positions and the clock shows the same time. But an extra man has appeared, peering over a shoulder in the last but one row. We know who he is: Pte. Wassell. But why in one image, rather than both? Perhaps he was held up and only joined the group after the first photograph had been taken; and the photographer was asked to have a second go. But it is strange that both versions have  survived into the 21st century. Here is the second image (regrettably no high definition copy has so far surfaced) with Pte. Wassell now in the middle of the back row but one:

 

There also survives an image of the Coseley Company (right, perhaps including some of the Cannon men) assembled outside the Cricket Club Pavilion on an unknown date. Regrettably the version available to staffshomeguard is of very low definition and identification of individual men is difficult.
 

  

Sections of the Coseley units were photographed parading through Bilston High Street in 1943: Arthur Smart, Transport Manager at the Cannon, leads a Cannon unit with Harry Cross immediately behind him.  (Click on the image to view a higher definition version)   And a further image:  Sgt. (later 2/Lt.) Fred Pardoe, carrying his Sten gun, is leading a column of Cannon men. The tall man in the front rank of the squad is Bernard Higgins, with, to his right, Billy Bradley. (Click on the image to view a higher definition version)   Just seconds later this section is passing the camera and is photographed again: (Click on the image to view a higher definition version)   Further photographs of this parade (and many of the faces in the crowd) can be seen here.

And finally the story of three Coseley men:

JAMES A. GIBBONS Jim Gibbons's grandson writes: My Grandad, Jim Gibbons, served in the Home Guard as he was a reserved occupation, being a patternmaker by trade. Based in the Black Country he was kept pretty busy although he once said the nearest he came to seeing action was when an irate Yank chased him off after being disturbed in the bushes with a local girl when Grandad was on patrol! His other story was that they went out most night to lay planks across the width of the local canal and then remove them in the morning. After a long time doing this they asked why and were told it was to stop German mini-submarines creeping into Birmingham..... These are the Mustering Instructions for Jim Gibbons and his comrades as and when the call came:   And a more general instruction regarding his Home Guard duties: Jim's service finally received formal acknowledgement almost 80 years later by the award of the Defence Medal (received in early 2022 by his grandson).