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MEMORIES AND INFORMATION - STAFFORDSHIRE HOME GUARD

 41st STAFFORDSHIRE (TIPTON) BATTN.
and
Pte. ALBERT E. BARRATT

Pte. Albert Edward Barrett (1916-1965) served in No. 1 Field and "A" Coys. of the 41st Staffordshire (Tipton) Battalion between 1941 and 1943.  He is seen (right) in his Home Guard uniform in 1942, at the age of 26.

Albert Barratt was unmarried and lived at that time at 35 High Street, Princes End, Tipton.

Fragmentary details of his Home Guard service survive and are lodged in the Tipton Library archive. They are reproduced below. 

An order dated 11th May 1942, signed by Maj. A. Naylor, O/C of No. 1 Field Company, directs Pte Barrett (sic) to serve in No. 1 Section of No. 8 Platoon of Maj. Naylor's Company.  This order refers to "compulsory service in the Home Guard" and reflects the situation from early 1942 when conscription into the Home Guard (and other Home Defence services) was introduced. Whether or not Pte. Barratt's service pre-dates that development and started when enlistment - and resignation -  were voluntary decisions by the individual, is unknown although within his family it is thought that it began in 1941. But whether a volunteer or a conscript, he would in 1942 have had little personal choice in any detail of his service. 

The above Order tells us that Battalion HQ was at that time located at Bedford House, Tipton.

Associated with this Order is a summary of the military discipline to which Albert Barratt, in common with every other Home Guard, was subject:

Within Albert's papers are notes he made during trainining, showing a Battle Order for a Platoon in attack.

We do not know the circumstances whereby Albert Barratt's service appears to have ended before 1944. He was definitely involved in a parade to celebrate the Third Anniversary of the establishment of the Home Guard, held at Highfield Estate, adjoining Jubilee Park on Sunday afternoon, 16th May 1943 (a copy of the Public Notice of this event survives within his papers and can be seen on this page of the website); but his name does not appear in the April 1944 reorganisation.  It seems that he had left the Battalion by then: this could have been for a number of reasons such as change in his daytime working patterns, relocation, call-up or even ill-health.

 He did not enjoy a long life span and died in 1965 at the age of 48.  He now lies in Tipton Cemetery. We are grateful that he left us these fragments of his service and that they were further preserved by a family member who eventually donated them to Tipton Library.   

Information and images concerning the
41st STAFFORDSHIRE (TIPTON) BATTN., SOUTH STAFFS HOME GUARD
may be found at these locations within this website


41st Staffordshire (Tipton) Battn. - Summary Page
41st Staffordshire Battn and Pte. Albert E. Barratt (this page)
41st Staffordshire Battn. - Special Orders 1st April 1944

41st Staffordshire Battn - List of Members
41st Staffordshire Battn. - Territory map
41st Staffordshire Battn and L/Cpl. William (Bill) Duncan

and by using the website Search function

********** 

In Memory of

Pte. ALBERT E. BARRATT
and
ALL HIS COMRADES IN
THE TIPTON HOME GUARD

41st Staffordshire (Tipton) Battalion
Home Guard

1940-1944

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Grateful acknowledgement is made to the many sources of the information included on this and associated pages of the Tipton section of this website:
-  J, an anonymous Tipton historian;  Tipton Library (Robert Hazel); The Friends of Tipton Library; Sandwell Archives Service (Ian Gray); Tipton Civic Society (Keith Hodgkins)
; "Home Guard List 1941 Western Command" by Jon Mills (Savannah Publications); "Black Country Bugle";  Tipton in the 50s and 60s Facebook page and its members; and several individuals including Hazel Jones (daughter of Sgt. David Blackford),  David Barratt (nephew of Pte. Albert Barratt); Joan Keeling; Kevin Partridge; and Nicky Stokes (grand-daughter of William Duncan).
- and any original sources of this material whose identity is so far unknown to staffshomeguard.

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MEMS. - STAFFS.

x155B - December 2017