HOME GUARD MEMORIES AND INFORMATION - WARWICKSHIRE, BIRMINGHAM
THE WARWICKSHIRE HOME GUARD
COVENTRY and WARWICK BATTALIONS
MECHANISED TROOPS AT KENILWORTH
and
ARTHUR JOHN NORTHWOOD
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www.staffshomeguard.co.uk website.
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The city of
Coventry was defended by nine Home Guard
battalions: the
11th-19th Warwickshire (Coventry) Battalions,
either wholly geographically based units
responsible for a defined neighbourhood; or
ones responsible, wholly or partly, for groups
of factory platoons or companies
throughout the City and nearby areas.
Adjoining some of these battalions was the
1st Warwickshire
(Warwick) Battalion whose territory
included
Kenilworth.
This page provides
images of the assembly at
Kenilworth Castle
of a major Home Guard Mechanised Mobile Unit.
This was almost certainly part of the 1st
Warwickshire but also on this occasion it
appears to have included personnel and
equipment from Coventry Battalions including
the Daimler
and Standard
factory units as well as the Lockheed,
Leamington works platoon. The unit, of
Company strength, may well have been involved
in airfield defence duties. Amongst the
men present was, in all probability, Arthur
John Northwood.
ARTHUR JOHN NORTHWOOD
(seen right in 1940 on his wedding day)
is likely to have been a
member of one of these units although it has
not yet been possible to establish precisely
which.
HIS PRIVATE LIFE
At the outbreak of
war, Arthur Northwood (b. 1915 in
Forden,
Montgomeryshire, now Powys) was living
with his future mother-in-law
Daisy and her second husband,
Maurice Moriarty
at 111 Glencoe
Road, Coventry. Arthur's father seems
to have lived in Shropshire for several
decades from the 1920s. Arthur's occupation is
described in 1939 as Engineer (Gauge and Tool
Maker). Several members of the family into
which Arthur married in 1940 worked at
GEC in
Coventry on telephone equipment. Amongst them
was Maurice Moriarty who was involved
in fire-watching duties at the factory: an
activity which
included the kicking of incendiaries off the roof. It
is likely therefore that Arthur, like
many around him, was a GEC
 employee.
At the time of his marriage in mid-1940 Arthur
seems to have been living at a Leamington
address, 20
Shrubland Street and is described then
as a machine tool maker and setter. Whether
this indicates employment in Leamington,
rather than Coventry, is unknown. But after
the marriage he and his wife lived at
43 Cornelius
Street, Coventry and raised a family
there.
In the post-war
years Arthur returned nearer to his
geographical roots and started an engineering
business bearing his name near
Madeley in
Shropshire. He is seen
(left)
with his wife, Kath, fifteen years after
his Home Guard service, in the mid/late 1950s.
He passed away in 1977.
THE WAR YEARS
Information about
the detail of Arthur's life in the 1940s is fragmentary and
there is no memory of Home Guard service.
It is however a safe assumption that his
occupation was a reserved one and would have
precluded the possibility of call-up into the
armed forces; and that he would have been
eager to offer his services voluntarily to one
of the Civil Defence organisations.
Despite the lack of firm evidence of Home
Guard involvement, in Arthur's widow's effects there survived
three remarkable photographs of a Home Guard
event at
Kenilworth Castle. There is little clue as
to how these are related to Arthur but the
implication is clear: he was a member of one
of these nine battalions, and was very
possibly part of the GEC factory unit. And we
also have one possible identification of
Arthur within one of them.
THE HOME GUARD
PHOTOGRAPHS
Here are the
photographs, below, with one addition. They relate to a single
gathering, almost certainly on a Saturday or
Sunday, which takes place at
Kenilworth Castle
and in the car park of the nearby convenient
hostelry - the
The Queen & Castle in
Castle Hill,
Kenilworth. It appears an
important event. Senior Home Guard officers
are present and are inspecting equipment; and it offers the opportunity not
only for a significant gathering of local
Home Guard
Despatch Riders but for the assembling
of a large number of
Beaverettes,
the nearest the Home Guard ever got to an
officially sanctioned and properly
manufactured armoured car. These vehicles were
manufactured in Coventry by the
Standard Motor
Company. The date of the images is
unknown, but expert opinion, based on weaponry
and other factors, suggests 1942.
Further opinion on
the date, composition and significance of this
gathering would be welcomed. Please use the
FEEDBACK
link at the foot of this page. |
A
GROUP
OF MECHANISED TROOPS
showing Home Guard DRs
and a significant gathering of Beaverettes
in
front of Kenilworth Castle
AN OFFICIAL
INSPECTION OF THE VEHICLES
in the car park of
the Queen & Castle, Castle Hill, Kenilworth
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Standing behind the right-hand
vehicle may possibly be
Col. J. C.
Piggott, M.C., in his distinctive
forage cap. Col. Piggott, as Commander of the
Birmingham Zone, is often to be seen on
occasions such as this when the area is
visited by senior figures.
The pub sign in
the background of this image shows
"The
Clarendon Arms". But the event itself is in
fact taking place in the car park of the
adjacent hostelry, The Queen & Castle, where
this and the further three photographs have
been taken. Both pubs are located opposite
Kenilworth Castle.
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THE DESPATCH RIDERS
at The Queen & Castle
Image source,
to which grateful acknowledgement is made:
"We You
Salute", by Roy Rowberry (formerly No. 8 Platoon, "B"
Coy., 1st Warwickshire (Warwick) Battalion), published
1990.
A FURTHER GROUP
PHOTOGRAPH
showing probably of all the men who helped with this
demonstration
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For those who know Kenilworth, the location of
the above images is shown in this 21st century aerial
view:
Arrow A
denotes direction of view for the vehicle inspection
image
Arrow B
denotes direction of view for the
third and fourth group images
(with grateful
acknowledgement to David Morse and Google Earth)
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Arthur
Northwood almost certainly appears within the
general group photograph.
A man
(left)
closely resembling him stands slightly right
of centre, three rows back, wearing a helmet
and with buttoned up greatcoat over his pack. |
**********.
Acknowledgements:
We make grateful acknowledgement to
Lisa McCracken for providing these images
and information concerning her
grandfather and
for generously permitting their publication in this
website; to David Morse and Will Andrew Ward,
members of the excellent
Remember Britain's Home Guard
Facebook group, for
additional information; to the
late Roy Rowberry; and to
Google Earth
Images,
unless otherwise stated ©
Lisa McCracken 2021
IN
MEMORY OF
The Life and Service
of
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x181- Oct 2021,
revised Nov 21
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