Polesworth Church Lads Brigade

 

Polesworth. Church Lads Brigade. 1899

Image courtesy of Leslie Searle

 

Polesworth. Church Lads Brigade. 1903

Image courtesy of Leslie Searle

I think you may find these two photos interesting.

They are both of the Polesworth Church Lads Brigade. The first one includes a band, which was probably brought in to mark an auspicious occasion. My guess is that it was the inauguration of the Brigade in (probably) 1899. I had been told decades ago that my grandad Henry Searle formed the brigade, and that it was the last one to be founded in England in the 19th century. I think the building they are standing at the back of is near the Abbey Gateway. Indeed, the Tamworth Herald of 6th October 1928 reported how he organised the Church Lads Brigade together with the late Canon Trotter, and was given the rank of Company-Sergeant-Major.

A previous military career

Henry was born in Devon and joined the army when he was 16 years old, claiming he was 18. He was with the South Staffordshire Regiment for over 31 years (stationed at Whittington Barracks when not abroad), and found this way to retain some form of military life, and is on the left of both photos. He saw service in South Africa during the Boer War, in India and in Egypt. The Regiment was stationed in Lichfield and during his time there he married a Lichfield girl, Hannah Rebecca Genders. My dad Ernest Herbert was the youngest of eight children. Henry was a sidesman at the Parish Church for a number of years, and also a member of the CEMS [Church of England Men’s Society] and the Old Comrades’ Association. He retired from the clerical staff of Messrs. Morris and Shaw, Ltd. in 1916.

When Henry died in 1928 he was buried in Polesworth cemetery with full military honours provided by the South Staffordshire Regiment – although he had left the military thirty years previously.

More relations

The second photo – also taken in the area in front of the Abbey – would have been taken in 1903. I assume this because the lad standing in front of Henry is my dad Ernie and he looks to be two years old. He was born in September 1901.