Lives of the First World War

Lance Corporal Bernard Robert Lewis, from Shirley (15th Bn) Lance Corporal Bernard Robert Lewis, 15th Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment, is commemorated on Shirley war memorial, although we haven’t been able to discover what his connection is with the area. He was born in Sparkbrook, Birmingham, and was the youngest child (and only son) of the three children of Henry Uriah Lewis, a commercial traveller, and his first wife, Elizabeth Jane. Henry was born in Wells, Somerset and married Elizabeth Jane Wills in Nuneaton in 1881. The couple then moved to Fishponds St Mary, Gloucestershire, where their daughters Winifred Mabel Lewis (1883-1963) and Gertrude Annie Strickland Lewis (1884-1946) were born. Their only son, Bernard Robert, was born in Birmingham in 1885 and, by 1891, the family had moved to Chilvers Coton, near Nuneaton. Bernard’s mother, Elizabeth Jane, died in Chilvers Coton in January 1899, aged 42. With the help of a servant to run the family home, Henry Lewis was still in Nuneaton with his three children in 1901. By 1911, the situation had changed. Henry had remarried and was living in London, whilst his eldest daughter, Winifred, had also married and was living in London. Her younger sister, Gertrude, was working as a nurse at the Queen’s Hospital, Bethnal Green, London. Bernard Robert Lewis was an ironmonger’s assistant and was boarding in Balsall Heath in 1911. Presumably, given his commemoration on the Shirley war memorial, he moved to Shirley sometime between 1911 and 1915. He has no known grave, and is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial. Tracey. Solihull Heritage & Local Studies Librarian

Created by: , Helen29195