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MEMORIES
AND INFORMATION - STAFFORDSHIRE HOME GUARD
25th STAFFORDSHIRE (BREWOOD) BATTN.
and HERBERT ANDERSON
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Brewood and the surrounding area was defended by
the
25th Staffordshire (Brewood)
Battalion.
This Battalion was commanded
(in 1941) by Lt.-Col. C. Hatton
supported by Majors The Earl of
Bradford, W.R. Hodson and
A.G. Odgers; and 17 other officers -
Allen, Bell, Binckes, Biddle, Bould,
Brookes, Cheshire, Freeman, Gower, Jones, Hawkins,
Pearson, Prior, Thornton, Twigg, Walker and
Wilson.
(Capt. A.H. Cheshire - d. 1982
and pictured left -
was the Dr. Cheshire affectionately remembered by several
generations of Brewood residents. His surgery was in
Sandy Lane, Brewood).
Another member of the local Home Guard was Mr.
Herbert
Anderson. Herbert's grandson, Mike
Buckless (who was himself delivered by Doctor Cheshire at
his parents' home in Mill Lane, Billbrook) relates family memories of his
grandfather, Herbert (pictured in his youth, right).
Herbert Anderson (1908-1989)
lived in Four Ashes
during the war years, later moving to
Oak Road, Brewood. He is
shown (right) in his youth.
Mike remembers being told by
his grandfather that a German plane dropped a bomb into
the River Penk at
Summerford which caused
the tiles to come off Herbert's roof. Mike's mother used
to clean her father's uniform buttons and boots. Herbert
said that there were dugouts in the woods behind
Brewood Grammar School
and these could still be seen many years later. Long after
the war ended Herbert still had part of his kit and also
his rifle - there are memories from the 1960s of the
latter still sitting behind the door at his home at Four
Ashes.
The
Battalion made use of the
Jubilee Hall in Brewood for its activities. That
building had only been opened a few years previously in
order to celebrate the Silver Jubilee of King George V in
1935 and had replaced the old
Angel Hotel.
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Acknowledgement
Grateful
acknowledgement is made to Mr Mike Buckless of Rockingham,
Western Australia, grandson of Herbert Anderson, for
providing much of the information which appears on this
page.
Both he and staffshomeguard would welcome any
further information about the Brewood Home Guard and its
members. If you can help, please use the Feedback link
below or
go to
the
GUESTBOOK page for
Mike's contact details.