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“If you think, have a kindly thought, If you speak, speak generously, Of those who as heroes fought And died to keep you free”
Set up by the Black Country Society. Our aim is to highlight local men who died in the Great War and how they have been commemorated on war memorials. Its scope covers the whole of the present Dudley Municipal Borough and therefore includes the places which have come within its bounds since 1914.
There are over fifty memorials and the number of names exceeds three thousand. Research on the names has been extensive but inevitably errors and omissions occur. We would like to hear about them concentrated on life and work before 1914, involvement in military campaigns and where each man is buried or commemorated.
Harry King is thought to have been the adopted son of Canon Knox Little of Worcester Cathedral but a link with Halesowen is unknown. He was educated at Hoar Cross school and King's School, Worcester. After leaving he took up a post in Argentina with Leopoldina Railway and on the outbreak of war volunteered for the Worcesters. He joined the 11th and was then commissioned to the 3rd Battalion. They were on the Western Front in 1915 when he was seriously injured. He recuperated in Italy and returned to active service with the 3rd Battalion on the Somme in 1916. In the third stage of the Battle of the Somme the battalion was engaged in the fierce attacks on the powerful defences of the Leipzig Salient near the village of Thiepval. A major attack started on the 26th August but losses were very heavy. For this day 2/ Lt King was awarded the Military Cross for his actions in keeping his men going forward and took over as Company Commander, The attack was repeated again on the 30th and resumed on the 3rd September. Losses were extreme and included loss of the battalion commander and two company commanders, one of these being Captain Harry King. Acting Captain Harry King was 25 years of age and is buried in Blighty Valley Cemetery, Authuille Wood (Special Memorial 6) and commemorated on the Halesowen Memorial.
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ST JOHN THE BAPTIST CHURCH, High St, Halesowen, Dudley, West Midlands, England, B63 3BB
