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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.
John Plant was the son of Joseph and Elizabeth Plant of 5 Bishop Street, Kates Hill, Dudley. He joined the Royal Navy and served as a stoker. In 1915 as a Stoker First Class he joined the newly launched HMS Tipperary, a destroyer of the Faulknor class. It was commissioned in 1916 and went to the Grand Fleet at Scapa Flow to lead the 4th Destroyer Flotilla. The Grand Fleet was called into action when the German High Seas fleet attempted to break out into the North Sea. The decisive Battle of Jutland on the 31st July 1916 was largely fought by the force from Rosyth but the destroyers were ordered to cut off the German battleships returning to port in Germany. Tipperary led the 4th Flotilla in a night action and was successful in sinking the Cruiser SMS Frauenlob. However, the defensive fire of the SMS Westfalen damaged the Tipperary and she was sunk. Only 12 of the crew of 197 survived. Stoker First Class John Plant was killed in action on the 1st June 1916 and is commemorated on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial. He was 26 years of age and is also commemorated on the Dudley and St. John's church Kates Hill Memorials.
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Town Hall, Priory Street, Dudley
