Tamworth's Hall of Memory was opened by the future King George VI on 29th May 1924. It contains two large tablets with the names of the 608 people of the area who died in the First World War. On 12th November 2006 I went and took the following two photographs of the names of the four family members who died.
On 27th May 1923 a War Memorial was dedicated within St. Editha's Parish Church in Tamworth. The Tamworth Herald of 2nd June 1923 gives a very detailed report of the dedication service. Twenty tablets of red Hollington stone contain the names of 265 people of the locality who died in the War. The stones were prepared and erected by H Charles Mitchell of Tamworth.
Percival Thomas Weir Stephenson (1887-1917)

Here Percival is with his wife Phyllis (née Spooner) and their son Norman. It looks like the obituary in the Tamworth Herald in December 1917 used a cropped image of this photo.

Tamworth Herald 1st December 1917
Courtesy of the Tamworth Herald

When I started investigating Percival's death, I met an anomaly. He hadn't officially died! Whilst his name appeared on local war memorials and in the Herald, I couldn't find a death certificate and he wasn't mentioned in the Commonwealth War Grave Commission database or the 21 volume Soldiers who died in the Great War. In October 2005 the General Register Office issued him with a death certificate and in 2007, his name was added to the Tyne Cot Memorial.
You can read about what happened in more detail in Issue 34 (February 06) of Your Family Tree magazine as a .pdf file here.

Courtesy of the Tamworth Herald

Courtesy of the Tamworth Herald

Courtesy of the Tamworth Herald

Courtesy of the Tamworth Herald
On the 90th Anniversary of his death, I felt I had to put a small tribute in the Herald:

Courtesy of the Tamworth Herald
Craven Charles Stephenson (1888-1918)

Courtesy of the Tamworth Herald

Unfortunately I don't possess a photo of Charles in uniform. Out of all the Stephenson brothers, his was the only Army Service Record that survived the bombing of the 2nd World War though.
George Brain (1889-1914)

Tamworth Herald 7th November 1914
Courtesy of the Tamworth Herald

Tamworth Herald 14th November 1914
Courtesy of the Tamworth Herald

George's headstone in Glascote cemetry - February 2006
In December 2006 I downloaded his naval service record from The National Archives.
Oliver John Brain (1890-1918)

Tamworth Herald 21st September 1918
Courtesy of the Tamworth Herald
Tamworth Herald 28th September 1918
Courtesy of the Tamworth Herald
The Survivors
During the First World War, approximately one in five British soldiers were killed and three in five were wounded. It touched all of society. How did the survivors feel on returning home I wonder?
Harry Stephenson was a Sapper in the Royal Engineers. Unfortunately, looking through the Medal Index Cards at the National Archives in London, there were four Harry Stephensons who served in the Royal Engineers during the First World War. This photo is dated 15th July 1915. I have the ribbons to his medals, but somehow the metal parts disappeared years ago. He died in 1968.
Edgar Stephenson was a Regimental Quarter Master Serjeant in the South Staffordshire Regiment. He was awarded the Military Medal in 1917. He died in 1984.

