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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 Wright lived at 66 Hill Street, Netherton, and volunteered for the Worcester Territorials. He had probably served before 1914 and joined the 1/7th Battalion. They went to the Western Front in March 1915 and occupied the Somme trenches which were quiet at that time. The Worcesters fought on the Somme from July 1916 with vigour and success but auffered many casualties in the four months struggle. In the Spring of 1917 they were involved in following up the German retreat to the Hindenburg Line. After the remarkable storming of the 'Mound' at Templeux Guerard early in April the Worcesters went on to attack Guillemont Farm, situated on a spur overlooking the Hindenburg Line. An attack on this key position was undertaken on the 24th April but German resistance was fierce and no territory was gained. The casualties included Sergeant John Wright who was killed in action on the 25th. He is commemorated on the Thiepval, Dudley and Woodside Memorials.
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ST AUGUSTINES CHURCH, Stourbridge Rd, Dudley, West Midlands, England
