King Edward’s School and the Great War

Herbert Harry Weston Brown, born on 9th June 1890, was admitted to King Edward’s School in January 1904. He lived at 245, Vicarage Road, Kings Heath, and his father was an accountant. There is very little indeed known about Herbert, at School or otherwise, apart from one surviving document, dated 22nd May 1913, which confirms that he was the Second Mate on a “foreign-going ship” in the Merchant Navy.

Herbert enlisted in 1917 as a Corporal in the 1st Birmingham Pals Battalion (14th Royal Warwickshire Regiment), soon gaining a commission as a Second Lieutenant in the Royal Naval Transport Service. He died in hospital abroad on 22nd March 1917.