Holroyd Birkett “Royd” Barker

In memoriam

Rank: Lieutenant Regiment: Royal Garrison Artillery, 134th Siege Battery Died: 15th August 1917 Age: 30 years old. Holroyd Birkett Barker known as 'Royd' was born on the 10th October 1886 in Acocks Green, Birmingham. He was the eldest son of Councillor Tom Birkett-Barker, J.P., M.I.M.E., and Marianne Martha Birkett Barker (née Allen) of 'The Croft', Lapworth, Warwickshire. They had married in July 1885. Royd had three younger brothers, Allen Noel, Fred and Greville and a sister Veritie. Their father was an Engineer and a Justice of the Peace. In January 1896 Royd was admitted with a scholarship to King Edward's School where he enjoyed competing in athletics. With a Classical Scholarship, Royd went on to study at Malvern College from 1900 until 1903. After finally completing his education at the Ecole Technique, Brussels, he practised as a solicitor in Birmingham from 1910. However, his real passion was playing golf which he did at Olton Golf Club. The 'Story of Olton Golf Club' records that "Among the many fine players at Olton in the years before WW1, none was more promising than Royd Birkett Barker". He achieved the first hole in one ever recorded at the club in September 1907 and also won the gold medal in the Warwickshire Amateur Championships three times, in 1912, 1913 and 1914. In 1914 he lost the Midland Counties Championship by one stroke, and in the same year competed in the Amateur Championship at Sandwich. In late 1915 Royd volunteered for service and was gazetted as a Second Lieutenant on probation in the Royal Garrison Artillery Special Reserve on the 1st December 1915. On the 20th August 1916 he was sent overseas to Salonika, where his knowledge of languages proved extremely useful. Promoted to Lieutenant, he died a year later on the 15th August 1917 of dysentery and malaria in Kalamaria Military Hospital, Salonika. Royd was buried in Mikra British Cemetery in Greece. Holroyd Birkett Barker is commemorated in many locations back home in England; His name appears on war memorials at Hockley Heath, Lapworth and Olton Golf Club, as well as on the Roll of Honour at King Edward's School and Malvern College. He is also commemorated on the Solicitors and Articled Clerks WW1 Memorial in Holborn, London. In Malvern College's magazine in December 1917 a friend wrote of him: "His character was quite an unusual one, for he was not given to frivolity, but with level-headed and sound intelligence and a cultured mind he united rare amiability with a refreshing sense of humour and great kindness of heart. Thus, he won universal esteem and regard, just as there was so much admiration for his fine sportsmanship. He leaves a record of a finely developed intellectual nature, splendid young manhood and last of all, the noblest sacrifice.'' After the war ended Royd's father presented a shield to Olton Golf Club to commemorate his son's sacrifice. All of Royd's brothers enlisted during WW1. Not all survived. Fred, who had been farming in Manitoba, Canada returned to England. Serving with the Warwickshire Yeomanry, he was invalided home suffering from partial paralysis and neuritis, the after effects of a severe illness. Greville volunteered soon after the outbreak of war and spent six months in the trenches with the 6th Warwicks, before being commissioned in 1916 and transferring to the Royal Flying Corps. He was shot down while flying at the front in April 1917. He was transferred to a London hospital suffering from shock and wounds. On the 12th September 1918, Allen died of wounds at a Casualty Clearing Station in France. He was serving with the 66th Brigade HQ of the Royal Garrison Artillery. Allen was buried in Aubigny Communal Cemetery Extension, France. He was 24 years old. Both Royd and Allen have the same personal inscription on the bottom of their headstones; "Beloved and honoured - far as he was known". This line comes from a verse from 'The Excursion' written by William Wordsworth: All but a scattered few, live out their time, Husbanding that which they possess within, And go to the grave, unthought of. Strongest minds Are often those of whom the noisy world Hears least; else surely this Man had not left His graces unrevealed and unproclaimed. But, as the mind was filled with inward light So not without distinction had he lived, Beloved and honoured - far as he was known. (Sources: CWGC, Ancestry, Find My Past, King Edward's School, Epitaphs of the Great War, Solihull Life, Malvern College,Newspaper Archives, War Memorials Register, British Army Service Records) (Bio: Woose)

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