University of Birmingham Virtual War Memorial

"In Grateful Memory And to The Inspiring Example
Of Her Sons Who Gave
Their Lives In The Great War
1914 - 1918"

Rank: Captain

Regiment: 3rd Bn., South Wales Borderers attd. 14th Bn., Welsh Regiment

Died: Monday 14 May 1917

Age: 35

Cemetery: Ferme-Olivier Cemetery, Ieper, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium

Son of Arthur Chamberlain, J.P., of Birmingham,

Photo courtesy of Douglas Bridgewater

John Chamberlain was probably the most prominent British industrialist to be killed on the Western Front. Born on 22 December 1881, he was the younger son of Arthur Chamberlain JP of Moor Green Hall, Moor Green Lane, Moseley, Birmingham. His father was a younger brother of Joseph Chamberlain and had taken over the business interests of the latter in 1900: he was chairman and a substantial shareholder of Kynoch Ltd of Birmingham, manufacturers of explosives and small arms ammunition. John Chamberlain was educated at Rugby (1895-1899) and read Engineering and Electrical Engineering at Birmingham University, which he entered in the year of its foundation in 1900. He won the 220 yards handicap in the University Sports in 1902, but his principal sport was Rugby, in which he represented his school, his University, Moseley and the Midland Counties.

John came down from the University in 1902, without taking his degree. It is probable that his father felt the need for John’s support in his business activities, as in 1903 John took over the management of Chamberlain & Hookham from his father. “During the following eleven years the very great success of the business was due mainly to the energy and interest which [he] brought into the organization.” His father died in 1913. John took an interest in local affairs, becoming a JP in Birmingham in 1909, though he refused an invitation to stand for the City Council. He became an established family man, having a son and three daughters from his marriage in 1907 with Hilda Poynting, the younger daughter of J F Poynting, Professor of Physics at Birmingham University. They lived at Beechcroft, Westbourne Road, Edgbaston, where their neighbours included Neville Chamberlain and Sir Oliver Lodge, then Chancellor of the University.

On the outbreak of war, John Chamberlain, in addition to his role at Chamberlain & Hookham, was also a director of Thomas Smith Stamping Works, Credenda Conduits, and Tubes (Limited). He was Chairman of the last-named, which was a supplier to the Royal Navy. His important positions in industry would have exempted him from conscription had he waited until it came and had he wished to take advantage of them.

John enlisted in the 6^th Battalion Royal Warwickshire Regiment on 9 September 1914 and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the 3^rd Battalion South Wales Borderers on 6 October 1914. At first, his management skills were put to use in administration, but he asked for and obtained service in France. He was shot in the stomach during the Second Battle of Ypres in April 1915, when attached to the 1^st Battalion Welsh Regiment. He spent some time in hospital in England, during which time he was promoted to Lieutenant. He returned to the front and was promoted Captain on 1 October 1915. He was Acting Staff Captain of the 15^th Battalion Welsh Regiment during the Battle of the Somme in 1916. During his military service he was offered a government post on three occasions. These were likely to have been of some importance, as were the posts held by two of his cousins: during the war Austen Chamberlain became Secretary of State for India and Neville Chamberlain became Director General of National Service.

John refused each offer and took the Senior Officers’ Command School Course at Aldershot in the first two months of 1917. He returned to the front in April as 2 i/c of the 14^th Battalion Welsh Regiment and was in temporary command when he was killed by a stray shell at Boesinghe in the Ypres salient on 14 May 1917. His award of the MC appeared in the London Gazette of 4 June 1917.

On hearing of his death, his brigade commander, Brigadier-General T O Marden, wrote, “he was in every sense a pal of mine…The country can ill afford to lose men like John, who had such independence, brain-power, and keenness”. In his Colonel’s opinion, “he stood out above all others whom I have ever met, as one who knew well what his duty was, and who did it, capably because he was clever, finely because he was a fine clean man, and cheerfully because he was endowed with a clear conscience and a merry wit”. A Major in his Brigade recalled that, just before he was wounded in 1915, he was “standing up behind our trench and throwing bombs as hard as he could. Not only was he boldly exposing himself, but a bomb in those days was an extremely doubtful weapon to handle; and this shows we not merely thought him fearless, but knew that he was” (Memorials of Rugbeians Vol V). John Chamberlain is buried in Grave 2, Row B, Plot 2 in Fermier-Olivier Cemetery, Elverdinghe, Ypres. His obituary appeared in The Times on 19 May 1917 and a memorial service was held in the Church of the Messiah, Birmingham on 8 June 1917.

When probate was granted at Birmingham on 13 August 1917 his estate amounted to the then considerable sum of £114,402.

If you know any more about John Chamberlain and would like to contribute to his memory on these pages, please contact us at: firstworldwar@bham.ac.uk