Samuel Cutler was born on 2nd April 1895, the second son of Henry and Hannah Cutler nee Witherford. It is quite possible that Samuel was related through his mother to George and Leslie Witherford who were also to fall in The Great War. Henry was the son of Samuel and Amelia Cutler, both of Bartley Green and both employed in the traditional Bartley Green trade of nail making. Hannah was the daughter of James and Harriet Witherford who were nail makers living in Jiggins Lane. Their neighbours were the Inston family, the local wheelwrights who were to lose two sons in the Great War. Henry and Hannah were married on 24th December 1886 at St Laurence’s Church in Northfield.   By 1891 Henry and Hannah had three children, Sarah, William and Charles. Charles was to die in infancy in 1892 and is buried in Bartley Green Cemetery. The 1901 census has the family living at “Old Buildings” Bartley Green which were the nailer’s cottages in Adams Hill which stood opposite Bartley Green library. Henry Cutler is listed in both Samuel’s birth certificate and the 1901 census as a nailer. Their next door neighbours were John and Jane Bunford whose daughter, also called Jane, later found fame as the world’s tallest woman, a record she held until 1982. Samuel and Jane were both born in 1895 and were classmates at St Michael’s School. By 1911 Samuel had found employment as a tube drawer’s labourer at the Birmingham Battery in Selly Oak. The Roll of Honour entry for Cutler shows that he enlisted in Birmingham, the official age for enlistment was eighteen although service abroad was not allowed until a soldier had reached age of nineteen, Cutler could therefore have enlisted from 1914. Examination of Cutler’s medal card shows that he was entitled to the British War Medal and the Victory Medal. They were never awarded by themselves and were awarded to those who served in a theatre of war after 1st January 1916 and who did not therefore qualify for one of the earlier bronze stars. It is therefore evident that Cutler did not serve abroad until 1916.  On enlistment Samuel Cutler found himself drafted to the 14th Battalion, The Royal Warwickshire Regiment. Following Lord Kitchener’s call for a citizen army, men from the same streets, sports clubs and workplaces were encouraged to sign up with the promise that they would be allowed to serve at The Front together; thus were formed the ‘Pals’ battalions. Birmingham initially set out to raise enough men to send one battalion to The Front, but such was the enthusiasm of the populace to join up that it eventually raised three battalions. The 14th, 15th and 16th Battalions of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment were henceforward known as the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Birmingham Pals respectively. The First City Battalion (14th Royal Warwicks) were reinforced with fresh recruits on 30th July 1916 it is possible that Cutler was amongst these men. The order of battle for the 14th Battalion from 30th July 1916 was: 1916. July 30th – Attack on Longueval. August 4th to August 24th – Battalion at rest at Etrejust. September 3rd – Attack on Falfemont farm. September 16th – In rest at Mericourt. September 25th – Attack on Morval. September 28th – Battalion leaves the Somme area.  October 5th to March 15th 1917 – Festubert front. 1917. April 2nd – Move to Bois D’Ohlain to join Canadian Corps. April 9th – Battle of Vimy Ridge. April 23rd Battalion in front line at Lievin. May 2nd – Move to Roclincourt. May 3rd to September 4th – Oppy and Arleux front. September 5th Move to Magnicourt. October 4th – First attack on Polderhoeck Chateau. October 8th – Second attack on Polderhoeck Chateau. October 26th – Third attack on Polderhoeck Chateau. November 5th – Battalion in support for last attack on Polderhoeck Chateau. November 11th – Battalion leaves for Ypres front. November 29th – Entrain at St Pol for Italy. December 6th – Arrive Italy. 1918. January 25th – Front line on Piave River. April 1st – Entrain for return to France. April 15th to August 1st – Nieppe front. August 21st to 31st – Battle of Baupame. September 18th – First attack on Gouzeaucourt. September 27th to September 28th – Second attack on Gouzeaucourt.   Fairclough in his 1933 history of the 14th Battalion describes the engagement in which Cutler was to perish, 27th September 1918. “the attack opened at 7:52am on the 27th, when the battalion started well, and after some opposition made good their objectives on the centre and left, but they were presently bombed out of the greater part of it owing to the battalion on the right being held up. In the advance, Captain C W Hughes, commanding A Company was sniped whilst making sure of his direction. The enemy barrage came down fairly quickly but the battalion got east of it in time and few casualties occurred until they came under view of the Smut trench system on the right flank, which was still manned by enemy machine guns, one or two at least being pushed forward out of our creeping barrage. Meanwhile A Company on the left went on and reached their objective but suffered heavily during their advance from machine gun fire. Within thirty minutes of zero hour, the battalion held Dunraven trench but were out of touch with the brigade on the left. At 9:30am the enemy commenced to bomb out our men from Dunraven trench but were  unsuccessful. It was impossible to get out of the trench and deal with the bombing attack in the usual manner owing to the severe and accurate sniping and machine gun fire coming from Smut trench and the other trenches. The commanding officer decided to hold his position and re-organise. By midnight reports were received that this had been done.” This was the last offensive action in the war in which all three of the City Battalions took part as a fighting unit. The commanding officer, Lieutenant-Colonel W Wilberforce MC received the Distinguished Service Order. There were approximately 190 casualties from other ranks, of these around 50 were killed. Amongst these were Private Samuel Cutler and he is buried in Gouzeaucourt Cemetery along with a great deal many others from the Birmingham Pals battalions.

Paul Finegan