Sons of Rest: Solace of the mind

Sons of Rest, Handsworth Park, 1950s, Ref: WK/H5/557

Can any of us in 2024 really imagine the psychological impact of World War One – millions dead, many more wounded and injured physically and mentally. The understanding of the unwritten agreement between humans regards how to treat one another, completely shattered. 

In the often overlooked first paragraph of Lady Chatterley’s Lover by D.H. Lawrence, first published in 1928, the voice of the narrator states – ‘Ours is essentially a tragic age, so we refuse to take it tragically. The cataclysm has happened, we are among the ruins.’ One reading of the passage could be a comment on the psychological and social aftereffects of conflict never previously seen on such a scale. 

How then did individuals and the societies they lived in decide to react to the residual emotional wrench and tumult of conflict. It could be argued the Sons of Rest movement was as a direct response to the traumatic fracture of the world and the call for collective male psychological repair so much needed. 

Sons of Rest, Handsworth Park, 1950s, Ref: WK/H5/555

The Sons of Rest is a social organisation formed in Birmingham in 1927 to provide leisure facilities to men of retirement age. A group of World War One veterans convened in Handsworth Park – one of the group, Lister Muff who has a plaque dedicated to him in the Handsworth Park building, put forward the proposal to start the organisation. Another, W. J. Ostler suggested the name, highlighting they had all been ‘sons of toil’ during their lives. A melding of the allusion to the biblical and the military in the name – ‘Sons Of’ inferring scripture passages referencing the Son of God. Rest referencing the euphemism employed as a mark of respect to those who did not survive the conflict – those at rest. 

The original meeting place in Handsworth Park was an old cab driver’s shelter in the summer and the bowling pavilion in the winter. The first purpose-built building was opened in Handsworth Park in 1930 after funding appeals were made along with support from Councillor George F. McDonald, Chairman of Birmingham Corporation Parks Committee. 

January 1930 Birmingham Weekly Post article

Sons of Rest premises located across Birmingham and the surrounding Black Country were typically located in the vicinity of a park or other green wooded spaces providing solace and peace. Men would gather to chat and to participate in activities such as dominoes, draughts and other board games. Latterly, several clubs extended membership to women. 

WK/A1/88 : War veterans socialising in the new extension to the Sons of Rest, Broad Street Recreation Ground, Acocks Green

At its zenith, the Sons of Rest had well over 3,000 members and up to 29 premises. Several of the buildings survive and remain in use today. 

To find out more, you can read ‘’Sons of Rest’’ : History of the Birth and Growth of the Movement in Handsworth Park, 1927 – 1937 on level 4 of the library.

Image of the front cover of the pamphlet here, Ref: LP 41.14

Paul Taylor, Archives & Special Collections Co-ordinator

Men’s Mental Health: Healing Identities

Hollymoor Hospital, main entrance and chapel, 1955. [Ref. WK/R4/197].

Movember is an annual global event which takes place each November. Its aim is to raise public awareness of men’s health, be it physical or mental. There are assumptions men generally don’t look after their physical and mental wellbeing or necessarily know how to seek support. The goal of the Movember Foundation is to ‘change the face of men’s health’ by starting a conversation about concerns and how to access resources.

Recent Office of National Statistics (ONS) data has identified three quarters of suicides in the UK are amongst men, with men aged 40–49 having the highest rate. Other statistics such as three quarters of adults who go missing are men and nearly 90% of rough sleepers being male can paint a bleak picture. What has happened to a man’s identity and self-worth to make him consider ending his life or decide to step away from what are considered societal norms especially when he faces emotional trauma? Is his sense of what it means to be a man or male shattered and forever irreparable? It’s almost as if when the facade of masculinity slips and exposes the true self, that questions about a man’s gendered identify and virility are asked. A man is engendered so hard with the message to keep a grip on his emotions, that should he need to express his tensions and anxiety, his punishment is to face questions about his masculinity. Only recently, the boxer Anthony Joshua received criticism for exhibiting emotion at a press conference after a fight in which he came close to tears.