Page 60 - WHO'S WHO OF DUDLEY ROTARY

the Midland United Newspapers: the ‘Dudley Herald’, ‘Tipton Herald’, ‘Midland Advertiser and
Wednesbury Borough News’ and the West Bromwich ‘Midland Chronicle and Free Press’. After
becoming editor he moved from Wednesbury to live at Blakedown near Kidderminster. In the
1930s he was Secretary of Blakedown Working Men’s Club. He was Vice President of
Wednesbury Sports Union. (Note the unusual spelling of his surname.)

182 Dr Robert (‘Bob’) Mackay BARRON (1904-1992) (Elected 29.7.1935; membership terminated
10.2.1942 but rejoined in April 1955 [member #348]; left in 1980 on leaving the district.) General
Medical Practitioner, physician and surgeon. His surgery and home were in Hall Street, Dudley
for 45 years from 1935. He was also ‘medical officer and public vaccinator’ for Dudley south
district and Dudley Divisional Surgeon - eventually North Worcestershire Area Surgeon - for St
John Ambulance Brigade. The son of a farmer, he was brought up in the rural district of Skene
a few miles from Aberdeen and qualified at the University of Aberdeen in 1930. He briefly
practised as a doctor back at Skene before coming to Dudley in 1932 as assistant to Dr J Dudley
Price of Waddam’s Pool. Following the latter’s death in October 1934 Bob Barron continued
practising in his own name. He retired in 1980 and moved to Hereford but also bought an
apartment in Bath Hill Court, a prestigious block in Bournemouth.

183 William (‘Bill’) Eley HOMER MBE (1906-2000) (Inducted 16.9.1935; President 1943-44;
Chairman (Governor) of District No.6 1956-57; subsequently a member of the RIBI national
council; made an Honorary Member summer 1966.) Architect and Surveyor, Brierley Hill. (His
original classification was Surveying, even though he was principally an
architect.)
Bill was born at Netherton Post Office where his father was Sub-
Postmaster. He left school at 14 and became an articled pupil on a seven-
year contract with Harry Jennings whose old established practice of
architects and surveyors was in High Street, Brierley Hill. On completing
his articles in 1927 he was seconded for six months to the local Urban
District Council to help design proposed housing estates in the Brierley Hill
area. Within just a few years he fully qualified as an architect, apparently
by experience rather than examination. By 1932 Bill had become a junior partner in Jennings &
Homer, which by then had moved to Church Street, Brierley Hill. There it expanded to become
Jennings, Homer and Lynch, one of the largest architectural practices outside Birmingham, with
branch offices at Wolverhampton and Bridgnorth. The work was highly varied, from pubs to
churches, private houses and schools to industrial estates. During the War, Bill and his partners
obtained a patent for an improved design of aeroplane runways. After nearly 30 years as Senior
Partner he retired in 1972 but continued as a part-time consultant for a further ten years.
From 1943 to 1946, when elections were suspended because of the War, Bill was co-opted
onto Brierley Hill Urban District Council. He became an elected member of the UDC in 1955 and
its Chairman from 1961. During that year he opened Brierley Hill Civic Baths ... by diving in!
With the merger of Brierley Hill into Dudley in 1966, Bill ceased to be a councillor but was made
an Alderman. However 3 years later he became an elected member for Kingswinford and
thereafter served continuously on Dudley council until standing down in 1996. For many years
he chaired the Planning and Education Committees. For 5 years from 1961 he was also a
member of Staffordshire County Council for the Kingswinford Division until Brierley Hill ceased
to exist as a separate authority within the county. However at the next County Council elections
he stood successfully in the Codsall Division, this being allowable as he had a (second?) house in
Kinver by then. His real home was in Moss Grove, Kingswinford from the early 1930s until
shortly before his death.
For his public service Bill was made a Freeman of the Borough of Dudley in 1989 and was
awarded the MBE in 1993. He was a prominent freemason, being a member of Priory Lodge
(Dudley) and a Provincial Warden. As an architect, he designed The Masonic Lodge in Wellington