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Somme

T

Tel D

proper brummie kid
Hi looking for more info on my grandads brother he was killed on the first day of the Somme his name was William Draper service number 15701 and is buried at Dantzig Alley British cemetery Mametz.he was born in Aston Birmingham in 1895 ,can anyone tell me why he would be in the West Yorkshire regiment ( Prince of Wales own) and not one of the pals Regiment and how would I get information on where and how he lost his life
 
On Ancestry it is possible to access the war diaries and read an account of what the Prince of Wales Own Yorkshire regiment took part in on 1st Juky 1916. Very short account which states " very heavy casualties ... mainly caused by machine guns ..... 27 Officers casualties and 750 O.R (other ranks)".
If you don't subscribe or can't find it please post on here.
 
pjmburns said:
On Ancestry it is possible to access the war diaries and read an account of what the Prince of Wales Own Yorkshire regiment took part in on 1st Juky 1916. Very short account which states " very heavy casualties ... mainly caused by machine guns ..... 27 Officers casualties and 750 O.R (other ranks)".
If you don't subscribe or can't find it please post on here.
Click to expand...
Sorry not subscribed
 
If you search in Google you will find a few mentions.
The 10th Bn West Yorkshire regiment were in action at the Bluff south east of Ypres in spring 1916 and then moved south to the Somme where they fought in the battle of Albert and also Delville wood
The battle of Albert was from 1st to 13th july 1916
William Draper died on 1st july 1916, the first day of the battle.
 
This is the entry for 1st July from the Prince of Wales Own Yorkshire Regiment. William Draper would have been one of the men killed that day.
 

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Tel D said:
Hi looking for more info on my grandads brother he was killed on the first day of the Somme his name was William Draper service number 15701 and is buried at Dantzig Alley British cemetery Mametz.he was born in Aston Birmingham in 1895 ,can anyone tell me why he would be in the West Yorkshire regiment ( Prince of Wales own) and not one of the pals Regiment and how would I get information on where and how he lost his life
Click to expand...
I was told by someone who was ex army that if you didn’t join a local regiment it was either because you enlisted and got posted where there were in need of soldiers, or because some enlistees weee underage and it was easier to enlist with a non local regiment ?? Not sure if this is correct ?
 
Hi make’s sense as lots of men are signing up for the peoples army he signed up in 1915
 
Alberta said:
If you search in Google you will find a few mentions.
The 10th Bn West Yorkshire regiment were in action at the Bluff south east of Ypres in spring 1916 and then moved south to the Somme where they fought in the battle of Albert and also Delville wood
The battle of Albert was from 1st to 13th july 1916
William Draper died on 1st july 1916, the first day of the battle.
Click to expand...
Thanks but of a coincident my dad’s name is Albert
 
A few years ago we visited the Somme and many of the cemeteries there, beautifully kept by the CWGC,
Tel D have you been to the one at Mametz I recall it being very peaceful surrounded by countryside.
 
maypolebaz said:
My great uncle, (died of wounds, 1915), was in the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry. A long way from Smethwick !
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Thanks for replying yes long way from brum just seemed strange that all these pal’s battalions are being formed and he ended up in West Yorkshire and your uncle in Cornwall
 
Alberta said:
A few years ago we visited the Somme and many of the cemeteries there, beautifully kept by the CWGC,
Tel D have you been to the one at Mametz I recall it being very peaceful surrounded by countryside.
Click to expand...
No not yet hopefully when the pandemic has gone we will visit it
 
My Great Uncle from Birmingham served in a Yorkshire reg (can't remember which one off the top of my head ). I think it was all determined by when they signed up.
 
Tel D said:
Thanks for replying yes long way from brum just seemed strange that all these pal’s battalions are being formed and he ended up in West Yorkshire and your uncle in Cornwall
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The impression I get is that, in the early days of the war, there was a rush of men, keen to 'have a crack at The Hun' before the war was over. With local units being fully up to strength the War Office started to allocate men to other regiments, that had been decimated in the earlier battles.
 
Two from my family (different branches) were killed on 1st July 1916 on the first day of the Battle of the Somme.

One with the 8th Battalion Yorks and Lancs born Barnsley and the other with the 1st 8th Territorial Battalion Royal Warwickshire born in Leeds, but moved to Birmingham as a youngster.

Their bodies were never found and they are both remembered on the Thiepval Memorial. So sad.
 
My grandfather fought at the Somme with the Gloucestershire regiment. He also 'popped up' with the Inniskillen regiment. I know his right hand was injured by a bullet at the Somme, and he could was sent back to UK. He was unable to shoot a gun, so he was no use on the front line any more. He had no connections with Birmingham, but in 1919 he was living in digs, and in 1920 he married my grandmother in Birmingham (which was where she'd been born and brought up). I have wondered why he would move to Birmingham. Was he sent to a hospital in the Birmingham area to have his wounds cared for? Does anyone know if there are lists of casualties and where they were treated?
 
I know that a lot of ex-servicemen from the shires, moved to cities such as Brum after WW1 to secure regular employment. My own grandfather, having lived in Wiltshire prior to enlisting, moved up to this area to work on a farm after the war, before becoming a greengrocer in Erdington during the 20s.
 
I would imagine there were so many casualties that a list would have been impossible to maintian.
It is quite possible he was sent to Birmingham. I am not sure how they decided - it may just have been available beds. My own grandfather a born and bred Brummie was nursed back to health in hospital in Hertfordshire. Meanwhile another Brummie did in fact come back to Birmingham. So no reason.
Is it possible to give us a name then we can see if we are able to spot anything?
 
Yes, as pjmburns suggests above, I think the wounded were most likely sent where the available beds were. My grandfather who was from Wiltshire, was sent to The Alexandra Military Hospital in Bournemouth, having been gassed during WW1. He asked where he was being taken when put onto the ship and was told Alexandra, he then asked why he was being sent to Egypt! :)
 
pjmburns said:
I would imagine there were so many casualties that a list would have been impossible to maintian.
It is quite possible he was sent to Birmingham. I am not sure how they decided - it may just have been available beds. My own grandfather a born and bred Brummie was nursed back to health in hospital in Hertfordshire. Meanwhile another Brummie did in fact come back to Birmingham. So no reason.
Is it possible to give us a name then we can see if we are able to spot anything?
Click to expand...
My grandfather's name was Ernest Minchin. I watched a programme on tv about the trains going to the Somme to take soldiers and weaponry to the front line. Those same trains were then used to transport injured men back to field hospitals. From there, the soldiers would be brought back to UK, and which ever station you ended up in, the first train out would take you to an area with space in their hospital. I know that there were many hospitals, and also other buildings that were utilised as hospitals, in the Birmingham area during WW1.
 
NannyPam said:
My grandfather fought at the Somme with the Gloucestershire regiment. He also 'popped up' with the Inniskillen regiment. I know his right hand was injured by a bullet at the Somme, and he could was sent back to UK. He was unable to shoot a gun, so he was no use on the front line any more. He had no connections with Birmingham, but in 1919 he was living in digs, and in 1920 he married my grandmother in Birmingham (which was where she'd been born and brought up). I have wondered why he would move to Birmingham. Was he sent to a hospital in the Birmingham area to have his wounds cared for? Does anyone know if there are lists of casualties and where they were treated?
Click to expand...

Maybe just a coincidence but there is a mention of an Ernest Minchin, along with his elder brother James, involved in an accident near Reading.
 
Further to NannyPam's reference to WW1 hospitals in Birmingham (@ 22 above). Those hospitals (major, auxiliary, minor & annexes) include:

1st Southern General Hospital (Birmingham University), 2/1st Southern General Hospital (Dudley Road), General Hospital (Steelhouse Lane), Queen’s Hospital (Bath Row), 1st Birmingham War Hospital (Rubery Hill), 2nd Birmingham War Hospital (Hollymoor), Farcroft (VAD Hospital, Handsworth), Fircroft (Bournville), Harborne Hall, Highbury Hall (Moseley), King’s Heath, Lordswood, Mayfield Auxiliary Hospital for Officers (Edgbaston), Monyhull Hall (Specialist neurological section for other ranks), Moor Green Hall (Moseley), Selly Oak (annex to 1st Southern General), Stirchley (annex to 1st Southern General), The Beeches (Bournville), Uffculme Friends Ambulance Unit Hospital (Moor Green), Children’s Hospital (Steelhouse Lane, used for outpatients of 1st Southern General Hospital), Dental Hospital (Newhall Street), Stechford & Yardley VAD Hospital, Ivy Cottage (Marston Green), Heritage Auxiliary Hospital (Solihull), “Allerton” (Lichfield Road, Sutton Coldfield), “The Hollies” (Four Oaks Road, Sutton Coldfield), Longfield Auxiliary Hospital (Little Aston), St. Bernard’s Red Cross Hospital (Wylde Green).
 
Very interesting reading all the WW 1 stories of your relatives service during the great war. I too am trying to find my father in law service record he enlisted in the Royal Warwickshire Regiment. he was born in Smethwick Staffs, 13 Feb 1898,
we have a nice picture of him in his WW1 uniform & cap with regimental badge but thats it , he was very reluctant to talk about the war but I do remember on a visit home when they lived in Hendon,London he had a few souvenirs from
the war one of which was a German Army Helmet, small round with a spike on top. My sons were in awe of it and we
had some pictures taken don't know where they are today.:confused:

Can anyone tell me where on ancestry I can look and hope to find my father in law service record:confused: He was a carpenter to trade and I remember him telling us he was with the 'wagon' pulling the guns and had to fix them on breaking down in the mud rain soaked fields. Can't remember but I think he was in 4-5 Batt service Corp. his name William Charles Bosward.

Thank you I appreciate all the help you guy's :) so generously provide, stay safe . be well. Happy Easter from Canada.

Kind regards
Janey.
 
Thanks Janice appreciate the reply will give Ancestry a look at Military records,
will keep posting anything I find.

Cheers
Janey
 
Very few of the returning troops were willing to talk about the war janeytg, which is understandable given the horrors they will have witnessed. I know my grandfather only told my grandmother and my father a couple of things, he clearly didn't want to recall in any detail, what he'd been through. I think that German helmet that your father brought back was probably a pickelhaube (see below), they are worth quite a lot of money these days around £150 and upwards). Good luck with your information search.
1650097788826.png
 
:)HI John; Oh My that is the helmet:D after my mother in law passed away 'Dad' moved to lived with one of his daughters in Kenton,Harrow,London and I remember seeing one of her sons playing with the helmet, I'm going to try find out if he still has it though if so I hope he knows how valuable it might be he still lives in London.

Spent all day yesterday on Ancestry lookng at census records I'm also trying to find where my father in laws parents are buried found them at the address in Smethwick where Harriet died 1922 also found Smethwick Old Church, wonder does anyone know if there is a graveyard there for a possible burial. though she was born at Golds Hill Staffordshire. Spouse
William Charles died 1925 Birmingham South I have the volume & page numbers and can anyone tell me if I buy the Cert
or as a "PDF' for '7pounds' will it give me the info of a burial .:confused:

Appreciate all the help, thanks a bunch.

Kind regards
Janey:cool:
 
First - death certs do not show burials. The PDF is lke a photocopy of the cert but only contain limited info. Date and place of death, name, address and occupation plus name of informant.

Second -there are some possible pension records on Ancestry. If you can't find them then let me know. They came up when I searched for harriet Bosward. They include a birth cert of a William born in 1930 and the death of , I think, his Mother called Alice.
 
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