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10th Battalion Royal Warwickshire Regiment 1918

R

rwspey

New Member
My farther fought in WW1 with the 10[SUP]th[/SUP] Battalion Royal Warwickshire Regiment. I have recently received copies of his army service records which had to be requested from the MOD. They were not available online because he reenlisted for a further 4 years after WW1 ended, so are not eligible for release yet.
My father very rarely spoke about his WW1 experiences which I’m sure was quite normal for most soldiers who suffered the same fate. I think he was just thankful that he survived. Sadly he died when I was 12 years old so I never got the chance to have a man to man talk with him. I’m sure that if he had lived longer he would have answered all the questions I wanted to ask him and I wouldn’t have had to make this request.
Is there anyone who could kindly help me try to piece together the information I have from his service records. He was only on active duty for the last 6 months of the war and ended up as a POW for the last 2 months. I would like to know where he was fighting in France from the 07/05/1918 when he was posted, to when he was repatriated on the 29/11/2018. In particular I would like to know the circumstances of his capture and what happened to him during those last 2 months. I have made a brief list of relevant information taken from his service records which I hope will help. The copies I received from the MOD are not very clear but I’m sure the following details are accurate.
Many thanks in advance.
Robert White

Name.....Robert Arthur White
Born..........13/11/1899
Place of Birth......High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire
Enlisted.....29/09/1917 Royal Warwickshire Regiment
Graduated...28/03/1918 52[SUP]nd[/SUP] Battalion
Posted To France....07/05/1918 10[SUP]th[/SUP] Battalion
Regimental No: 50752
Rank......Private
Reported......Wounded Missing.....20/09/1918
Repatriated ...... Prisoner of War.....29/11/1918
 
Robert

I have somewhere a copy of the 10th RWR War Diary and I will try and find it and find out what the battalion was up to when he served with them.

Regards

Terry

p.s. Very sorry, my copies only to the end of 1917
 
Hi MWS
I’ve also found out that there is a War Diary for the 10[SUP]th[/SUP] Battalion but it hasn’t been digitalised just yet. It seems the National Archives are going to do a lot more of this work in the coming year. Meanwhile I have asked them for a quote to get copies made of it.....but that sounds a bit expensive!!!. I’ll probably wait until it’s digitalised.
Many Thanks for the information.
 
Hi Terry
Almost but not quite!. I’ve just replied to MWS that theWar Diary for the 10[SUP]th[/SUP] Battalion might be digitalised soon. Hopefully it will be the complete version.
Thanks for your help.
 
Robert

The various segments of the 10th Royal Warwicks War Diary that I have run from when the battalion first went to France in 1915 until January 1918. All in pdf format and all downloaded from the National Archives in 2006. For some reason, which I cannot recall, I did not download the rest of the diary until November 1918.
A segment with about 3 or 4 months of diary length cost £3:50 at the time to download. You would only need the last three months of the war to cover his service.

Anyway, what I cannot understand is how come I downloaded it in 2006 yet it cannot be downloaded now.
I have had a look at the National Archives site but it seems harder to negotiate around it than it ever did.

Regards

Terry
 
Hi I am afraid Charles Lander (Landers War) received shrapnel wounds on the 8th May 1918 and was sent back to England on the 13th, his last diary entry is from October 1918 where he was sent to Dunstable on a three month signals course war ended whilst he was there.

Colette
 
terry carter said:
Robert

The various segments of the 10th Royal Warwicks War Diary that I have run from when the battalion first went to France in 1915 until January 1918. All in pdf format and all downloaded from the National Archives in 2006. For some reason, which I cannot recall, I did not download the rest of the diary until November 1918.
A segment with about 3 or 4 months of diary length cost £3:50 at the time to download. You would only need the last three months of the war to cover his service.

Anyway, what I cannot understand is how come I downloaded it in 2006 yet it cannot be downloaded now.
I have had a look at the National Archives site but it seems harder to negotiate around it than it ever did.

Regards

Terry
Click to expand...

Hi Terry, I have a Richard Blencowe, 1897, Tamworth, Private, 26230, 10th and 14th Bn. Royal Warwickshire Regiment.who enlisted in the 10th Bn. 19th (Western) Division sometime in early 1917 (SN 26151 enlisted on 13 Feb 1917) and was sent overseas for the last part of the war. It seems at some point Richard transferred to the 14th Bn. 5th Division. This means that he either was on the western front all of the war or he possibly went to Italy in the 1917-1918 winter and then returned to the Western front.

My question was their any mention of soldiers being transffered to 14th in those diary extracts you have , I would love to browse them

Roger
 
I also have an interest in this unit, though slightly earlier than rwspey. My Great Uncle George Shelley was in the 10th Battalion and killed on 19th April at the end of the First Battle of Kemmel, where the battalion took part in defending the position. As the 19th saw the end of the action histories tend to skip over it, I've not been able to pinpoint any details of George's death. After a lull, the Germans relaunched their attack on the 23rd and overwhelmed the position.
 
Some diaries are on Ancestry. There are entries in that battalion's diary for 18th and 19th April 1918.
 
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Many thanks! Unfortunately I only have the basic subscription to Ancestry so can't access their War Diaries collection, if anyone is able to have a look at the 10th Battalion entry for 17th-19th April I'd be grateful!
 
I have taken this from the 19th Division HQ War Diary and it is the last but one page from a narrative of events undertaken by the Division from the 9 to 19 April 1918.
Regards
Terry
 

Attachments

  • 19 Div HQ war diary 18 April 1918.jpg
    19 Div HQ war diary 18 April 1918.jpg
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To all,

I'm researching my Great Uncle George Sanford who served with the 10th Bn Royal Warwickshire Regiment, service number 8537.

He was killed in action on the 23rd October 1915. He was born 21st May 1896, the son of Fred and Mary Ann Sanford, of 19, Kent St. North, Lodge Rd., Birmingham.

I've found the basic information from CWGC but nothing else. I would be grateful if anyone can fill in the blanks, like where and how was he killed. He's buried at Brown's Road Military Cemetery, Festubert.

Phil
 
Unusually - as only officers are normally named - he is named in the war diary entry. If you have access to Ancestry the diaries are on there.
In case you don't
They were in the trenches ref; Ind 1.a (but I don't know what that means) and he died from a bullet to the head.

As far as I can tell they were fighting at
1636482845337.png
 
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Thanks Janice, I've found the war diary where it mentions my Great Uncle by name, it is unusual to see a Private recorded this way. To think one of those soldiers shown in the film could be him. A map is required to identify the trench IND.1.a.
Thanks again
Phil
 
I did find some maps of the trenches in that area but none of them marked any sections.
Unusual as you say but as he seems to have been the only one killed I suppose it was easy to record. At least his death was most likely quick.
 
pjmburns said:
....
Unusual as you say but as he seems to have been the only one killed I suppose it was easy to record. At least his death was most likely quick.
Click to expand...
Janice,
I think he was the only one killed on that day, probably by a sniper, if you look at the WD next day another soldier is killed in the same way.
 
Yes. That is what I thought. Usually so many died it was impossible to record them all in a war diary.
 
Hi, we have just discovered the name of my husbands great uncle who died 21st October 2018 , his picture has sat on our wall for years and with the help of the internet I have finally worked out he is Arthur Lake born 1889 of Kenilworth. I have found a photograph of him online and it is the same as the chap who sits on our wall. He was in the Royal Warwickshire 10 th regiment . I have found where his name is on the commonwealth war graves and on the memorial at Kenilworth ..I have also read about these war diaries I’m not a paid member of ancestry , just on a free trial and have found this and wonder if it may relate to Sarjt. Arthur Lake .I have also heard about a book called Landers war, does anyone have it ? Thanks in advance. 1636774641435.jpeg
 
HelenLC said:
Hi, we have just discovered the name of my husbands great uncle who died 21st October 2018 , his picture has sat on our wall for years and with the help of the internet I have finally worked out he is Arthur Lake born 1889 of Kenilworth. I have found a photograph of him online and it is the same as the chap who sits on our wall. He was in the Royal Warwickshire 10 th regiment . I have found where his name is on the commonwealth war graves and on the memorial at Kenilworth ..I have also read about these war diaries I’m not a paid member of ancestry , just on a free trial and have found this and wonder if it may relate to Sarjt. Arthur Lake .I have also heard about a book called Landers war, does anyone have it ? Thanks in advance. View attachment 163786
Click to expand...
I have a copy of 'Lander's War', (and recommend it). Can I help ?
 
Looks as if Arthur Lake was a regular soldier. He, as I am sure you know, was in the army in Bombay on the 1911 census.
It also looks as if he was moved around as men died battalions were often merged. You might have found this - medal rolls
1636819904420.png
 
Are you sure the record you have is for the 10th battalion?
This is the entry I found - page heading first then 21 Oct
1636820732271.png

1636820676869.png
 
HelenLC said:
Hi, we have just discovered the name of my husbands great uncle who died 21st October 2018 , his picture has sat on our wall for years and with the help of the internet I have finally worked out he is Arthur Lake born 1889 of Kenilworth. I have found a photograph of him online and it is the same as the chap who sits on our wall. He was in the Royal Warwickshire 10 th regiment . I have found where his name is on the commonwealth war graves and on the memorial at Kenilworth ..I have also read about these war diaries I’m not a paid member of ancestry , just on a free trial and have found this and wonder if it may relate to Sarjt. Arthur Lake .I have also heard about a book called Landers war, does anyone have it ? Thanks in advance. View attachment 163786
Click to expand...
pjmburns said:
Are you sure the record you have is for the 10th battalion?
This is the entry I found - page heading first then 21 Oct
View attachment 163806

View attachment 163805
Click to expand...
1636832879337.jpegThank you for looking into this, as far as we know he was 10th battalion i found him on the census return but didn’t realise he was in India. I also found this on the register of soldiers effects which says 10 th battalion.
 
Yes and the war diary page I posted is headed 10th battalion. It is different from the diary page you posted. So my question was is your page also 10th bn? I tried to find your page but didn't manage it.
 
I did a search of 21st October Warwickshire 10th on the ancestry military diary search page but now you mention it, not convinced it’s right. Thankyou for your assistance. I think I need to spend lots of time researching him. I new to this so lots to learn.
 
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