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Army Records -Norman W G Smith

mbenne

master brummie
I wonder if someone could throw some light on my GFs half brother Norman William Gerald Smith. I recently learned that there may be some record of him in WW1 collections. Unfortunately trying to find someone with this surname could be tricky!

I have no information on his rank or regiment, only that he was in the army. Nor do I know if he enlisted or was conscripted. Of his two half brothers one joined the RFA in 1915 and the other was called up in 1917 and joined the Worcestershire Regiment. I wondered whether the regiment he joined would be dictated by where he lived at the time? He was a clerk for all of his working life and I was told that when he was in the army he and his fiancé communicated in shorthand. Maybe he was in the Army Service Core?

I know that he was reported as 'missing in action'. My GGM found this hard to accept and had a premonition he was still alive. At some point he was found in a (German ?)field hospital and was barely recognisable, having been fed on a diet of pea water and black bread. He had been wounded in the hip by a dum dum bullet. The wound never healed and he was frequently bed ridden when the wound erupted.

I have birth, death and burial certs for him but have so far been unable to find his military records. He was born in Birmingham 1894, appears on the 1911 census, Occupation Clerk and is living with his mother and step father (William Jarman)at Boulton Road Handsworth. I have seen his name appear in various searches as Norman William, Norman William Gerald. He married in 1922,died of TB in 1932 and is buried in Handsworth cemetery.

Just finding his regiment and service number would be a great help and will be the final piece in the family jigsaw, having recently located his wife in an asylum and his children in an orphanage!
 
will have a look for you...sounds like a good mystery but was smith his stepdads name? do you know who his birth dad was and what was his moms first name it may help

lyn
 
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mbenne,

I'm guessing that he was amongst the 60% of WW1 records that didn't survive the fire that ensued following a WW2 incendiary bomb on the building in which they were stored. The only records I turn up are the ones with MWS in 1917 :)

Maurice :cool:
 
The electoral roll 1918 shows Norman Wm Gerald Smith, Boulton Road...201202, Pte, 1/6 S Staffs Regt.
Military records on Ancestry ....awarded British War Medal and Victory Medal.
Lynn.
 
The electoral roll 1918 shows Norman Wm Gerald Smith, Boulton Road...201202, Pte, 1/6 S Staffs Regt.
Military records on Ancestry ....awarded British War Medal and Victory Medal.
Lynn.

lynn how are you finding him...im putting in norman william gerald smith b 1894 birmingam but no records are showing for me.......help

lyn
 
will give it a go lynn but his service records are still not coming up to view...

lyn
 
If you search Norman Smith....then look at Miltary records...edit it and put the service number in the Keyword box.
Lynn
 
I think Lyn (Astoness) is looking for service records rather than medal rolls. I can't see his service records.
 
Hi Janice, if you go on the Ancestry Home Page and click the Military records on the left. Type in Norman Smith and put his service number in the Keyword box, you'll see the first 2 results .
Lynn.
 
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