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British Newspaper Archives Birmingham & WW1

mikejee

mikejee

Super Moderator
Staff member
I have just received an e-mail which mentions that new additions to the archive for the Birmingham Mail & the Birmingham Daily Gazette in the period 1914-1918 have been added in the last month. So if you have been looking in the archive for refs to people in the war previously, then it would be worth looking again
 
Mike, your are the man I am looking for. Would you believe it I have in the last two days found that my father was awarded the M.M in W.W 1 and he never said a thing about it and he has been dead 20 years. On all his photo's in the mounted police he is not wearing it, I begin to wonder if he knew because he did not go back to his old address when demobed. I have found the Issue in the london gazette of 1916 but it does not say what heroic deed it was. The question is how can I find out, Please as you seem to be well up on these matters.


Dave
 
Eddie
Because of the anniversary of WW1 the newspaper coverage for that period is pretty good. I would think it likely that there would be something in the British Newspaper archives. The national archives website might also have something, though many of the military WW1 records were destroyed in a fire, so that is not certain. You would probably have to pay to receive a copy of these though. If you do not have access to the British newspaper archives, I could look to see if you were to give me his name
(I take it its is not John Smith or the like!)
 
Mike, "you are a good un" .You can imagine what a shock to the family it has been. He was a man who never talked about the horrors he had gone through, he joined by saying he was older than his 16 years and 9 months. His number was Gunner D.Edwards M.M Reg No 30054. R.F.A (royal field artillary) He was in France, Egypt and the Dardanelles. Thanks Mike
 
hi dave sorry to butt in with you and mike but as you know all of your dads service details i take it you also know that his ww1 army records survived and are on ancestry ??

...david edwards reg no 30054 RFA...what threw me a bit was that i assumed he was birmingham born but according to his records he was born in carew wales in 1889 and was 25 years old when he enlisted and the address he gave where he was living was 47 milton terrace..occupation looks like colliery haulier...there are quite a few pages of his records dave i have not read them all...i have also found his medal card on ancestry...

just in case you have not seen your dads service records here is his medal card



lyn
 

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Astoness, you have gone off the thread a little, go back to post no4 and you will see that he joined the forces when he was under 17. he was born in 1898 /sept 24 in Wales in Rhydyfelin on the southern outskirts of Aberystwyth and lived on a farm. The record you have kindly printed ,I have, but in a very bad condition due to damp wherever in was kept by a company in Spon lane Smethwick who are still listed in the telephone book but do not respond to calls. I cannot read the one I have due to the condition of this but going onto Forces reunited and paying to see his records did I find all this info.
In all his career in the B'Ham city mounted police force "D" Div he is not wearing all his medals, he was one of the first to join when it was formed ,I think in 1922, may be he did not want to show the higher ups that he had more medals than they, he is only showing the normal three and I think he should have had five and some clasps. A very modest man and a very Victorian father, as I very well knew.
I think Milton Terrace must have been in B'Ham and he returned to that address, but where it is I do not know, probably pulled down now, maybe the info was sent to his welsh address and he never received it.
I cannot thank you all enough for all the info you you have given me, although some was incorrect , I know what it is like trying to trace one person, just one slight deviation and you can be in the wrong family, as I have had happen.

Dave
 
Dave
I have had a look in the local papers for the name and been unsuccessfull. Will look in national papers also , but what was his christian name, as just D edwards will produce too many hits
 
hi dave i did read post 4 but as you had not said if you had your dads army records i was mearly pointing out that they survived ww2 bombings and are readily available online via ancestry and that when signing up he gave his age age as 25....

all the best

lyn
 
You were right Lyn it did say he was 25, I have sent Eddie 14 some information, which includes the address Milton Terrace, Pembroke Docks, South Wales. There was also a later address in Glamorgan, that was 1922.

Clarkie
 
hi clarkie i am sure eddie will appreciate anything you can send him...i was just mulling over this and thinking it unusual for someone aged 16 years 9 months to add over 8 years onto his age when enlisting when 2 or 3 would have sufficed....

lyn
 
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I too checked the record on Ancestry and was amazed someone of nearly 17 could pass for 25 but perhaps they were desperate and did not check very closely. The address in Milton Terrace was given for his next of kin (his Mother).
One of the documents is a signed receipt for the Military medal - dated August 14th 1917 and signed David Edwards.
Janice
 
Astoness, Lyn, the records i have are , to say the least almost, unreadable and for that reason I think I have led most of you good people up the garden path as trying to read them is almost impossible. Because they were given to me on one sheet of paper I presumed they were all my fathers records as they corresponded with his service i.e France Egypt and Turkey but on very close inspection with a mag glass and three people giving their version I have come up with six numbers these are all R.F.A 1864 66143 39989 30054 91329.

Dave
 
Eddie 14 said:
Astoness if you look at his photo when he first went in , no way would take him for 25, more like 14.

Dave
Click to expand...

hi eddie even more reason to wonder how on earth he passed for 25...having said that when my grandad joined up he gave his wrong age..he went to india and i have just one photo of him with his army chums..he only looks like he is about 12 but i think our dad said he was 15...

lyn
 
Lyn, the other number is of a driver so I have not listed that one.
What a blooming nightmare!! Lyn I have one of the ones you have put on your post but as to reading it is another question, it is so speckled with dots of ,what you might say is mould, that the numbers are distorted.
Many thanks to all who have submitted info. Cheers.

Dave
 
Yes I did get it Clarkie and tried to reply but something went wrong.

Here is the photo of my Dad and does he look 25?

attachment.php
 
I'm sorry I have had all of you running around for me it has been very much appriciated, I have searched all the numbers I quoted and not one has come up with his details so it could they are one of the records that got lost as i believe some were. Thanks once again.

Dave
 
Sorry but I am confused - are you now saying that the RFA 30054 D Edwards is NOT the person we were looking for?

Janice
 
morning janice...i have to say i have been confused for a couple of days now as to just who we are looking for so i thought it best not to go any further until we have some confirmation from eddie as i have had my doubts about RFA 30054 D EDWARDS...i am not convinced that this is daves dad although in post 4 dave does state that this is his dads army no..

lyn
 
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Thank Lyn - I am glad it is not just me. I will hold fire until we know. Have to say the records on 30054 were interesting.

Janice
 
no not just you janice....its just that something does not add up to me but i am far from an expert...i dont think eddie has even confirmed his dads first name...more info is needed so as you say we will hold fire for now

lyn
 
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Lyn, on post 14 I inserted 5 army numbers ,I have checked everyone of these out and none of them are my father's, I did not put the R.F.A No30054 on as it was proved by your good selves that it was not my father. It seems I have been using 6 army numbers and not one of them is my fathers. His name was David Edwards of the R.F.A date of birth 24-9-1898 born near Aberystwyth worked on a farm. Served in France,Egypt and Turkey. I think he retuned to B'Ham after service. As I have said , sorry for giving the incorrect info but I was told by my sister that was his record, Six records all on one piece of "A" four which has taken a lot of time in trying to read.

Dave
 
thanks for clearing that up dave just one thing..when your dad joined up was he living in birmingham or wales??....i shall have a look on ancestry for you and if i cant find your dads army records then i am afraid we will have to assume that they along with many thousands of others were destroyed during the bombings of ww2...

lyn
 
Dave - do you know either of his parents names? It might help narrow a search down as David Edwards is quite a common Welsh name. Also, did he have any siblings?

Janice
 
Lyn, he joined from wales, I will stand correcting, forces reunited over the years have said his records could have been distroyed, a shame really!!
His father was Richard and his mother was Mary Evans. His father was one of eight, Jane Ellen, David, Mary Ann, Margaretta, John James, Tom, and Elizabeth Ann.
Northamptom comes into his training and maybe his return as he spoke of that town some times and being in digs there.


Dave
 
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