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Identity Tag - Royal Warwickshire

R

richardgrimmett

proper brummie kid
My grandfather, George Grimmett, served with the 11th Battalion of the Royal Warwickshire and was killed on 24th September 1917. He is remembered on the Tyne Cot Memorial at Paschaendale.

I have recently gone through my late father's effects (he was born in 1916, died 2006) and found an identity tag which I have scanned and attached here. The tag is in very good condition. The surname is incorrectly spelt and I wonder whether this was the tag George was wearing when he died, or another that he had left behind in Handsworth.

View attachment 53630


How many tags would a soldier be issued with? What sort of condition would these normally be found in? Would he have had it reissued because of the spelling mistake (this seems unlikely to me because he was plainly still very identifiable by the number and the relative rarity of the surname).

Any help/views are most welcome.

Thanks
Richard
 
Hi Richard,

The tag you have in your posession would not have been worn by your grandfather when he died as those named on the Tynecot Memorial are those mising whose bodies were not found.

Old Boy
 
Hid Old Boy,

Had the response to my posting been that only one tag was ever issued then I would have wondered how it came about that it was returned. Of course there were often times bodies could not be recovered during action so it is quite possible tags could have been collected on occasion. When the actions ceased the bodies may have disappeared into the mud or under a shell.

Do you know whether they issued more than one tag?

thanks
Richard
 
Richard, Two tags are issued now one is rotproof material and the other fireproof, tags from a body that can`t identified are collected and the place marked, these are my Brothers tags they came home with him from WW2 on his demob. Len.
 
two dog tags,(idenity discs) made from a type of linonium held together by string were issued in WW1 slightly larger than WW2 tags, on one would be name, rank, No, and unit, second would be religeon, date of birth, and blood group. These are quite rare now but can be seen in the Imperial War Museum, I agree with old boy that the memorial stones in France carry the names of the fallen not recovered, so the tag was one left behind with his loved one (wife) which was quite common I believe.
 
I have always known the significance of the TynOTCot memorial, especially having visited it on several occasions over the past 38 years. I didn't know there were two tags though, and that does explain why I found it here. Thank you very much for your responses.

Richard
 
There were two tags in the Great War. During body recovery one was taken by medics/chaplains/soldiers to help recording of those killed in battalion records. This was probably one of those as the other one would,I suspect, stay with a body.

In case you didn't know he was a fruiterer and greengrocer in Handsworth where he lived. He joined in Worcester when called up in February 1917 which suggests he was a Derby scheme man and not a volunteer. Left a wife and two children. The fact that he was missing in action and on Tyne Cot's back wall and yet there is a surviving dog tag suggests a possible initial battlefield burial and then a lost body as the war continued around.
 
Thanks Alan, where did you pick the information up about him being a fruiterer and greengrocer? I did know this, but wasn't aware it was in any public records. His wife, my father and his brother kept the shop going until she died and decimalisation arrived.

I still have quite a number of his letters from the trenches although they are difficult to decipher. Some guide his wife on which wholesaler to trust and which not, in the Birmingham fruit and veg market.

Richard
 
Sorry I meant to acknowledge the source in the previous post - Birmingham Weekly Post - 13.10.17. I have an extensive database of all Royal Warwicks deaths as part of a major study of the whole regiment at war. I am willing to help transcribe the letters if you wanted to send me photocopies.
 
It was also quite common for soldiers to wear an aluminium identity bracelet, worn on the wrist, with their name number and religion stamped onto it.

Terry
 
Richard,

There was a very interesting program on Channel 4 last night called, I think, 'The Missing Battalions'. Several mass graves have been uncovered at Fromelles, France the scene of a battle on 19 July 1916. Those bodies recovered have been interred into a new cemetery at Fromelles and it was dedicated yesterday. Efforts are being made to identify the bodies through DNA etc.

During the program it was said that the Germans tended to bury Allied soldiers in mass graves. They removed the dog tags and sent them to the Red Cross in Switzerland to be returned to the families. This may have happened in your ancestors case.

Old Boy
 
Hi Richard
woulde george have had a brother named tom or thomas.My grandmother was a grimmett and had 2 brothers who were killed in WW1. Tom was also in the warwicks and was killed in action.

Colin
 
Hi Richard

George Grimmett is remembered on a number of war memorials in Birmingham. These being as follows,
a) Somerset Road Methodist Church memorial now at Rookery Road Methodist Church Rookery Road Handsworth Birmingham.
b) St Andrews Church memorial, Oxhill Road Handsworth Birmingham.
c) Birmingham City Council Public Works & Town Planning memorial Council House Birmingham. Surname spelt Grimmitt.
Note CWGC shows only one G Grimmett and no G Grimmitt. It may be that this is a spelling mistake for G Grimmett.

Tony
 
Tom Grimmett
On the Bham Roll and in the Bham Weekly Post 17.7.1915
Died of a head wound 29.6.15
Service No 1529
Born Aston
Father pre-deceased him. Mother lived at 185, Moseley Rd, Bham
Buried Bailleul Communal Cemetery Extension, France
Member 1/5 Territorial Bn.
They had been out of the line for about four days near Auchel, near Bethune in Corps Reserve when he died. This had to be a wound received when in the line in the Ploegsteert Wood sector
 
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