mbenne
master brummie
I was interested in the recent posts regarding Walter Harrison Pte and wondered if anyone can shed any light on RFM Cecil John Riley.
My grandad, Harold Harris- DOB 04/01/02, Dudley, enlisted in the Rifle Brigade in Birmingham on 10th August 1921 and served in India with the Colours from Feb 1922 to April 1929 - Service no. 6910097. He told me that on the day he enlisted he went with a number of friends and he was the only one accepted. I still have his enlistment records and pay book. His term with the Colours was served in Peshawar and ended in Jullundur. His home address is not recorded in any documentation but his mothers address in 1926 is given as 2/64 High Street Bordesley. I have a few photographs from his time in India but one in particular has always intrigued me. All I know is that it relates to one of his friends who died in service. I don't know if this person enlisted at the same time or was just someone he befriended afterwards, though the sequencing of their service numbers may indicate when they could have met -my grandads number appears on the reverse of his enlistment papers and ends 097 and Cecil's ends 316 , though none of his papers record details of his company or battalion.
The inscription details in the photograph read...
6910316
RFM Cecil John Riley
1 Company
1st B2 The Rifle Brigade
Brn 23rd August 1902
23rd December 1924
Erected by his comrades of his company
I have no idea where the cemetery is (but assume it was India) or how he died - maybe sickness. From recollection I couldn't locate the birth of a Cecil Riley in the BDM register and could find nothing on the site for BACSA - British Association for Cemeteries in South Asia.
It would be really good to know more about Cecil and the Rifle brigade in India in 1920's and more importantly if a copy of the attached photo could be passed on to a surviving relative.
Not sure if this is the right place for this thread but it wasn't appropriate in ww1 or pre war conflicts.
My grandad, Harold Harris- DOB 04/01/02, Dudley, enlisted in the Rifle Brigade in Birmingham on 10th August 1921 and served in India with the Colours from Feb 1922 to April 1929 - Service no. 6910097. He told me that on the day he enlisted he went with a number of friends and he was the only one accepted. I still have his enlistment records and pay book. His term with the Colours was served in Peshawar and ended in Jullundur. His home address is not recorded in any documentation but his mothers address in 1926 is given as 2/64 High Street Bordesley. I have a few photographs from his time in India but one in particular has always intrigued me. All I know is that it relates to one of his friends who died in service. I don't know if this person enlisted at the same time or was just someone he befriended afterwards, though the sequencing of their service numbers may indicate when they could have met -my grandads number appears on the reverse of his enlistment papers and ends 097 and Cecil's ends 316 , though none of his papers record details of his company or battalion.
The inscription details in the photograph read...
6910316
RFM Cecil John Riley
1 Company
1st B2 The Rifle Brigade
Brn 23rd August 1902
23rd December 1924
Erected by his comrades of his company
I have no idea where the cemetery is (but assume it was India) or how he died - maybe sickness. From recollection I couldn't locate the birth of a Cecil Riley in the BDM register and could find nothing on the site for BACSA - British Association for Cemeteries in South Asia.
It would be really good to know more about Cecil and the Rifle brigade in India in 1920's and more importantly if a copy of the attached photo could be passed on to a surviving relative.
Not sure if this is the right place for this thread but it wasn't appropriate in ww1 or pre war conflicts.