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William Russell Grandad's WW1 Service Record.

oldMohawk

oldMohawk

gone but not forgotten
My brother-in-law's Grandad, William Russell was ...
Born 3rd March 1892, Dukinfield, Cheshire.
Married to Lillian Farnsworth on 21 September 1914, Dukinfield, Cheshire.
Died 21, March 1970, Hyde, Cheshire.

In 1916 he joined the Royal Flying Corps and served as an Observer Gunner in France.
In early 1918 his aircraft was shot down and he was shot in the forehead and was found apparently dead and moved to a field morgue. But as he lay on a table in the morgue a nurse noticed a slight movement of his hand and he was eventually resuscitated. In the meantime his wife had been informed that he had been killed in action.

We have a family photo showing the aircraft type he flew in, possibly a DH4.
aircraft.jpg

Sometime later in 1918 his wife received a letter stating that he was actually alive and had been brought back to a military hospital in Kent. Eventually he was possibly moved to a temporary military hospital at Lymm in Cheshire where the photo below might have taken.
img001.jpg
He is on the left and they are both wearing the blue hospital uniform supplied to wounded servicemen.

In the 'confusion' of wartime his name was put on a WW1 memorial which stands at the junction of Wood St and Victoria Rd Dukinfield as seen on https://www.mlfhs.org.uk/data/war_memorials_images.php?memorial=500
Dsc_0435x (Medium).jpg names.jpg
A photo of the memorial and close-up shows his name 3rd down on the right.

He was awarded three general campaign medals (one french) and as the photo below shows the ribbons are rather worn as he apparently wore them many times during annual parades probably looking at his name on the war memorial.
medals.jpg
Unfortunately, his service number is not known and his daughter (born late 1919) had made notes of some of the above information, but she is no longer alive. He very rarely spoke about his service. So all we have are two photos, his campaign medals, and his daughter's notes.

Any help with information about his service record would be appreciated but I realise that many service records were lost during a 1940 bombing raid on London and maybe is the reason why we cannot find any information. Possibly the medal record index might have some information.
 
The rank on the war memorial entry is Cpl but I can't find any cpl in the medal rolls for the RFC.
 
Hi Janice and Lyn, thanks for looking. I had some doubts about NCOs and ordinary airmen flying as aircrew in the RFC and had a look at
https://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/index.php?/topic/189681-which-ranks-flew-in-wwi/ but am not much wiser.

His daughter Mary (May) for some reason wrote in her notes that the RFC became the RAF on 1st April 1918. She also wrote that he had six children, the first born in 1915, the second in 1916, and she Mary Russell was born in 1919 but at the moment we have no actual date for her birth because we could then subtract 9 months from that date to roughly work out when he was recovered after being wounded in France.

There was probably much confusion at the time with the change from RFC to RAF and then the mistake on the war memorial.
 
Hi Lyn, from Mary Russell's notes they were:-
Irene (Renee) Russell born 1915
Margaret (Madge) Russell born 1916
Mary (May) Russell born 1919
William Russell born 1921 but died at 3 months
Josephine and Tony Russell (twins) born 1936
 
oops sorry phil just re read post 1...his next of kin would have been his wife lillian not his children...will have a potter on ancestry see if i can find anything...

lyn
 
I must admit Lyn, I never thought and just assumed you were asking about his children. I know a bit about many things but am a complete novice on tracing ancestors. Josephine Russell (born 1 Mar 1937 died 1 Apr 2013) had started a search on Ancestry in 2009 resulting in a '5th Generation Pedigree Chart' which has the Russell line going back to 1843 and the Farnsworth line back to 1776.
 
no worries phil ive been at family research for about 8 years and im still learning..good research by josephine russell but what you need is anything to do with williams time in service..im surprised his medal card is not there as most of those were kept intact..will plod on...

lyn
 
Hi Lyn, all we seem to know is what I have put in post#1 and maybe it is not enough. Because he was awarded a French medal I had a go at looking at the French medal records but the language defeated me and the general complications of their records. I've also mislaid the website address so will have to look at 'my activity' on Google to find it to maybe have another go.
Phil
 
ok phil anything you can find maybe of use...so far the only thing ive turned up is william on the 1911 cenus with parents and siblings..occupation joiner..

lyn
 
Thanks everyone for your help. Looking through Josephine Russell's papers she had copies of the 1871,1881, 1891,1901, and 1911 census plus some charts from Ancestry and his marriage certificate etc. But apart from Mary Russell's brief notes, no written evidence of his military service.

The only evidence we do have regarding William Russell's service in WW1 are my brother-in-law's memories of him including the scar from the bullet wound on his forehead, the three photos in post#1, and his name in the RFC section on the war memorial.

It looks like his service records were among those destroyed in the 1940 bombing and also in (post#2) Janice found no mention of him in the medal rolls for the RFC/RAF.
 
I was surprised by the lack of a medal entry - I thought those records were complete. I don't know anything about RFC ranks and wondered if he had a different rank after the war memorial engraving. If we could find that out it might help. I also found a suggestion that later medals came from the Air Ministry not the War Office and so might be listed elsewhere. Otherwise try here https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk...ch/research-guides/airman-royal-flying-corps/. Perhaps asking the RAFmuseum might help.
 
Phil,

It doesn't look like anyone took a look at the URL I posted in #12 and on the next page are his awards. If you can send me your email address via Private Message, I will copy them and send them to you this afternoon. I'm also pretty sure that having found that we may be able to find a bit more if we do more digging.

Maurice
 
morning janice..yes i thought i would be at least able to find his medal card as i believe they are complete...seems very strange to me...

lyn
 
sospiri said:
Phil,

It doesn't look like anyone took a look at the URL I posted in #12 and on the next page are his awards. If you can send me your email address via Private Message, I will copy them and send them to you this afternoon. I'm also pretty sure that having found that we may be able to find a bit more if we do more digging.

Maurice
Click to expand...

morning maurice i looked at it but it came up log in or register...thats great then if you have found the medal awards...i know you want to send them to phil privately but is it possible for you to also post them on here as well please..may help the research

lyn
 
Morning Lyn. I have a log in but not a subscription so can search but not see records which sometimes helps but not in this instance.
 
Duly received & replied via e,ail, Phil. Lyn / Janice, I'll also post them on here later this afternoon as I have to go out now.
Maurice
 
Sorry to say this but as there seems to be no registration for Mary's birth and you are puzzled by the date - is it possible she was not William's? This might mean she was registered with a different surname. I found birth records for all the rest - Irene seems to have been registered as Lilian Irene. The other births seem to be registered in Lancashire not Cheshire.
 
Hi Janice, Dukinfield was near the border of Cheshire and Lancashire and I notice William's and Lillians' marriage certificate states in the district of Ashton-Under-Lyme in the counties of Lancaster and Chester. Later today I will scan an Ancestry document which was obtained by Josephine Russell in 2009 and also Mary Russell's brief notes and post them.
 
I have found Mary's birth - so apologies for my earlier comment!! I am not sure why it didn't come up earlier. Also found William is listed living in Ashton under Lyme on 1911 census
 

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I think this is him who I've found on the Absent Voter’s list Stalybridge and Hyde 1918 on FMP

William Russell, 294 King Street, Dukinfield, Cheshire 26538. Cpl.Mec., 49th Sqd RAF

He is also on the RAF muster roll on FMP, which gives the following info

Air Force Number 26538, Name William Russell, RNAS or RFC Classification - Rigger, Remustered to Air Force Trade Classification - Rigger (Aero), RNAS rating or RFC rank or Appointment = Corporal, New rank in Air Force - Cpl.Mech, date of joining 14/4/16, date of last promotion 1/10/17, Normal rate Air Force Pay 5s 0d, Terms of Enlistment D/W.

If it is correct and you would like a copy of the document please let me know and I will scan a copy to you, unfortunately I'm getting a message that the file is too big so can't post here.
 
Last edited:
bewdley said:
I think this is him who I've found on the Absent Voter’s list Stalybridge and Hyde 1918 on FMP

William Russell, 294 King Street, Dukinfield, Cheshire 26538. Cpl.Mec., 49th Sqd RAF

He is also on the RAF muster roll on FMP, which gives the following info

Air Force Number 26538, Name William Russell, RNAS or RFC Classification - Rigger, Remustered to Air Force Trade Classification - Rigger (Aero), RNAS rating or RFC rank or Appointment = Corporal, New rank in Air Force - Cpl.Mech, date of joining 14/4/16, date of last promotion 1/10/17, Normal rate Air Force Pay 5s 0d, Terms of Enlistment D/W.

If it is correct and you would like a copy of the document please let me know and I will scan a copy to you, unfortunately I'm getting a message that the file is too big so can't post here.
Click to expand...
Thanks very much Bewdley for your information it looks to have found him and matches addresses we know.
I have a copy of their marriage certificate which gives his address as 53 King Street and his wife's address as 294 King Street. Looking at his rank in the RFC/RAF I am slightly doubtful about whether he would be flying as aircrew but being a rigger he might have gone up on an air test. There is also a possibility that he could have been shot on the ground although his daughter Mary has written that he was shot down.

Thanks again, very much appreciated.
oldmohawk ...:)
 
Still chasing about, but here's what I have so far.

Maurice
 

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Many thanks Maurice and thanks for the email information you sent me.
A quick look at the info seems to indicate he suffered a fractured skull. I will have to print out the records and study them, I'm always better reading from a paper copy !
He lived until 1970 and his wife lived until 1980.

Phil
 
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