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advise needed please..

Astoness

Astoness

TRUE BRUMMIE MODERATOR
Staff member
hi all. i need some advise please....mom was only 9 when her dad died but as far as her mom told her her dad fought in ww1...he did survive it but his health was none too good after the war. the info i have off mom as far as she knows is that he was a horseback soldier and was gassed twice riding through the trenches. hence his bad health after..mom thinks that this was in belgium(did we fight in belgium) and he may have been in the warwickshires...

i would love to try and find any record of albert ernest wood..would this be possible as this seems like quite a mountain to climb and i have no clue as to where to start...

thanks for any help you can give me....

lyn:):)

ps..the family do not have one single pic of albert..it would be great if i could track down a group army one with him in it...always asumming the names were on the photo...


 
hi Lloyd i think thats prob what mom meant..riding past the trenches..i dont think she literally meant riding through them...fraid shes not in good health now thats why my info is a tad vaugue..thanks for the help i will see what i can find out...

lyn :):)
 
hi again Lloyd...just a coinsidence that medal card belonging to an albert ernest wood...same name as grandad though...can you tell me where i should start with regards to finding out what regiment he belonged to....

many thanks...

lyn:):)
 
evening shirley.....this sounds like a good starting point....its difficult isnt it when there is no family around to ask... mom was only 9 when her dad died(he did live till 1938) but like i said he was not so good after the war took its toll.... so she only has what her mom told her to go on....

many thanks..i shall make a start in the next few days...

lyn:):)
 
Evening, Lyn
I hope by now you have found the record for Albert Ernest Wood, who was a driver in the Royal Engineers regiment 494424 1914-1920 catalogue ref WO 372/22. I am not sure how this ties in with riding a horse. Assuming we have the correct person this will give you something to work on - if he was in the Labour Corps that would have been almost impossible to search.
Shirley
 
wow shirley..i havent even started searching yet...how can i confirm that this is the correct albert ernest wood...do the records give him a date of birth or an address...i really appreciate your help....thank you

lyn:):)
 
Hi Lyn
If you search FreeBMD to determine if there were other people with the same 1st, middle & last names the right age to fight in WW1 that will provide an idea of how common the name was.
When you order the record, if my own experience is anything to go by, there might be a small number of men with the same name on the same record card, but I was certainly able to distinguish my Grandad. I think you are fortunate that the NA record mirrors all 3 of your Grandad's names.
Once you get the record it is a matter of luck whether it leads into lots or a little more info.
I have not searched, but there is probably a Royal Engineers web site & who knows if there is a regimental museum too where the history is assembled?
Shirley
 
right shirl....i shall do as you suggest...thank you so much....as mom is now 80 i am doing this as much for her as myself...she had so little time with her dad and it would be nice if i could paint the whole picture for her...

lyn:):)
 
Hi Lyn,

The only Albert Ernest WOOD on the Absent Voters List lived at 197 Prescott Street and had a brother, Arthur Henry WOOD living at the same address. Albert Ernest is also down as a driver:-

89280, Dvr., 392 Bde., R.F.A.

Where was he living in 1918?

Maurice :cool:
 
hi maurice.. the 1920 e roll..has him at 197 prescott st....with his dad and mom and bro arthur henry...thats him then for sure...thank you so much..does this mean that the medal card that lloyd kindly posted is my grandads...

lyn...
 
maurice i can see that it is his medal card..the number 392 also appears in the reason for discharge section.....so he was a driver then....cant make out what reason for discharge means..but i can see he was based at aldershot....
 
Hi Lyn,

It doesn't look as if the service number ties up, but then he appears to have changed regiments, so it wouldn't.

KR is Kings Regulations, but I can't help with all the other jargon as I'm ex-RAF myself. Chris B might be able to help.

Let's put it this way - I wouldn't say it was, but equally I wouldn't say it wasn't, but at least you now have a service number to start you off! I'm off to bed as it's nearly 1:00am over here in Crete. Good night,

Maurice :cool:
 
I found this reference to "392"

This memorandum was originally written in March 1993.
Before August 1918 - soldiers were discharged for reasons contained in paragraph 392 of King's Regulations, 1914. Each reason was a sub-paragraph, so someone discharged as medically unfit would be discharged under paragraph 392 (XVI) etc.
In August 1918, paragraph 392 was cancelled and replaced by Army Order 245/1918. This reduced the number of reasons for discharge but retained the original sub-paragraph numbers.
These often appear in WO 329 as 'reason for discharge'.
It appears as eg. 392 (XXIa) then for translation see Army Order 245/1918 under sub para (XXIa).


(And from another site...)
Kings Regulation 392 deals with reasons for discharge and reason (xvi) is "no longer physically fit for service".

This would cover a multitude of reasons, medical and otherwise, for a soldier to be discharged from the army (but I don't think things that he would be court martialled for).
 
When did he marry?

If he was still in the army at the time the marriage certificate may give his regiment and number.

Doug
 
Lloyd..thanks so much for all that info...i twill help me understand better what is written on the cards...looks like grandad was discharged unfit in 1918..

maurice on the medal card he is down as a driver but the family story is that he was on horseback in the army..but as you seem to think he may have changed regiments i wonder if this is true after all.....

thanks for staying up so late to help me on this....must admit the services research is all new to me and i dont have a clue what i am doing:rolleyes::rolleyes: but i am willing to learn...

lyn
 
morning alf...:):) thanks i will start digging tomorrow....think i need all the help i can get....:D:D

lyn
 
lol alf..you really dont know me at all do you....quite hopeless at research...but i get by with a little help from my friends.....think theres a song in that somewhere....:D:D

thanks alf....:)
 
thank you again alf....and i have to write everything down too...confusion sets in very easily with me these days...:D:D
 
Hi Lyn,

Take a look at Chris B.'s site at https://www.1914-1918.net/cra.htm

Here's a brief extract about Albert Ernest WOOD's regiment:-

The Royal Field Artillery
The most numerous arm of the artillery, the horse-drawn RFA was responsible for the medium calibre guns and howitzers deployed close to the front line and was reasonably mobile. It was organised into Brigades, which were under command of Divisions or higher formations.

Maurice :cool:
 
hi maurice..thank you...now this may explain why mom said she was told her dad was something to do with horses when he was in the army..but on his card it say he was a driver..i wonder does this mean the same thing...

bit tired now but i must go into all this tomorrow..

thanks again..

lyn:):)
 
Hi Lyn,

Well some of my SHEPPARDs were cab drivers in Birmingham in the 1870s when a cab was a horse and carriage. Someone had to "drive" the horses that were pulling the guns and, I guess, one of those guys had to ride out in front to reconnoitre the best way to take these pieces of heavy equipment, given that the place was littered with trenches and shell holes and, worst of all, mud!

Apart from all the information on sites such as Chris', there are umpteen books written about the horrendous conditions out there and, I feel pretty sure, at least one that was particularly devoted to the poor horses. One that springs to mind and is available in paperback is "1915: The Death of Innocence" by Lyn MacDonald - Penguin priced at about 10 UK pounds.

Edit: "Over the whole war, Britain lost over 484,000 horses (one horse for every two men)" - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horses_in_World_War_I

Maurice :cool:
 
maurice...by looking at his record card how can i tell what regiment he was in....ive looked on chris site and there is a picture of some soldiers with the caption RFA 126....just wondered if you know what to look for...i cant make it all out on the medal card that Lloyd posted for me yesterday...

lyn...
 
Lyn:

My posting #11 of the information on the Absert Voters List gives his regiment - R.F.A. - Royal Field Artillery. That information is normally supplied to the enumerator by his relatives at home - in this case 197 Prescott Street.

I'm no expert so can't say for certain that the medal card is for the same Albert Ernest WOOD. The service number on the card is different to the service number on the Absent Voters' List. If that is the correct medal card, then my guess is that he originally enlisted in a different regiment, (hence the different service number), but I repeat, I am no expert in World War 1 Army history.

But you have confirmed that he was living at 197 Prescott Street, so at least we know that that was correct. No doubt either his relatives or the enumerator would have copied the information from his Army papers.

Maurice :cool:
 
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