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Does this photo tell a story

  • Thread starter Thread starter scottergirl
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scottergirl

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Can anyone guess what sort of place this was? Who might the man in the suit be? My Grandad is the man sitting at the front with braces, I would love to know more about the photo if anyone has any ideas.
 
Thank you, all I know is that the men are from the Royal Warwickshire Regiment, but that's it. I can't find anything about my Grandad except the medals he received including the Silver War Medal, but can't find out if he was wounded or why he came back. It's a mystery.
 
Hello Scottergirl

The Territorials in WW1 were re-numbered in early 1917. Thus your grandad's six-digit number 200382 was allocated to the 5th Bn The Royal Warwickshire Regt. Looking at his Medal Index Card he also appears to heve been awarded the TF Medal which probably means he was a pre-war Territorial and served in the 1/5th Royal Warwicks during WW1.

His name appeared twice in the casualty lists published in the Birmingham Daily Post

Eagles C H 2242 Cpl 27 Sept 1916 (Somme & his original number)

Eagles C H 200382 L/Sgt 9 Oct 1917 (Passchendaele & his new number)

The dates are when his name appeared in the papers, not the actual date of wounding, which would be approx 1 to 2 weeks beforehand.

Regards

Terry

The photograph could possibly have been taken at pre-WW1 annual training camp which the Territorials did.
 
Thank you so much Terry, I have been trying to find out information about my Grandad for so long without success. How do I research pages from the Birmingham Daily Post?
 
I have a Charles Williams No 1454 RWR, and have been informed that he was in the TF and a member of either in the 1/5th or the 1/6th, how can i find out which one of these he belonged to ?

Chucka
 
Hi Chuka

The date on his M.I.C. confirms he was a Territorial (23/3/1915 the day the 143 Bde TF of the 48th Div embarked for France). However, I have no other reference of him as to which battalion he was serving in. Sorry.

Regards

Terry
 
Hi Terry, thanks for your reply, have you any suggestions on how i could find out which Btl he was in.

Chucka
 
Thanks Alf,,, Hope you had the same... and the rest of our forum buddies.


Chuka

I have done a check on the Soldiers Died in the Great War. A Territorial with a similar number was a Sgt Sorrel of the 1/6th Warwicks his number was 1457. There was also a 1st Warwicks man with the same number also KIA.
There were two men killed in the Warwicks with the same number as C Williams, 1454.... one was in the 1st Bn the other in the 2nd Bn.

There were two killed with the number 1455... one in the 9th Bn the other in the 1st Bn.

One man of the 10th Bn killed with the number 1456


I also checked the range of numbers of soldiers killed during the first few months of active service.

The 1/5th had men killed within the number range 1131 to 2436 and the 1/6 had men killed between the number range 1373 to 4655.

I do not know how you would decide which battalion he served in.

Regards

Terry
 
If you look at his belt he has several souveniers adorned on it comprising of cap-badges and shoulder titles. The Royal Warwickshire badge being in the middle.

Terry
 
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