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Which regiment?
- Thread starter maryt
- Start date
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Wendy
Guest
Hi Maryt if you tell us your grandfathers name and roughley where he lived we may be able to help.
Thank you Wendy, but what I need is information about how to get such military details as there are others in the family whom I want to research. I have been on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission site for those who died, but I want to research those who fought and lived. Maryt
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Wendy
Guest
I would suggest maybe medal cards but there is little information on them. The problem with records from WW1 is that only one in three survive as they were destroyed in WW2 I believe. There are some records on Ancestry or you could try Access to Archives.
I have a book that contains some names from Birmingham but not Aston, I will have a look for you if you let me know the names.
I have a book that contains some names from Birmingham but not Aston, I will have a look for you if you let me know the names.
Last edited by a moderator:
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Paul Hinckley
Guest
Hi
What Wendy says is quite correct. The WW1 Medal Index Cards were stored in a warehouse in London which was bombed during the 1940 Blitz. Many records were burnt and others water damaged.
A good starting point would be https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk...browserefine&pagenumber=1&query=*&queryType=1
Type in whatever details you have and if the MIC exists then it will give you his regiment, rank, service number and date he served overseas (if he did). Once you have this information you may be able to access further records at the National Archive, including his regiment's War Diary.
Good luck
Paul
What Wendy says is quite correct. The WW1 Medal Index Cards were stored in a warehouse in London which was bombed during the 1940 Blitz. Many records were burnt and others water damaged.
A good starting point would be https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk...browserefine&pagenumber=1&query=*&queryType=1
Type in whatever details you have and if the MIC exists then it will give you his regiment, rank, service number and date he served overseas (if he did). Once you have this information you may be able to access further records at the National Archive, including his regiment's War Diary.
Good luck
Paul
Alf
Gone but not forgotten. R.I.P.
Maryt, Wendy is right to ask where he was born and who he married because they all have clues, members of this site found all my Grandads records,
by advising me to send for his marrige Certificate and he was in the Army at the time and his Army number was on it. As they say every little helps.
by advising me to send for his marrige Certificate and he was in the Army at the time and his Army number was on it. As they say every little helps.
Hi all, I have a similar enquiry. My grandfather served in the WW1 and I would like to know his regiment and where he fought. I have a Certified Copy of Attestation which is dated 11 December 1915. His name was Alfred Blackham age 37 and 6 months, a chocolate grinder (at Cadbury's), married with two children. They lived at the time Beaumont Rd, Bourneville at the time. I believe they didn't take married men before 1915. I think he went to Ypres or the Somme - he survived but was "never the same again" according to my dad.
Many thanks for your help,
Sheri
Many thanks for your help,
Sheri
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Paul Hinckley
Guest
Hi sheri
There are three Alfred Blackhams on the medal rolls. The most likely, as it would be his local county regiment, is
Blackham, Alfred
Corps:Royal Warwickshire Regiment
Regiment No:21047
Rank Private...
All three are at https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documentsonline/search-results.asp?searchtype=browserefine&query=first_name%3dalfred%7clast_name%3dblackham&catid=10&pagenumber=1&querytype=1&mediaarray=*
There is an Alfred P Blackham who was in the Royal Garrison Artillery and the other guy served in the West Riding Regiment.
You can download the card and it may give you additional information. If he was in the R Warks then his regimental number will tell you which battalion he was in and then you can work out where he served.
If you need any more help then just let me know.
All the best
Paul
There are three Alfred Blackhams on the medal rolls. The most likely, as it would be his local county regiment, is
Blackham, Alfred
Corps:Royal Warwickshire Regiment
Regiment No:21047
Rank Private...
All three are at https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documentsonline/search-results.asp?searchtype=browserefine&query=first_name%3dalfred%7clast_name%3dblackham&catid=10&pagenumber=1&querytype=1&mediaarray=*
There is an Alfred P Blackham who was in the Royal Garrison Artillery and the other guy served in the West Riding Regiment.
You can download the card and it may give you additional information. If he was in the R Warks then his regimental number will tell you which battalion he was in and then you can work out where he served.
If you need any more help then just let me know.
All the best
Paul
P
Paul Hinckley
Guest
Hi Sheri
Feel free to email it to me (or send me a link to where I can view it) and I might be able to translate it for you. If it's a pdf file (usually is) then there could be a way of enlarging it.
paulhinckley@hotmail.co.uk
Cheers
Paul
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Paul Hinckley
Guest
Thanks for the card Barrie
This confirms that Alfred served in the Royal Warwicks and then transferred into the RDC - the Royal Defence Corps. The RDC was formed during WW1 from men too old or medically unfit to serve overseas or at the front. He has a separate army number for the RDC.
His medal entitlement is to the British War Medal and the Victory Medal. There is no date as to his overseas deployment, but it couldn't have been before 1st January 1916. My guess is that he was one of the Kitchener volunteers, and may have belonged to one of the service battalions (maybe even the one of the Birmingham Pals Bns). I'll try to confirm this for you Sheri.
I think the writing in the remarks column may relate to the re-naming of his medals (they were impressed with details around the rim). It looks like they got his name wrong originally and they had to be sent back and were re-issued in what looks like 1922 - the name "Blackman" is crossed through on the card.
This confirms that Alfred served in the Royal Warwicks and then transferred into the RDC - the Royal Defence Corps. The RDC was formed during WW1 from men too old or medically unfit to serve overseas or at the front. He has a separate army number for the RDC.
His medal entitlement is to the British War Medal and the Victory Medal. There is no date as to his overseas deployment, but it couldn't have been before 1st January 1916. My guess is that he was one of the Kitchener volunteers, and may have belonged to one of the service battalions (maybe even the one of the Birmingham Pals Bns). I'll try to confirm this for you Sheri.
I think the writing in the remarks column may relate to the re-naming of his medals (they were impressed with details around the rim). It looks like they got his name wrong originally and they had to be sent back and were re-issued in what looks like 1922 - the name "Blackman" is crossed through on the card.
Alan Tucker
master brummie
Looking at this service number I would suggest 1st/6th Territorial Bn
Hi Paul, Barrie and Alan, how kind of you to find out this information for me. I downloaded the copy of the medical card but Barrie's was easier to read but of course I don't understand what it all means. Unfortunatly Alfred's medals were sold in the 1960's, not by me, but I wish they had not been. And no he wouldn't have gone until 1916 as he didn't join up till Dec. 1915. Will I be able to find out where he fought. Many thanks to you,
Sheri
Sheri
Alan Tucker
master brummie
History of the 1/6th Battalion, the Royal Warwickshire Regiment, 1914-1919 (Birmingham: Cornish Brothers, 1922). Slim vol. 91pp. Diary of war; roll of killed by battle;officers list; decorations.
Birmingham Reference Library Local Studies and sale copy at St John’s Museum, Warwick (i.e. Fusiliers Museum was Royal Warwicks)
Birmingham Reference Library Local Studies and sale copy at St John’s Museum, Warwick (i.e. Fusiliers Museum was Royal Warwicks)
Graham
GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN
Hi Barrie,
You have done some good work here and seem to have a vast knowledge of the subject. I have none, that's why I wonder if you could help a fellow Brummie find some information on his grand dad?
For some years now I had been trying to find out something quite simple, my grand dad's Christian name! All I and the rest of my family knew was his sir name as that was my mother's maiden name, Sheldon, and also that he never came back from WW 1. Then by a stroke of luck my cousin, Frederick, found me on FR and I asked him if he had his mom's birth certificate. He went one better than that, he had my grand dad's marriage lines! So I'd found my grand dad's name was John Sheldon.
Then I started searching things like CWGC records and even got some Belgian experts to try and find where he was killed, buried ETC, though many Sheldon’s, a lot with the name John, died in France and Flanders, I couldn't find a perfect match. Now last week through a link on this great forum and its members, I stumbled on a website that had a match for my grand dad. So I paid the search fee and found John Sheldon from Birmingham, King's Royal Rifle Corps, Enlisted at Lichfield, rank; rifleman N° 4581, theatre of war; France and Flanders. But he died on the 23rd December 1918 in Germany as a prisoner of war and is buried in Hamburg. No wonder I couldn't find him in France or Flanders! https://www.cwgc.org/search/certificate.aspx?casualty=902646 (This says 9th battalion; on another website it says 1st battalion.)
Now Barrie I wonder if you can find anything on this John Sheldon? As everything else matches my searches, I'm sure that I'll never get closer than this to finding a perfect match for my grand dad.
Graham.
You have done some good work here and seem to have a vast knowledge of the subject. I have none, that's why I wonder if you could help a fellow Brummie find some information on his grand dad?
For some years now I had been trying to find out something quite simple, my grand dad's Christian name! All I and the rest of my family knew was his sir name as that was my mother's maiden name, Sheldon, and also that he never came back from WW 1. Then by a stroke of luck my cousin, Frederick, found me on FR and I asked him if he had his mom's birth certificate. He went one better than that, he had my grand dad's marriage lines! So I'd found my grand dad's name was John Sheldon.
Then I started searching things like CWGC records and even got some Belgian experts to try and find where he was killed, buried ETC, though many Sheldon’s, a lot with the name John, died in France and Flanders, I couldn't find a perfect match. Now last week through a link on this great forum and its members, I stumbled on a website that had a match for my grand dad. So I paid the search fee and found John Sheldon from Birmingham, King's Royal Rifle Corps, Enlisted at Lichfield, rank; rifleman N° 4581, theatre of war; France and Flanders. But he died on the 23rd December 1918 in Germany as a prisoner of war and is buried in Hamburg. No wonder I couldn't find him in France or Flanders! https://www.cwgc.org/search/certificate.aspx?casualty=902646 (This says 9th battalion; on another website it says 1st battalion.)
Now Barrie I wonder if you can find anything on this John Sheldon? As everything else matches my searches, I'm sure that I'll never get closer than this to finding a perfect match for my grand dad.
Graham.
Graham
GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN
Barrie, thanks for looking at that but it was from my grand dad John Sheldon that I need some information, do you have access to his medal card please? John Sheldon, rifleman N° 4581. https://www.cwgc.org/search/certificate.aspx?casualty=902646 Thanks again for looking.
Graham.
Graham.
barrie
master brummie
My apologies Cadeau, I sent it to the wrong person
here is the one for John Sheldon. You will notice that it is different to the others, perhaps because he was missing in action at the time?
barrie
master brummie
Please accept my apologies mate, I did reply, but sent it to Cadeau instead of yourself. You will find the medal card for Joseph towards the top of page 3. Sorry.
barrie
Graham
GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN
My apologies Cadeau, I sent it to the wrong person
Barrie, thanks a million for looking that up for me, your the best. I will now have to try and find out more about John Sheldon. Every bit along the way helps.
Cheers, Graham.