Maps - National Library of Scotland

The National Library of Scotland has published some wonderful maps (120,000 of them) which give great street-level detail over a number of years.  I've spent a number of happy hours going through these and I include this resource on this blog as using these maps can not only pinpoint home addresses for soldier ancestors but also identify where a man fought.

 

 

First things first. The website address is http://maps.nls.uk/index.html and the site is highly usable. Readers of this blog will be particularly interested to know that trench maps for France and Belgium from the First World War are also included on the site, as well as British War Office maps for Belgium covering the period 1942-1944. What's more, you can overlay these maps on a modern Google or Bing map which in turn could prove invaluable when tramping the muddy fields of France and Belgium.

 

In the images above, from the top, we see a map of Ypres in June 1917, then a satellite view of Ypres today, and finally a combination of the two. It's really very clever. Go and play.

 

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Royal Sussex Regiment resources online

Here's a very useful resource for anybody (like me) with an interest in the Royal Sussex Regiment.

West Sussex Council has put together a very helpful Great War West Sussex site which provides access to Royal Sussex Regiment war diaries, indexes to Royal Sussex Regiment men (which includes nominal rolls for some battalions), selected newspaper articles and documents and, at the time of writing, 73 case studies of men and women who served.

The jewel in the crown is undoubtedly the war diaries, typed copies of the originals which are available to download free of charge as PDFs. I've grabbed them all.

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The Military Historical Society

I've just re-joined the Military Historical Society. I was a member a few years back and then let my membership lapse. However, I was flicking through some back issues the other week and remembered what a well-informed membership they have. The society produces four bulletins annually, plus the occasional special number. They've just published their latest special and it's a real cracker on the Machine Gun Corps and the flashes and badges worn during the First World War.

Membership of the society costs £20 per annum if you're in the UK and runs from January to January. However if, like me, you decide to join mid-way through the year, you'll be sent the bulletins for the year that have already been published plus, in this case, the special edition too.  Well worth the membership fee I'd say, particularly as the MGC special edition has a stand-alone price of £10.

For more information on the MHS, visit their website.

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Cheshire Brigade, Royal Field Artillery

 

I happened to have a couple of hours to kill when I was in Chester the other week and so popped into the cathedral hoping to find memorials to Chester or Cheshire-related units. I was not disappointed. The window above is one of many stained glass windows in the cloister garden and I took photos of all of those which related to the services.

 

 

This particular window is dedicated in memory of the members of the Cheshire Brigade, Royal Field Artillery, a Territorial Force unit. The theatres in which the Brigade served appear in panels to the left and right:

 

 

whilst the simple panel below indicates that there is further detail to be found inside the cathedral.

Here it is:

The names on this roll are as follows:

Major C W Newton
Lieutenant R H Lord
Lieutenant D F Lord
Lieutenant J L Manford
Lieutenant D L Nicholas
Lieutenant S M Pollard
Lieutenant Timmans
Lieutenant C Wrigley
Gunner J Alsop
Bombardier A Ampson
Gunner G Banks
Gunner J Bellis
Bombardier H Benson
Sergeant F Bird
Bombardier W G Boardman
Gunner J Bradshaw
Gunner R R Catley
Driver W Chadderton
Sergeant W Chick
Driver J M Coglan
Driver H G Cottrill
Driver A Croft
Sergeant C Dymond
Gunner W Fleet
Corporal G Goble
Gunner F Harrison
Driver J Helme
Driver J Henderson
Driver F Howard
Driver A V Hughes
Shoeing Smith H F Jenkins
Gunner W Jennings
Gunner W R Jones
Gunner G H Lewis
Gunner W Marshall
Gunner T Mason
Gunner T Meacock
Gunner W Millington
Shoeing Smith J F Mulligan
Driver G Moss
Gunner R Pace
Gunner J D Parry DCM
Gunner R Peers
Driver A J Randles
Driver J Roach
Gunner G M C Roberts
Gunner G Roberts
Driver G Roberts
Signaller J D Roberts
Gunner R F Ryder
Gunner J Rylance
Sergeant R Simon
Gunner G Steele
Gunner G Sumner
Gunner W Thelwell
Driver E F Thomas
Gunner E F Thomas
Driver S Thomas
Driver J Tomkinson
Gunner H H Walley
Gunner G Warburton
Gunner R H Waring
Gunner L Warren
Gunner W Wildig
Driver G W Williams
Driver H Woodworth
Shoeing Smith A Yates

At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, WE WILL REMEMBER THEM

 

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L/8485 Pte Ernest Locke, 4th Royal Fusiliers

 

 

I am always delighted to hear from descendants of the men I commemorate or refer to on my military blogs and the man above is a new face to me, thanks to an email from his granddaughter yesterday. L/8485 Private Ernest Locke appears on my Royal Fusiliers PoW list on the Army Service Numbers blog, and Maureen Locke has sent me this undated photograph of him as a prisoner.

 

 

Ernest Locke arrived overseas with the 4th Royal Fusiliers on the 13th August 1914, an original member of the BEF and an early arrival in France. No service record appears to survive for him but his regimental number indicates that he must have joined the regiment around December 1900. His terms of enlistment would have almost certainly been seven years with the colours and five on the reserve which suggests that he probably chose to extend his period of reserve service as a Section D Reservist. This would have given him a further four years' reserve service tacked onto his 12 years (effective from December 1912) and whilst on the reserve he would have been paid 4d a day.

 

 

Ernest's medal index card is above, the reverse showing an address in Poplar, East London. On my PoW database I have an address for 179 Maypole Road, Battersea.

 

Ernest Locke was captured on the 26th October 1914 at Thulin, Belgium, this information appearing on a single page in the ICRC collection online. The prison camp is noted as Altdamm and his sojourn there quite possibly saved his life. I do not know when he was repatriated to the UK, but presumably in late 198 or early 1919.

 

 

My thanks to Maureen Locke for this great photo of her grandfather.

 

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Name that unit

 

 

Can anyone help to identify the unit and the date that this photo was taken? Some of the men wear First World War campaign medals and a number of them wear medals on their right breasts. Note the headgear of the men standing (and the man seated far right) which, to my eye look more like the Broderick Cap which was worn by the army between 1902 and 1907.

 

These men don't look like army to me. Could they be fire brigade? Any ideas anyone?

 

 

Update - 5th June 2015

 

I'm reliably informed that these men are fire brigade. Note the axe handle protruding from the man seated far right, and also the man next to him. Many thanks to all who responded.

 

 

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Canadian attestation papers

I was delighted to discover that my Canadian great-uncle's First World War papers have now been completely digitised and can be downloaded free of charge from  Library & Archives Canada. The work has been completed to a high standard and as well as my great-uncle's dental chart - blemish free, above - there was a full service history and other fascinating documents.

The website states, "The digitization of the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) service files is underway and a substantial number of digitized files have been added to our website as part of the Government of Canada First World War commemoration activities. We will add new files every two weeks, as the CEF digitization initiative is a priority for us. LAC will ensure that Canadians have access to the files throughout the digitization process, scheduled to be completed by the end of 2018."

This is a major free online resource and as I have a number of Canadian men on my Chailey 1914-1918 blog, I shall be paying many visits over the coming months.

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Frezenberg Ridge, 13th May 1915

Today marks the 100th Anniversary of the Battle for Frezenberg Ridge, part of what would later come to be known as the Second Battle of Ypres.

In 1985 I interviewed a veteran of that battle, Sergeant Henry Thirlby Hack MM of C Squadron, The Leicestershire Yeomanry and you can read more about him by following the link. 

Thirlby was a former student at Loughborough Grammar School and the school magazine, The Quornian, published an account of the battle which I publish below.  The image above shows men of C Squadron (Loughborough) forming up in Loughborough market square in August 1914.

 

 

Also see the Leicestershire Yeomanry website which gives a great deal of information about the regiment during the First World War and features potted biographies of many of the men, Thirlby Hack included.

 

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5th Royal Irish Regiment

A nice result for a client this morning which, amongst other things, identified the company her ancestor served with when he joined the 5th Royal Irish Regiment.

The invaluable Long, Long Trail website notes that this battalion embarked from Liverpool on the 7th July 1915. However, this man's medal index card records a departure date (rather than an arrival overseas date) of 8th July 1915. Checking the war diary reveals that the regiment, less A Company, embarked on HMT Transylvania. A Company and details (6 officers and 263 men) embarked the following day on HMT Mauretania.

Furthermore, checking the medal roll for this man shows the departure date of 8th July crossed out and replaced with the 22nd  July. This is actually still incorrect. The war diary reveals that HMT Mauretania docked at Mudros on the 19th July. B, C and D Companies landed on the 22nd July 1915 and joined A Company at Pisperaghon.

The image above, courtesy of Wikipedia, shows men of the 10th (Irish) Division at Basingstoke in July 1915.

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Making sense of army ancestors

It's been a busy week so far with research projects.

The Gallipoli commemorations have obviously triggered some requests and it gave me enormous satisfaction to deliver reports to two clients on the 100th anniversary - to the day - of those ancestors hitting the beaches on 25th April 1915.

Recent projects have included:

1. The mystery of a Boer War militia enlistment and whether this man later served in India and with the RGA during the First World War
2. Unpicking the First World War service of a Westmorland and Cumberland Yeoman who later served with the Labour Corps
3. A private with the RAMC who later served with the Welsh Regiment
4. A Royal Munster Fusiliers regular who served in India before the First World War and served with the RMF and Royal Engineers during the Great War
5. A KOYLI recruit who went on to serve as a regular in the British Army and earned a General Service Medal with Iraq clasp to go alongside his 1914/15 Star trio
6. An HLI regular who served in India and who is mentioned multiple times in the HLI Chronicle. I even found a photo of him in the regimental football team (above) in October 1913
7. A Middlesex Regiment regular with service in India, Gallipoli and France and Flanders
8. A Yorkshire Regiment war-time enlistment who later served with the 2nd West Yorkshire Regiment
9. Identifying when a 4th Dragoon Guard, born in the 1840s, must have enlisted and where he subsequently served
10. Researching the military career of a regular in the Dorsetshire Regiment who was awarded the India General Service Medal with clasps for the Punjab and Tirah.

Drop me a line if you think I could help with your own research project.