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Our resident military expert Paul Nixon, pictured below, is back this month to help you solve your military family history mysteries.
From Pauline Beaty:
‘I am having difficulty in getting any information about my grandfather on my mother’s side. What I know so far is that he was born Frank Shorthouse in June 1899, possibly in/near Burton-on-Trent.
He enrolled in the Royal Scots and was awarded the Military Medal in WWI serving as Frank Smith. In WWII, still serving as Frank Smith, he was enlisted into the Grenadier Guards, rising to lance corporal. He died after illness on 20 December 1942 and was buried at Windsor Cemetery. His two army numbers, according to his medals, are 5040930 and 352759.
He married Jane Howath, possibly in Whitechapel, London in 1925. Because of his alias of Smith, it is proving very difficult to confirm some of the details already found and impossible to progress further with the family tree. Any suggestions as to how I could continue would be welcome. As can be seen, some of the facts should have been obtained before his two daughters died but as is often the case it was left until it was too late. I have tried to give you all I know.’
Paul says:
’352759 is Frank Smith’s Royal Scots number from the First World War and the number belongs to the series which was originally allocated to the 9th (Territorial Force) Battalion of that regiment. His medal index card shows that he did not arrive overseas until after 31 December 1915 and he subsequently transferred to the North Staffordshire Regiment where he was given the number 69153.
The London Gazette published details of his Military Medal and announced it on page 19 of issue 31405 which was published on 13 June 1919. The entry reads, ‘352759 Pte Smith, F, 11th Bn (Burton-on-Trent’. The notification of the 11th Battalion is helpful as this will enable you to call up the war diary for this battalion and back-track to see if there is a mention of him and information about the action for which he was awarded the MM.
The number 5040930 belongs to the series which was begun in 1920 and this particular number belongs to the block which the North Staffordshire Regiment used (5038001-5094000) I’d suggest that having transferred to the North Staffs some time before 1920, he remained with the regiment and was then re-numbered in 1920. It would appear that he was a career soldier and I’m interested to know on which medal this latter seven digit number appears. You say he served during WW2 but the WW2 medals were issued unnamed and so I wonder whether the medal that you have is a Long Service Good Conduct Medal, which is a possibility as these were named.
WW2 service records are not yet in the public domain but you could request a copy easily enough by contacting the MoD. Try this website: www.gov.uk/requests-for-personal-data-and-service-records‘
If you’d like to send your question to our experts, please register or opt to receive newsletters in My Account. Unfortunately our experts only have time to answer a few queries each month. If yours wasn’t answered this time, you could be lucky next month!
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Please note: This post has originated from a news feed from an external website.
Family Tree Forum neither endorses nor is responsible for the views of the author or any other content.
From Pauline Beaty:
‘I am having difficulty in getting any information about my grandfather on my mother’s side. What I know so far is that he was born Frank Shorthouse in June 1899, possibly in/near Burton-on-Trent.
He enrolled in the Royal Scots and was awarded the Military Medal in WWI serving as Frank Smith. In WWII, still serving as Frank Smith, he was enlisted into the Grenadier Guards, rising to lance corporal. He died after illness on 20 December 1942 and was buried at Windsor Cemetery. His two army numbers, according to his medals, are 5040930 and 352759.
He married Jane Howath, possibly in Whitechapel, London in 1925. Because of his alias of Smith, it is proving very difficult to confirm some of the details already found and impossible to progress further with the family tree. Any suggestions as to how I could continue would be welcome. As can be seen, some of the facts should have been obtained before his two daughters died but as is often the case it was left until it was too late. I have tried to give you all I know.’
Paul says:
’352759 is Frank Smith’s Royal Scots number from the First World War and the number belongs to the series which was originally allocated to the 9th (Territorial Force) Battalion of that regiment. His medal index card shows that he did not arrive overseas until after 31 December 1915 and he subsequently transferred to the North Staffordshire Regiment where he was given the number 69153.
The London Gazette published details of his Military Medal and announced it on page 19 of issue 31405 which was published on 13 June 1919. The entry reads, ‘352759 Pte Smith, F, 11th Bn (Burton-on-Trent’. The notification of the 11th Battalion is helpful as this will enable you to call up the war diary for this battalion and back-track to see if there is a mention of him and information about the action for which he was awarded the MM.
The number 5040930 belongs to the series which was begun in 1920 and this particular number belongs to the block which the North Staffordshire Regiment used (5038001-5094000) I’d suggest that having transferred to the North Staffs some time before 1920, he remained with the regiment and was then re-numbered in 1920. It would appear that he was a career soldier and I’m interested to know on which medal this latter seven digit number appears. You say he served during WW2 but the WW2 medals were issued unnamed and so I wonder whether the medal that you have is a Long Service Good Conduct Medal, which is a possibility as these were named.
WW2 service records are not yet in the public domain but you could request a copy easily enough by contacting the MoD. Try this website: www.gov.uk/requests-for-personal-data-and-service-records‘
If you’d like to send your question to our experts, please register or opt to receive newsletters in My Account. Unfortunately our experts only have time to answer a few queries each month. If yours wasn’t answered this time, you could be lucky next month!
More...
Please note: This post has originated from a news feed from an external website.
Family Tree Forum neither endorses nor is responsible for the views of the author or any other content.