please help me I am in.......

[rooney317]

Hi
I am currently iving in NZ so can not visit any historic war memorials in uk
Anyone have any information or photos about John Verney Owen born 1894 earlsfield, surrey, he was a lieutenant in the Royal berkshire/buckinghamshire regiment ww1 possibly in far east as I have tried to trace him for ages with no luck, he was married to annie smith in 1918 kingston,surrey.

[garstonite]

welcome to FTF Rooney....when you say you can`t view war memorials,are you saying John died during the war ?...if so was it WW1 or WW2 ?....allan;)

[John-Nihon]

This looks like his marriage:

John V R Owen to Annie Smith, Q4-1918, Kingston, Surrey, Vol 2a, P1124

I presume he died after WW1, as he got married in Q4-1918.

[John-Nihon]

Found a British Army WW1 Medal Rolls Index card for 1914-20, for J V R Owen, 2nd R Berks Rgt.

Have you got the details on this card? Do you have access to Ancestry?

[garstonite]

there`s no death on CWGC for John in any war so he never died in a war....allan

[John-Nihon]

You're probably right Allan.

[SueNSW]

His service record is at the NA in Kew - The National Archives - go to "Search the Catalogue" put his name in as Owen j v r in the top box and use the reference - WO 339 in the bottom one (hope you can find it OK)

You can request that they be digitized (at a cost) and sent to you

Cheers
Sue

[Richard in Perth]

Hi

I know that in NZ your cemeteries have specific areas for military veterans, whether or not they died in service. However, in the UK this is not the case - so unless he died whilst in service, he is unlikely to appear on a war memorial there.

To find his death, you will need to trawl through the death indexes on Ancestry or FindMyPast, quarter by quarter until you find him. Unless you have more info, his death could be any time from after his marriage (1918) until he was say in his nineties (1980's) - so it could be a long haul! And just hope he is listed with both his middle initials, as John Owen(s) is of course a very common name. (Incidentally - his birth is registered as OWENS, whereas his marriage is OWEN - so the death could be either spelling).

Richard

[garstonite]

I`m just curious now ...what does the R stand for in John Verney R Owen...anybody know ?...allan

[Christine in Herts]

Welcome to FTF!

The London Gazette archives (which allows you to download pdfs of the pages) have a couple of military references:

Date: 30 June 1916
Issue number: 29650
Page number: 6589
Gazette Website: PDF Navigator

Date: 18 December 1917
Issue number: 30438
Page number: 13327
Gazette Website: PDF Navigator

Christine

[Christine in Herts]

There's a reference to him being wounded in action in 1916 - in a thread in teh 1914-1918 website. There's a link to this homepage:
John Chapman's Homepage

I am very happy to try to answer your enquiries. Please note however that it is possible that on occasions I may not be able to reply for several days. E-mail me at he quotes his email address
John Chapman

This site has two principal objectives. One to provide information about the Royal Berkshire Regiment in WW1 and the other to provide information about the history of the Parish of Purley on Thames in Berkshire.

Following links, I found this...

I have built up a database which includes details of around 100,000 men who served with the Royal Berkshire or its predecessor regiments. Around 90,000 of these served in the war and this section provides mini-biographies of a few of them.

Christine

[rooney317]

Oh thank you so much I will go do a search now, The R is Raynes so an unusual name, possibly a surname! We were always told that he had died during the war but was unsure as he married in December 1918 so it is a bit of a mystery where he went obviously survived, he must have remarried, I will go to ancestors.co.uk and carry the search on, thank you to all..

[Christine in Herts]

... We were always told that he had died during the war but was unsure as he married in December 1918 so it is a bit of a mystery where he went obviously survived, he must have remarried, ...

The second of the Gazette entries refers to him relinquishing his commission in 1917(?) due to ill health (probably arising from his involvement in the action in WW1).

Christine

[rooney317]

Just want to thank you again for your help I have now found his complete service records through national archives and they are sending me his file, My Mother will be ecstatic to find some records of him in the war, I am crossing my fingers for heaps of info..

[John-Nihon]

That's great news rooney317. Good luck with the, hopefully, loads of info.

[garstonite]

that`s nice Rooney...your mum will be pleased......good luck...allan

[Christine in Herts]

What great news, Rooney! Do lets us know how it comes out!

Christine

[SueNSW]

Great that you were able to locate them OK - glad to have helped - hope they are well worth while

Cheers
Sue

[rooney317]

Hi

Have jut contacted national archives and there estimate to copy and deliver will be 188.20 which converts to est. $350.60 would anyone possibly mind emailing a copy from ancestry or could let me know if it is worth signing up to retrieve the documents, any help would be great even just his name on a service record....
Cheers
Ruth

[WendyP]

Hi

found this article in the Gazette also but this one dated for 1935 so we do know for def' that your chappy did out live WW1 unless of course there wer two men of the same full name


anyway you'll find the ref in the top right and pargaraph as you look at the screen

http://www.gazettes-online.co.uk/issues/34217/pages/7054/page.pdf