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Help, please, with the writing on WW1 medal card

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  • Help, please, with the writing on WW1 medal card

    Can anyone explain what this writing means?



    (medal card for William Sellers - Yorkshire Regiment, reg number 1939)

    William died in Flanders 1 May 1915.
    (I am trying to find his origins, but there is neither an age nor a next of kin on the citation on the CWGC site. Also I can't find any army service record or pension record for him.)

    Jay
    Janet in Yorkshire



    Genealogists never die - they just swap places in the family tree

  • #2
    From what I can work out most of the 'extra' writing refers to a perceived problem with his entry on the regimental medal roll and would have been written by clerical staff handling medal entitlement and distribution - whether they will add anything to the information you are after is doubtful I would have thought

    Presume you know though, that if you can get to the NA at Kew you can inspect the original of the medal rolls which should give you a little more detail about his service dates at least - and sometimes a little more

    Soldiers Died in the Great War (which is often a good guide but can't be considered 101% accurate) has him born and resident at the time of enlistment in Eston, Yorkshire and tells us he enlisted in Normanby. His 4 diigit number tells us he was a part time pre war Territorital soldier. You would need an expert on the numbering system in the regiment (which you might find on the Great War Forum) to be able to accurately pinpoint his enlistment date and thus possibly get an idea of his age. The Territorials were formed and numbering started in 1908

    His date of entry into a theatre of war corresponds with the landing in Boulogne of the 1/4 Battalion - and as luck would have it - there is a pretty comprehensive looking website dedicated to them here:



    Hope this helps you find more about him

    Cheers
    Sue

    Comment


    • #3
      William looks to be recorded on the war memorial at Eston (top left panel - but spelt as SellArs) - so that appears to tie in with the SDGW information



      Cheers
      Sue

      Comment


      • #4
        Sue,
        Thanks for your response and also the additional information about William.
        The Eston info is very useful but I'm now unsure whether or not this is the William I'm after

        (I've been asked to trace the men listed on a village war memorial and for some of them, it's not quite as straight-forward as it seems. As the memorials were funded by public subscription, parishioners could submit names of the fallen - so they might have included a distant relative or someone with a very vague connection with the village.)

        At present, I can find no link with the Eston area, but that is a positive, because it could show that I'm on the wrong track and need a rethink!

        Thanks for your time
        Regards,
        Jay
        Janet in Yorkshire



        Genealogists never die - they just swap places in the family tree

        Comment


        • #5
          Hi Jay

          I've researched a local war memorial (if you haven't yet done so, join the Great War Forum - you'll find others doing the same there, and specialists of all kinds who can help you with specific queries). I assume you are checking the parish registers and the local newspapers for any mention of your men.

          One possibility with men who don't have an apparent local connection is that the link is through the mother. There are several I found whose mothers were from the village, but had married and moved away (not necessarily in that order! as many girls went away to work in service and married elsewhere).

          Or they may have had relatives living in the village - I identified one, thanks to a report in the local paper, whose brother had moved there. There is one whose family have left no trace in the village at all, and as he was in the Navy I doubt if the lad himself ever set foot there. But clearly his family must have been living there during the war and had moved there after 1911. And sometimes you have someone who only came to work in the village and had no family there.

          Good luck, I'm sure you'll find it an absorbing and rewarding project.
          Last edited by Blackberry; 05-03-10, 13:15.

          Comment


          • #6
            Hi Blackberry,
            Thanks for your interest and suggestions - yes, it is a fascinating project which has been on file for a couple of years. I've had to tread many different paths - one chap was a nephew of residents, who had spent childhood holidays at the village, with his grandparents. There was an ex-villager who had emigrated to Canada and joined up with Canadian troops, whilst another was the son of the village schoolmaster, who was only in post for 18 months, before moving on to a larger school. (Found the surname purely by chance when reading through the school log book for something else!)
            I now have William Sellers and one other remainder - I think both possibly lived in as farm lads on local farms for a short time, which is why I'm unable to get any angle at all on them.
            It's also interesting that other "lost" men more closely associated with the village by birth, upbringing, parents etc were NOT included, yet two of the men each featured on war memorials in two separate villages.
            Regards,
            Jay
            Janet in Yorkshire



            Genealogists never die - they just swap places in the family tree

            Comment


            • #7
              Yep, the oddest omission I found was a chap whose son is on the memorial, although he himself is not. The family left the village during the war (but before either man was killed) so I can only assume that news filtered back about the son, but not about the father. Both are on the Roll of Honour of those who served.

              Have you perused GR, Ancestry trees etc for any likely relatives who are researching and may know something? I had some success with this.

              Comment


              • #8
                Originally posted by Blackberry View Post
                Have you perused GR, Ancestry trees etc for any likely relatives who are researching and may know something? I had some success with this.
                Yes, but unfortunately they knew less than I did!

                Jay
                Janet in Yorkshire



                Genealogists never die - they just swap places in the family tree

                Comment


                • #9
                  Tis often the way! Keep checking though, my successes came late on, even though I'd searched before. New people adding stuff every day.

                  Comment

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