Ancestry put service records online ...
I had no great hope of finding any relative's service papers when the A-C records went online at Ancestry, only about 30% of records having survived WWII bombs, and only 2 known Clay ancestors of an age to be eligible for service - and one of them, Grandad Charles Henry Clay, had, I'd already found with help from GWF Pals, almost certainly served in the Volunteer Training Corps, the Great War fore-runner of 'Dad's Army'.
So, I was intrigued when I fou
Who? Thomas Archibald Clay, my Grandad's younger half brother.
Ordinary? Yes, just like so many more of the millions who served King and Country between 1914 and 1919, whether as Regulars, or eager, patriotic early volunteers, or conscripts.
Little is known of Thomas beyond one very youthful photo, 3 small oil paintings which he produced as a very young man, possibly still a schoolboy, and his WW1 Army Service record, now posted on Ancestry.com.
Before the War
Thomas, born in 1892, was
A Forum Pal has suggested that we bloggers (or some of us - the Pal would name no names, "cos they know who they are" ) are self indulgent wasters of Chris's critical bandwidth - "perhaps???"
The bandwidth suggestion is hokum, bunkum - what's the word? - but are we bloggers self indulgent? Should we find something more useful to do with our time? Should we, because one Pal seems not to like what we do, desist?
Answers on a used £50 note to the usual address, please.
Well, what else would you do?
One of these pesky thoughts relates to the thread in Personal which I last updated a couple of months ago (hey, you can't rush these things!).
Personal, it seems to me, is even more of a dusty, tumbleweed-strewn ghost town now than ever Blogs was. I mean, does any one look at it since the Boss removed it from VNP?
So, the thought goes, why not proceed as threatened earlier, that is: continue Tales from the Old War Office right here?
The thought process co
... or a sea of treacle?
That was fun! The Chat Lobby, I mean (later - much, much later - the Chat Room).
That nice Mr A joined me in the treacle and tried to conduct a conversation. Some chance! And that nice Mr B also popped in - apparently - I'd given up all hope and departed that place long before his presence became known to me.
It worked (or, rather, didn't) something like this:
1. Press Live Chat button
2. Wait for, ooh, some hours (or so it felt) while the loading messag
