David Goldie 1st Battalion Black Watch

[nicolaiona]

Hi Folks,

After much trawling round all the posts and learning what seems like an encyclopedias worth of knowledge I still have questions!

In my quest to research my Great Grandfather, I have gained the following:

his medal index record

location of his will

the war diary of the day he was killed

possibly! a photo (thanks to Ian Roberstson)

I am still missing info such as his enlistment card, service records, hospital records from when he was injured - recupperated at Netley) death certificate and death plaque.

Is it actually possible to trace all these things and does anyone else know whether I may locate or attempt to locate and search all these items?

Is there any other items that I have missed off that I could search for - I'm afraid its becoming a bit of an addiction!

My Great Grandfathers name and details are:

David Goldie, 16, 1st Battalion Black Watch, kia: 16.06.15

Many thanks to all who have helped my quest this far, its greatly appreciated.

[Black Watch]

His service records aren't on ancestry, so it is very unlikely they survived I'm afraid. His hospital records would I imagine form part of his service records. His enlistment card (I think) and plaque would have been sent to his N.O.K.

Death certificates can be obtained from the GRO, but I have no experience of this so wouldn't know how to go about it.

Sorry this is not very promising.

Neil

[John_Hartley]

You can apply for his death certificate online at the General Register Office website.

It's an overseas death and the certificate reference you want is I.1.29.

It will not give details of the cause of death as would a civilian one and is likely to just say "killed in action".

John

[caroline@linkagecomputing.co.uk]

I presume as you have these details you know were he was living prior to war and if on local war memorial .You could look in the local paper or parish magazines for that area and may obtain more information from that source.

Forgot to mention Scotlands memorial site which aims to list all the fallen and might have more details?

[Ian Robertson]

If you know where he was born and where he lived at the time of his enlistment there is a fair chance he would be mentioned in the Local Paper. In Dundee for instance, this would have been "The People's Journal" and local casualties were often mentioned in it, especially in the early part of the war. In my great Uncle's case this was in the second edition after his death. After the war the paper published a Roll of Honour which contained quite a lot of portraits submitted by the next of Kin. The People's Journal also produced local editions of the paper(which was weekly) and these editions covered Angus ,Perthshire and Fife;traditionally the Black Watch's recruiting ground. I can't remember if the roll of honour included the regional casualties but I'm sure that someone on the Forum had a copy of this and had offered to do look ups. In the Dundee Central Library there are bound copies of the original Dundee editions(one for each year of the war) and these are availble on one weeks notice. If he was from Dundee and you don't live in the area I'd be quite happy to go and look on your behalf although it won't probably get done for a few weeks due to Family holidays etc.

As Neil says, his medals,plaque and documents regarding any money he was due/left would have been posted to his next of Kin. There are a few threads on the forum regarding missing plaques etc so searching these may be worth while.

I was absolutely delighted that you may have identified your Great Grandfather in that picture.

good luck with the hunt!

regards

Ian

Edited to say have you visited the CWGC site? see link for a photograph of the cemetery in which he is buried http://www.cwgc.org/search/certificate.aspx?casualty=194799

Edited 19 June , 2008 by Ian Robertson

[dundeesown]

I Don`t Know if this helps but in Soldiers Died in the Great War ( The Black Watch ) it has your man born in Dumfries and enlisted in Dumfries, A/Cpl .

All the best on your hunt Gary.

[dundeesown]

Another bit of info you may Know this but his name is on the Dumfries war Memorial at St.Johns Church Lovers Walk. (216 men Listed ).

All the best Gary.

[Roxy]

Nicola,

Presumably you have seen his CWGC certificate. If not, it is here.

Good luck in your quest.

Roxy

[nicolaiona]

Many thanks to all that posted,

I will certainly order his death certificate now - thanks John for the reference. I am collecting all the info I can so that I can build a website dedicated to him, so any little scraps no matter how small is gratefully recieved.

I do have an interview that he gave our local newspaper in Dumfries (Scotland) -I am originally from Dumfries and did a search of all the old local newspapers before I moved to England.

One more question chaps! If he was from Dumfries then how come he ended up in the Black Watch? How were men enlisted into the various battalions etc... As mentioned elsewhere his son: also called David Goldie also enlisted with the Black Watch - he was born and bred in Dumfries too. He served as a sergeant in the Black Watch SAS.

Many Thanks for the replies.

[Heid the Ba]

He may have thought he looked better in a kilt rather than the breeks he would have had as a KOSBie. Don't laugh, it could be something as simple as that.

[Ian Robertson]

He may have thought he looked better in a kilt rather than the breeks he would have had as a KOSBie. Don't laugh, it could be something as simple as that.

In the Black Watch museum there is a video tape of an interview with an old soldier which runs on a loop. This WW1 warrior came from Burnley and was ask why, when he joined up, he had enlisted in the Black Watch. He said that he had known a B.W. sergeant who had lived in his street when he was a boy and he had considered the sergeant,in his BW kilt, to be the perfect example of military smartness and this was his main motivation in joining the regiment

regards

Ian

[truthergw]

The Black Watch is a very famous regiment. It is now and has been for a very long time. Regiments were not purely local in their influence. All Scots and a great many English would have heard tales of the Black Watch, The Royal Highlanders. Why wouldn't a lad who was set to join the army not state a preference for such a worthy regiment?

[nicolaiona]

Many thanks to all who posted! There is a war memorial in Dumfries and I always wondered why there were so many different regiments listed on it. Of course I'm biased, being a Jock - but they did look rather spelndid!

[NigelS]

Have you got his Effects Register entry from the NAM? see:

http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/i...=effects+record

As you will see from that thread this a not a list of returned possessions but a record of payments owed to next of kin; £15 gets a "Word" transcript of the record and probably, other than payments, won't tell you much you don't already know; So you're under no illusions about what details you will get see posts #48-52 in particular (#52 gives the contact details)

NigelS

[nicolaiona]

Wow! Thanks for that, I have read the posts you mentioned and am aware that I will recive very little info. I too am in the position of not having service records. It would seem that they were destroyed so any little scrap I can get is facinating and thrilling! Many thanks for posting this - I was begining to think I had exhausted all "official" channels for any more info. Will let you know how I get on!

[sotonmate]

N

As I understand it medical records for Netley have not survived. I have asked about these fairly recently from an Army Medical connection in Aldershot and was told there were none. I do know that there was a fire at Netley in the 1960s which did for a heap of papers.

Sotonmate