Cpl Leonard Bowditch

[David B]

Subject was originally in the Jersey contingent and was transferred to the Royal Irish Rifles (No 7/4072).

After serving in France with the RIR he was transferred to the Hampshire Rifles as Pte L Bowditch (29958) but

I have not been able to find out when this occurred. His service documents do not appear on Ancestry but his MIC

Does. Any Clues ?

David

[Stebie9173]

This is an extract from the records of 29955 ARTHUR ROBERT KEMP, 29955 15th (Hampshire Yeomanry) Bn. Hampshire Regiment giving his transfer date as January 1918. I suspect that Leonard Bowditch's transfer date may have been close by.

(Kemp is indexed on Ancestry under his Labour Corps number of 451271)

Steve.

[Marc Thompson]

David,

The date provided by Steve is a good indicator.

29958 Pte Leonard Bowditch was one of 60 other ranks from the 2nd and 7th R.I.R. (starting from 29956) to join 2nd Hants as reinforcements on 9 January 1918. His formal transfer most likely occured a few weeks later on 28 January 1918. The medal roll indicates that Leonard had previously seen service in France & Flanders with both 7th R.I.R. and 2nd R.I.R. prior to his transfer to the Hants.

The Hampshire Regimental Journal casualty list for June 1918 records him as wounded in action with 2nd Hants and at Chester War Hospital (07/04/18).

Marc

[David B]

David,

Marc and Steve,

Appreciate fast replies - just what I needed to further my family history, never knew exactly

where he was at that time.

David/canberra

The date provided by Steve is a good indicator.

29958 Pte Leonard Bowditch was one of 60 other ranks from the 2nd and 7th R.I.R. (starting from 29956) to join 2nd Hants as reinforcements on 9 January 1918. His formal transfer most likely occured a few weeks later on 28 January 1918. The medal roll indicates that Leonard had previously seen service in France & Flanders with both 7th R.I.R. and 2nd R.I.R. prior to his transfer to the Hants.

The Hampshire Regimental Journal casualty list for June 1918 records him as wounded in action with 2nd Hants and at Chester War Hospital (07/04/18).

Marc

[per ardua per mare per terram]

These details may give clues for his other service:

The Royal Irish Rifles 7th (Service) Battalion

Formed at Belfast in September 1914 as part of K2 and attached to 48th Brigade in 16th (Irish) Division. Moved in January 1915 to Ballyvonare.

5 March 1915 ; absorbed a company of the Royal Jersey Militia. Moved in June 1915 to Ballyholley and to England in September, going to Aldershot.

20 December 1915 : landed at le Havre.

23 August 1917 : transferred to 49th Brigade in same Division.

14 October 1917 : transferred to 108th Brigade in 36th (Ulster) Division. Absorbed into 2nd Bn on 14 November 1917.

http://www.1914-1918.net/ririfles.htm

[IanR]

Hello

Pte Leonard Bowditch was a member of the Jersey Company, Royal Irish Rifles. This was a group of 326 Jerseymen who volunteered in 1915 and were attached to 7th Bn RIR. In October 1917 after 7th RIR was disbanded, the breifly joined 2nd RIR before being moved at their own request to the 2nd Bn Hampshire Regiment in January 1918.

More details on this quite unique little unit is here: http://www.greatwarci.net/army/jersey/jers...nt/jc-index.htm. It is on a site containing a lot of information on the Channel Islands in the Great War.

Also, a book on the Jersey Company is due out in August 2009.

Ian