Dick Smith Posted 31 July , 2008 Share Posted 31 July , 2008 Greetings all. My grandfather was, according to his brother, in either the first or second battalion of the East Surreys. I have since come to doubt that, as he was a railwayman before the war, I believe, and not a regular. He certainly went through the war unscathed, and my father was born 1919, so he must (I hope) have had some leave! He did have a huge spread eagle tattoo, and I remember as a child him telling me that he had it done on board ship at Archangel. This would have been as part of the British forces sent to support the Whites in about 1919-1920. He also said that they never left the ships as their officers were worried about Bolshevik indoctrination. Is this a likely story? Can anyone give me any facts for or against, please? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
purley Posted 31 July , 2008 Share Posted 31 July , 2008 Greetings all. My grandfather was, according to his brother, in either the first or second battalion of the East Surreys. I have since come to doubt that, as he was a railwayman before the war, I believe, and not a regular. He certainly went through the war unscathed, and my father was born 1919, so he must (I hope) have had some leave! He did have a huge spread eagle tattoo, and I remember as a child him telling me that he had it done on board ship at Archangel. This would have been as part of the British forces sent to support the Whites in about 1919-1920. He also said that they never left the ships as their officers were worried about Bolshevik indoctrination. Is this a likely story? Can anyone give me any facts for or against, please? I am not sure about the indocrination - the reasons they rarely went ashore are a bit more complex than that. There is an account on my website see www.purley.eu/H142P/P342arms.pdf although it refers to the composite battalion including the Royal Berks their stories are very similar John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NigelS Posted 31 July , 2008 Share Posted 31 July , 2008 The Surrey History Centre holds records of the East surrey Regiment which might yield further information http://tinyurl.com/6z6yut (a link is given to the A2A site which holds a catalogue) The regimental website (The Queen's Royal Surrey Regiment) gives that it was the 1st battalion that went to Archangel, but no more information than you already have ( http://tinyurl.com/65dqnh ) One point of interest in connection with this which is given on the sites page on Brigadier George Rowland Roupell VC, (he won his VC for a defensive action at Hill 60 in April 1915) is that he and other soldiers had the misfortune to be taken prisoner near Archangel and sent to Moscow (where they were held until repatriated in 1920) when Tsarist troops they had been visiting mutinied. see http://tinyurl.com/54u7jp ) NigelS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dick Smith Posted 1 August , 2008 Author Share Posted 1 August , 2008 Thanks, all. That pretty much confirms the 'family history'. I suspect that there was a lot more, but I was only 10 when he died, and my father didn't seem to have a lot of detail, despite being a regular in the East Surreys himself. I'm mostly interested in how he came through the entire war unscathed, but there are no family members left to ask. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KJames Posted 2 August , 2008 Share Posted 2 August , 2008 From The History of the East Surrey Regiment 34 Officers and 718 other ranks of the 1st Battalion left Tilbury in the early hours of 16th Aug 1919, landing at Murmansk at 6pm on the 25th. It says they went via Kandalaksha and Kem to the Lake Onega region before leaving on the 4th Oct from Kandalaksha onboard the Santa Elena to return to Murmansk and leaving Murmansk on the 10th Oct on the Menominee disembarking at the Royal Albert Docks nr Tilbury on the17th. Ken Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris_Baker Posted 2 August , 2008 Share Posted 2 August , 2008 There is no reason to doubt that your grandfather went to 1st or 2nd Battalion simply because he was not a regular. All men who enlisted into Kitchener's New Armies in 1914 and 1915, and most conscripts from 1916 onward, were enlisted into the regular army on special war service terms. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dick Smith Posted 2 August , 2008 Author Share Posted 2 August , 2008 Yes, I believe he enlisted early (his brother said he served 'right through the war'), but my first thoughts were that he changed battalions as a draft later in the war. Surely Kitchener armies were placed in higher-number service battalions? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glosters Posted 3 August , 2008 Share Posted 3 August , 2008 A detachment of the 1st East Surreys did not return to the UK until March 1920. They were posted to Helsinki, Finland in September 1919 as part of a bizarre little story which I researched while living in Finland. I am now trying to identify who was involved, but apart from attached officers it is proving difficult. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bootneck Posted 3 August , 2008 Share Posted 3 August , 2008 As NigelS states The Surrey History Centre has quite a lot of material on the 1st Bn, East Surrey Regiment. This includes Bn Part 2 Orders 1915 to I beleive 1919-20? as well as a couple of casualty books. Regards Bootneck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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