graham01 Posted 8 February , 2009 Share Posted 8 February , 2009 how can i find out which battalion my greatgrandfather served with(robert hughes 3313).his medal index card shows his date of entry into theatre(france)5 august 1915.have come to a full stop in my research.been on ansestry to find his mic but no other records are there.i have his medals and would like to know more about his war service. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sotonmate Posted 8 February , 2009 Share Posted 8 February , 2009 Graham As you have his medal card you could post the letters and numbers against his medal issues and it would help find the Battalion. From that info we can find the original Medal Roll which will show his battalion.If you're quick (by Monday evening) I will do it for you ! The date into Theatre doesn't seem to coincide with any particular Battalion move to France,nor any specific Division. He may have been part of a replacement batch or followed on after a Battalion had landed there. This I discovered from reading the page on the Battalion in the Long Long Trail,at top left of this page: http://www.1914-1918.net/kings.htm Sotonmate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
graham01 Posted 8 February , 2009 Author Share Posted 8 February , 2009 Graham As you have his medal card you could post the letters and numbers against his medal issues and it would help find the Battalion. From that info we can find the original Medal Roll which will show his battalion.If you're quick (by Monday evening) I will do it for you ! The date into Theatre doesn't seem to coincide with any particular Battalion move to France,nor any specific Division. He may have been part of a replacement batch or followed on after a Battalion had landed there. This I discovered from reading the page on the Battalion in the Long Long Trail,at top left of this page: http://www.1914-1918.net/kings.htm Sotonmatesotonmate thanks for reply.i looked at battalion movements and as you said dates dont match.numbers on mic are as follows victory and british..lc/8c 4/100/5 and on 15 star..sc/101 b80 8140 .only other thing on there is disem.21/2/19.thanks again.graham Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sotonmate Posted 8 February , 2009 Share Posted 8 February , 2009 Graham Could you try again with the BWand VMs reference. It doesn't fit in with what I am used to seeing. The 1915 star reference seems OK,as it has the right pattern of data with the last four digits the page number in the original medal Rolls. Could you have misread the first set ? Does he have a Labour Corps number too ? Sotonmate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
graham01 Posted 8 February , 2009 Author Share Posted 8 February , 2009 Graham Could you try again with the BWand VMs reference. It doesn't fit in with what I am used to seeing. The 1915 star reference seems OK,as it has the right pattern of data with the last four digits the page number in the original medal Rolls. Could you have misread the first set ? Does he have a Labour Corps number too ? Sotonmate sotonmate the sc could be lc his labour corps number was 211604.the hand writing on the image of the card is not good.thanks once again for your help.graham. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sotonmate Posted 13 February , 2009 Share Posted 13 February , 2009 Graham I looked at the original Medal Roll this week. It doesn't show the Battalion he served in. There was a second service number shown on the Roll, 211604,which places him in the 5th Battalion at th 1917 re-numbering of the TF. Sotonmate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
graham01 Posted 13 February , 2009 Author Share Posted 13 February , 2009 sotonmate you are a star,thank you very much from me and my family.now we have something more to go on.thanks once again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Promenade Posted 13 February , 2009 Share Posted 13 February , 2009 Sorry to dive in here but with all due respect I need to challenge the statement made by Sotonmate which I believe is incorrect. Always happy to be corrected myself though! According to my records Robert Hughes enlisted in Liverpool on 5/12/14 as a Private in the 7th Battalion King's (Liverpool) Regiment (Territorial Force) - at a guess he came from the Bootle area. He crossed to France 5/8/15, as a reinforcement (the 1st/7th Battalion had arrived in France on 7/3/15), and at some point he was transferred to the Labour Corps (possibly after being wounded or falling ill) with number 211604 (this is NOT his Liverpool Regt number). You may be aware that in early 1917 men who had 4 figure numbers in the Territorial Force had these replaced with 6 figure numbers - Robert does not appear to have been issued one of these 6 figure numbers as he has probably been transferred to the Labour Corps when they were allocated - based on his 4 figure number the 6 figure number he would have hypothetically received is 26602x. If he had been in the 5th Battalion his hypothetical 6 figure number would have been 20110x I have no further information whatsoever on Pte Hughes. Promenade Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Abbott Posted 14 February , 2009 Share Posted 14 February , 2009 If he did come from Bootle, try to visit the library as the Local newspaper (I think it is the Bootle Times) contains all sorts of information on men from the town including photos. M ark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sotonmate Posted 14 February , 2009 Share Posted 14 February , 2009 Promenade/Graham01 Well done ! A re-visit to my notes now shows a spidery (or hurried ) note LC next to 211604 in my transcription of the Medal Roll content. My apologies G. Sotonmate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
graham01 Posted 14 February , 2009 Author Share Posted 14 February , 2009 thanks all for your replies and help.no proplem sotonmate no need for sorry.promenade...thanks for the new insight,very little is known of robert,my great grandad,my nan was only 14/15 when he died.he died quite young after suffering lung ailments as a result of being gassed during the war.where he was gassed i,ve no idea its the only thing my dad and aunties knew about him.when my dad died i came across roberts medals and a box of cap badges but no papers or other info.mark....robert was from great crosby ,i live 5 minutes walk from bootle town hall.i will have a look through their archives on my next day off.graham. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sotonmate Posted 14 February , 2009 Share Posted 14 February , 2009 Graham So,if it was the 1/7th then I could suggest that he was gassed at the Battle of Loos which started on 25 September 1915 with a gas attack from our side which preceded the infantry attack. The snag was that the predicted wind direction and strength didn't reach the Meteorologist's expectations,and the gas began to drift back upon our own troops. The 1/7th were part of 2 Division, positioned on the extreme left of the Battlefield,which,a book I have says was affected by this mistake: "In the event the wind proved unreliable. The gas was turned on (150 tons of it) at 0550 hrs. On the right sector it drifted slowly over the German Lines,where it proved moderately effective;on the left it drifted back into our own lines. Many of the Regiments in the 2nd Division (I Corps) were themselves gassed and those that were not were caught in the open by the German machine gunners" From The Battle of Loos by Philip Warner. Sotonmate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
graham01 Posted 14 February , 2009 Author Share Posted 14 February , 2009 Graham So,if it was the 1/7th then I could suggest that he was gassed at the Battle of Loos which started on 25 September 1915 with a gas attack from our side which preceded the infantry attack. The snag was that the predicted wind direction and strength didn't reach the Meteorologist's expectations,and the gas began to drift back upon our own troops. The 1/7th were part of 2 Division, positioned on the extreme left of the Battlefield,which,a book I have says was affected by this mistake: "In the event the wind proved unreliable. The gas was turned on (150 tons of it) at 0550 hrs. On the right sector it drifted slowly over the German Lines,where it proved moderately effective;on the left it drifted back into our own lines. Many of the Regiments in the 2nd Division (I Corps) were themselves gassed and those that were not were caught in the open by the German machine gunners" From The Battle of Loos by Philip Warner.sotonmate thanks,that seems to make sense.when recovered he must have then joined the labour corps as a l/cpl.graham. Sotonmate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
graham01 Posted 14 February , 2009 Author Share Posted 14 February , 2009 promenade...looking at cap badge,horse in white metal fits in with 1/7th battalion.thanks again mate.graham. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JulianB Posted 14 February , 2009 Share Posted 14 February , 2009 Various different battalions of the King's wore different badges. Some simplified their badges during the 1st WW. When you say "horse in white metal" do you mean just the horse or the whole badge ? In 1914 the 7th would have had the whole badge in white metal but after 1915 they wore regular badges which was the horse in white but the scroll underneath in gilding metal (looks like brass). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
graham01 Posted 15 February , 2009 Author Share Posted 15 February , 2009 julian,white horse on white mound with brass like scroll underneath.graham. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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