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The Great War (1914-1918) Forum

Remembered Today:

Celebrity MIC's


Skipman

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Interested in celebrity MIC's and have searched for a few. Couldn't find Winston Churchill. I did find a few MID cards for B L Montgomery but not MIC. Had to buy S Sassoon from N/A. Do Ancestry deliberately withold them?

Did find 'the Auk '

2zz817p.jpg300qih4.jpg

Hope you too find them fascinating.

To save bandwith I of course use an image hosting service.

Cheers MIC, eh, I mean Mike

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Nothing to add, but ...

I've been interested in war-time poetry of late (currently writing a blog relevent to WW1 and trying to incorportate some poetry into it) so I'm aware of some fairly interesting poets serving during the war. I'm not that familiar with other celebrities serving in the war, so will watch this thread with interest

D

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Yep, I agree Mike, but where do you draw the line with 'celebrity' do you mean then or in later years?

cheers, Jon

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  • 1 year later...

Has anyone had any luck finding Sassoon's MIC on Ancestry? I've been taking advantage of the free access this week and there's no sign of it as far as I can tell (TNA version is here). If they've mis-transcribed it so badly that no-one can find it that would be quite embarrassing. I'm also wondering if it might have been lost or stolen between the cards being moved out of TNA and being scanned by Ancestry.

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Has anyone had any luck finding Sassoon's MIC on Ancestry? I've been taking advantage of the free access this week and there's no sign of it as far as I can tell (TNA version is here). If they've mis-transcribed it so badly that no-one can find it that would be quite embarrassing. I'm also wondering if it might have been lost or stolen between the cards being moved out of TNA and being scanned by Ancestry.

As an officer he would have had to apply for his campaign medals. In Sassoon's case that would not only have been hypocritical but as a 'celebrity' his fame, or notoriety, was in part a result of flinging his gallantry medals away one can see the problem it might cause from a 'PR' perspective if he had applied when everyone else did. The card above from the TNA looks a bit unusual and it seems the medals were not issued until 1935. I wonder if it was filed with his service record

If an officer did not apply for his medals then no card was created.

In any event Ancestry states their database contains 4.8 million records, or 'nearly all the collection'.

On the other hand errors in transcription on Ancestry are not unknown (and sometimes have me tearing my hair out!) I'm not defending them but if they have the mic I don't think they withold them!

Ken

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Hello all

I have heard it said that, when TNA had completed filming the MICs and was contemplating destroying them (before they were rescued by the WFA) members of staff were told that they could help themselves to any "interesting" cards. Also, I believe that an outside party was working on MM awards and was allowed to borrow the originals.

Ron

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Taking Richard van Emden and Victor Puik book 'Famous 1914 -1918' as a starting point (see post 5 above) it appears there are few officers' mics on Ancestry.

Of the twenty one men in the book (admittedly didn't go too far into the records (e.g.Peter Llewellyn Davies (Peter Pan) - 22000 ) I found only five. Most of the 'celebrities' in the book held a commission and do not have a mic on Ancestry.

The three ORs were, as you would expect, all present and correct!

William Arivid RIDLEY Pte 20481

(William Arnold Ridley)

Somersetshire Light Infantry

(Pte Godfrey - Dads Army)

John H R Christie (serial killer)

Pte 106733

Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment

Henry S MOORE (sculptor)

Pte 534592

15th London Regiment

I could only find two officers

B.L. Montgomery

R. War..Regt Commands and Staff

Maurin Harold Macmillan

Grenadier Guards

transcribed as on Ancestrythumbsup.png

Ken

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Sassoon didn't throw his MC into the Mersey - only the ribbon. The medal itself, IIRC, turned up not long ago in the possession of his family.

And I seem to remember from a previous thread that Charles Laughton served in a Cyclists Bn.

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Sassoon didn't throw his MC into the Mersey - only the ribbon. The medal itself, IIRC, turned up not long ago in the possession of his family.

Bit of a pathetic gesture then!

John

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That is Charles Laughton's card. He served with the Huntingdonshire Cyclist battalion in the UK (one of the battalions was stationed not far from his parent's home) and then served from August to November 1918 with the 7th Northamptons. Forum member gporta has done a fair amount of research on him. We believe that he was gassed late in the war, possibly on 4-11-1918.

I too have heard the story of the MIC originals being cherry-picked whilst held by the MOD. Colonel Graham Parker (the current custodian), however, says that he has not heard of that.

Howard Williamson holds the Military Medal cards, and has so since before Ancestry digitised the campaign medals.

Steve.

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Bit of a pathetic gesture then!

Even Sassoon wasn't too happy - he wrote that despite it's symbolic weight, it just floated away!

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Sassoon's card above looks like a SWB card, but doesn't seem to show any SWB entitlement or date of discharge. It clearly was in WO 372 when TNA microfilmed them, so if anything has happened to it, it must have been after then. The worst thing is there's a PTO at the bottom, so it would be very useful to have a double sided scan on Ancestry.

I remember someone saying in another thread that it was Graves who spread the rumour that Sassoon threw his MC away, when Sassoon himself only ever claimed to have thrown the ribbon.

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Mike another few to get your teeth into:

3 other PM's served during WW1, Maurice (listed as Maurin) Harold MacMillan Lt Grenadier Guards:

http://search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/sse.dll?MS_AdvCB=1&db=MedalRolls&rank=1&new=1&so=3&MSAV=2&msT=1&gss=ms_r_db&gsfn=maurin+harold&gsfn_x=XO&gsln_x=XO&gskw_x=1&dbOnly=_F0003FD8%7C_F0003FD8_x&_F0003FD8_x=1&dbOnly=_F0003FD9%7C_F0003FD9_x&_F0003FD9_x=1&uidh=xy5

Robert Anthony Eden Lt KRRC, Capt and Maj General List:

http://search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/sse.dll?MS_AdvCB=1&db=MedalRolls&rank=1&new=1&so=3&MSAV=2&msT=1&gss=ms_r_db&gsfn=robert+anthony&gsfn_x=XO&gsln=eden&gsln_x=XO&gskw_x=1&dbOnly=_F0003FD8%7C_F0003FD8_x&_F0003FD8_x=1&dbOnly=_F0003FD9%7C_F0003FD9_x&_F0003FD9_x=1&uidh=xy5

And Clement Richard Attlee Capt later Maj South Lancs, the thing is he's not on Ancestry but is on the NA's

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documentsonline/details-result.asp?Edoc_Id=1208448&queryType=1&resultcount=1

To go with Arnold Ridley, 7244 Pte John P (Paton) Laurie HAC (Pte Frazer in Dads Army):

http://search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/sse.dll?MS_AdvCB=1&db=MedalRolls&rank=1&new=1&so=3&MSAV=2&msT=1&gss=ms_r_db&gsfn=john+p&gsfn_x=XO&gsln=laurie&gsln_x=XO&gskw_x=1&dbOnly=_F0003FD8%7C_F0003FD8_x&_F0003FD8_x=1&_F0003FD9=honourable&dbOnly=_F0003FD9%7C_F0003FD9_x&_F0003FD9_x=1&uidh=xy5

2285 Sgt later Capt Alexander Milne Royal Warwicks better known as A A Milne creator of Winnie the Pooh:

http://search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/sse.dll?MS_AdvCB=1&db=MedalRolls&rank=1&new=1&so=3&MSAV=2&msT=1&gss=ms_r_db&gsfn=alexander&gsfn_x=XO&gsln=milne&gsln_x=XO&gskw_x=1&_F0003FD8=2285&dbOnly=_F0003FD8%7C_F0003FD8_x&_F0003FD8_x=1&dbOnly=_F0003FD9%7C_F0003FD9_x&_F0003FD9_x=1&uidh=xy5

Finally Capt - Lt Col A E (Arthur Ernest) Percival of the Beds, Essex and Staff of Singapore infamy, 5 entries for him MIC, 2 MID's and 2 duplicates of the MID's:

http://search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/sse.dll?MS_AdvCB=1&db=MedalRolls&rank=1&new=1&so=3&MSAV=2&msT=1&gss=ms_r_db&gsfn=A+E&gsfn_x=XO&gsln=percival&gsln_x=XO&gskw_x=1&dbOnly=_F0003FD8%7C_F0003FD8_x&_F0003FD8_x=1&dbOnly=_F0003FD9%7C_F0003FD9_x&_F0003FD9_x=1&uidh=xy5

Sam

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"Howard Williamson holds the Military Medal cards, and has so since before Ancestry digitised the campaign medals."

Does anyone have any idea whether Ancestry (or Findmypast for that matter) plan to add the MM cards to their online content?

Regards

Steve

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None whatsoever. When I spoke to Graham Parker of the WFA, he said that they considered them as out on loan until Mr. Williamson completes his book on the award of Military Medals. Which is due in the next couple of years, apparently. What happens to them after that is unclear (to me).

Steve.

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  • 8 years later...

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