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Remembered Today:

SDGW Lookup


SteveE

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Firstly a question. Is SDGW searchable (and printable) by particular battalion as the answer to this obviously has a knock on effect with the next question/favour.

I'm constructing a database from whatever sources I can get hold of for men of the 25th (Service) Battalion Royal Fusiliers (Frontiersmen).

If the answer to the first question was yes, is there some kind soul with access to the above who would be prepared to list all the men from this particular battalion for me.

Obviously I would be more than happy to reimburse any costs involved.

As always, many thanks in advance.

Steve

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There are only 127 soldiers in this list, If you post me an Irish stamp I will donate the cost of the printingj just remind me in your letter of the unit.

Tom Burnell, Holycross, Tipperary, Ireland.....none of yer fancy zipcodes here.

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TOM

I will send you the stamps for steve just give me your address via e,mail

Nigel

sorry just noticed your address------i must learn to read

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Tom

Many thanks for the very kind offer of the list of relevant soldiers contained on SDGW. :)

and Nigel

Thanks for the offer to sort out the stamps, I owe you one :)

Regards

Steve

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Steve

12995, Pte Frederick John Baldwin

This Driscoll man volunteered for service with the 25th Battalion because of his knowledge of East Africa. He was an ex RMLI with 12 years service.

He died of illness, aged 41, on 3rd April 1915 and is buried in Cheltenham Borough Cemetery. He is commemorated on the Cheltenham War Memorial.

Regards

Jimmy

post-1-1082115003.jpg

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Jimmy

Thanks very much for the information, another one to add to the list.

Steve

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Nigel

Thanks very much, very good of you and much appreciated.

Steve

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Steve

12995, Pte Frederick John Baldwin

This Driscoll man volunteered for service with the 25th Battalion because of his knowledge of East Africa. He was an ex RMLI with 12 years service.

He died of illness, aged 41, on 3rd April 1915 and is buried in Cheltenham Borough Cemetery. He is commemorated on the Cheltenham War Memorial.

Interesting, this man has obviously enlisted into the 25th Battalion but has died before they embarked for East Africa on 10th/11th April.

He appears on CWGC but has no MIC online, would he have qualified for a medal of any sort? I'm assuming that his RMLI service was pre-war and he didn't transfer.

Steve

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Steve

If they left at the beginning of April and Bukoba was in late June-----what did they do for almost 2 months, it wouldnt have taken more than a week to get there

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Steve

Baldwin served 12 years in the RMLI and a further 9 years in the RNR before volunteering for the 25th. As far as I can ascertain, he served in London between February 1915 up to his demise in the April, a victim of meningitis.

Regards

Jimmy

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Nigel

If they left at the beginning of April and Bukoba was in late June-----what did they do for almost 2 months

The Battalion arrived in Mombasa on 4th May (a journey, therefore, of just over 3 weeks), they then spent the rest of May and beginning of June in camp at Kajiado before leaving on the 19th June for the attack on Bukoba which actually commenced on 22nd June 1915.

Steve

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Jimmy

As far as I can ascertain, he served in London between February 1915 up to his demise in the April

Do you know where he enlisted in the 25th? My GGrandfather enlisted into the 25th at Cheltenham, did this man do the same?

Steve

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I've got a typed copy of an account of a trip to the Western Front made by "a squadron of the Legion of Frontiersmen" with "their beloved leader Lieutenant-Colonel Sir. Dennis Readett-Bayley" in 1929 written by 'A. Spy'. Only three names are mentioned in the text, but they are:

Sergeant-Major Simpkins

Sergeant Arch

Trumpet-Major Stanley Gill

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Andrew

The 25th Battalion Royal Fusiliers (Frontiersmen) only fought in East Africa and not the Western Front so could this have been "The Manchester Troop of the Legion of Frontiersmen" who were, in August 1914, in action as the first British troops and fighting in defence of Belgium as part of the 3rd (Belgian) Lancers?

Two different units formed from the same 'Frontiersmen' core.

Steve

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Ah! You're probably right. Actually, I suppose you must be!!. Thanks for the correction.

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Steve

For what its worth, SDGW says he enlisted in Cheltenham. He may have joined the LofF in 1904 and enlisted in the 25th when the War Office accepted the Battalion.

I'll do some digging.

Regards

Jimmy

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SDGW readout will be in the post in the morning.

regards.

Tom

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Cheers Tom

I eagerly await its arrival :D

Steve

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Jimmy

This Driscoll man volunteered for service with the 25th Battalion

Reading this thread again, I didn't appreciate first time around that Baldwin is in fact commemorated on the memorial as having served in the battalion under its unofficial title and that of it's founder.

From your website: BALDWIN PTE. F.J. DRISCOLL'S F.

Which I assume to be Driscoll's F(rontiersmen) although Driscoll's Scouts were an 'Irregular Unit' which served in the Boer War it's interesting to see that the title got carried over into the Great War.

Is it unusual for the unofficial regimental designation and not the recognised War Office one to be used on Great War memorials?

Steve

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Steve

A snip of Baldwin's commemoration on the Cheltenham obelisk.

From memory, I believe it is the only "unofficial" regimental designation on the 51 memorials/rolls of honour in and around Cheltenham. Looking at contemporary newspapers, the Cheltenham Memorial Committee wanted precise and correct information for those to be commemorated (and in the main, they they got it).

I guess that the many thousands of committees around the land at the end of the war had to rely on the information provided by the relatives/friends of those to be commemorated.

Regards

Jimmy

post-1-1082636293.jpg

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hello

Would somebody please have a look on their SDGW cd and post the details for the following soldier:

241499 Private Walter Joseph Smith, Hampshire Regiment, died 1918 in Middle East and buried Baghdad.

I'd especially like to know battalions served in and where enlisted.

Cheers

Richard

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1/4th T.F.Bn Hampsgire regt. Enlisted in Southampton.does not give his residence or birth place.Died of Wounds in Mesopotamia 7/5/18. That is all.

Tom

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Thanks Tom, your help is much appreciated.

Cheers

Richard

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