1/5th Battalion Lancashire Fusiliers

[kenf48]

1 hour ago, Leanne said:

Hello, I’m new to this but I would love to know more about my great grandfather. All I have is this file below that my dads Aunty was able to find out. I also have my great grandfather on my dads side that I would love to know more about, but unfortunately I only have a name for him.

 Hello and welcome to the forum, the welcome comes with a health warning that you may find it addictive.

 

It is always preferable to start a separate topic for each soldier, however it seems your aunt has done a fine job and there is little else to discover about Pte Charles Frith, but there are ways to put his service and some of the information she has supplied in context if you wiant to go that far.

 

First of all I recommend you have a look at the Long Long Trail (LLT), link top left of this page for further information on researching a soldier and the structure of the Army.

 

At the moment you can access the military records on both Find My Past and Ancestry for free for a limited period (though most libraries are offering free access during lockdown).

 

You can also download the war diary of the 1/5th Lancashire Fusiliers for their time in France from the National Archives for free if you register

https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C7354440

The medal roll shows he did not receive a 14-15 Star so your aunt's account is correct that he first went to war as a reinforcement in July 1916.  She obviously accessed what remains of his service record amongst the 'burnt records' on Find my past here and presumably on Ancestry.  She also appears to have accessed the war diary so there is little more information to be gained in the online records, or elsewhere on Pte Frith's service.

 

There are a couple of errors in your aunt's account, for example the 1/5th was not a Reserve Battalion but a first line Territorial Battalion again the LLT

will help you sort these details out https://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/army/the-territorial-force/

 

[Guest Leanne]

Hi Ken,

 

Thank you for your reply and the detailed information you have provided. I guess my aunt did find out quite a bit. Unfortunately, she passed away two years ago so I’m not able to get any more information either. She was our go to source when it came to family history, and I fear we have now lost most of it. My dad, who’s side I also want to trace, has Parkinson’s so his memory is limited now. I try to write down what I can, but it’s just bits. I will start a separate post for my dad’s grandfather though, and look through the resources you have given.

[A Lancashire Fusilier by Proxy]

On 08/11/2020 at 15:26, Leanne said:

I guess my aunt did find out quite a bit

Your aunt certainly did find out a lot of the relevant details. I can't add a great deal, I'm afraid, but you might be interested in the following post where I recently replied to a thread started by someone else seeking information about a relative involved in the Borry Farm attack:

https://www.greatwarforum.org/topic/278962-15th-lancashire-fusiliers/

In the unedited original of his diary my grandfather gives a little more detail about the run up to the attack on 6 September 1917, the fact that it had failed twice before, and the strength of the German Pill Box positions that they were facing, each containing up to 20 Machine Guns  etc.

My grandad joined the 1/5th Lancashire Fusiliers on 22 June 1917 on returning to the Western Front after recovering from being wounded on the Somme, so the date of his knowledge of the 1/5th LF starts from then.

[CEK]

On 28/06/2012 at 17:25, jasper832 said:

Mark........Fingers x'd you are still watching this?

Had a request from an elderly neighbour for info on this chap (Great Grandfather in law:

BUNN, ALBERT

Rank:Private

Service No:1767

Date of Death:06/06/1915

Regiment/Service:Lancashire Fusiliers

1st/5th Bn.

Panel ReferencePanel 58 to 72 or 218 to 219.

Memorial:HELLES MEMORIAL

He is a Bury lad with family still in the area (Radcliffe) and he is remembered on the Unsworth Pole War Memorial.

Can you shed more light on this chap?

Andy,

Hi 

 

I’ve been doing my family tree and come across this 9 years late ! Albert Bunn is a relative - he was my Nanas Uncle. 

[A Lancashire Fusilier by Proxy]

On 29/05/2021 at 05:40, CEK said:

I’ve been doing my family tree and come across this 9 years late ! Albert Bunn is a relative - he was my Nanas Uncle. 

CEK, I am afraid that @jasper832 is not following this thread, and therefore may be unaware of your post relating to Albert Bunn, unless he has happened to chance upon it, or someone has alerted him by personal message. I do not think that you yet have anough posts to your name to message him yourself, but my highlighting his name may alert him, just in case he was able to eventually to find out more about Albert Bunn in the local library.

As you will see from my earlier post on this thread, although my grandad was in the 1/5th LF, it was not until June 1917. 

There may be a Battalion War Diary available for the period when Albert was with the 1/5th LF (though he is unlikely to have been metioned by name), but the Gallipoli War Diaries are not available on the National Archives Discovery website (which is a pity you can download digitised War Diaries from that site for free at the moment). The Gallipoli War Diaries are only available digitally on Ancestry. The History of the Lancashire Fusiliers 1914-18 by J.C. Latter reveals that on 6 June 1915 (the date of Albert's death) the 1/5th were invoved in an engagement at Krithia, with mixed results.

[jasper832]

Hi Guys - back in and picking up on the relationship ref Albert Bunn. My research into Albert took place around 10 years but I think I have some “stuff” hidden away somewhere.

 

CEK, the elderly couple I did the research for lived at 6 Sunningdale Ave Radcliffe (if I recall?), is that address known to you? I can’t recall they relationship to Albert!

 

Is there anything specific you are looking for?

 

Andy

 

[CEK]

Hi Andy thanks for getting in touch! The family on Sunningdale would be alberts nephew and a great uncle of mine 

10 hours ago, jasper832 said:

Hi Guys - back in and picking up on the relationship ref Albert Bunn. My research into Albert took place around 10 years but I think I have some “stuff” hidden away somewhere.

 

CEK, the elderly couple I did the research for lived at 6 Sunningdale Ave Radcliffe (if I recall?), is that address known to you? I can’t recall they relationship to Albert!

 

Is there anything specific you are looking for?

 

Andy

 

Hi Andy thanks for the reply. That would be alberts nephew or great-nephew. I have been doing a family tree so any info is useful thanks 

[Mark Hone]

Sorry, I have only just noticed this posting. Latter's two-volume History of the LF has a good section on Gallipoli. Volume Two has a calendar of moves for each Battalion. The Lancashire Fusilier Journal, published during the war, has detailed articles on the 1/5th at Gallipoli, one of them written by Captain Bob Butcher and another by Lt. George Horridge, who served with 1/5th throughout the war. Unfortunately, like the War Diaries, these do not often mention ordinary soldiers by name. Copies of these are held by the Fusilier Museum, Bury along with albums of photographs taken by an officer of 1/5th during the battalion's time garrisoning Egypt and then at Gallipoli. Several of these have been published elsewhere. Like other Territorial Force battalions, 1/5th was a very 'local' unit in the early part of the war, with virtually all of its officers and men coming from Bury and its surrounding areas, like Radcliffe. There is an obituary for Albert Bunn in 'The Radcliffe Times'  published only a few days after his death. This can be viewed on microfilm at Bury Archives (just over the road from the Fusilier Museum). Obviously, access to this has not been possible during the recent restrictions.  As part of a Centenary Project, the photographs and obituaries of local soldiers were extracted and published on Bury Archives Online. Unfortunately, the picture supposedly of Albert Bunn on the site seems to be of a different 1/5th  soldier, Private George Rumens, from Whitefield, who died on the same day during the Third Battle of Krithia. The obituary can be seen at:

https://www.buryarchivesonline.co.uk/bunn-pte-albert-1/

Sometimes, a more detailed obituary was published later. 

 

Andy has presumably done a lot of this research already. 

Edited 19 July , 2021 by Mark Hone