NickRing Posted 29 October , 2009 Share Posted 29 October , 2009 My Grandfather (Trooper R.F Ringwood D/10428 Inniskilling Dragoon) returned to the UK in 1917 as a casualty on board the Hospital ship SS Carisbrook Castle following a wounding at Cologne Farm. During my research into this event and in an effort to find out more about the Carisbrook Castle, I stumbled upon an item being sold on Ebay relating to the ship. It is a small cardboard box approx 6 x 6 inches, on the front is a short message from the Chairman of the Union Castle line, wishing the recipient a speedy recovery. I assume that this would have originally contained some kind of gift, chocolate? Cigarettes? The box bears the flag of the shipping line but also the name of the ship Carisbrook Castle. Was this common practice on Hospital ships and what exactly would they have contained. Also are there casualty lists for Hospital ships etc, if so where would I find them. Unfortunately I do not have a precise date, I do know he was wounded on 2nd July 1917. Nick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sotonmate Posted 30 October , 2009 Share Posted 30 October , 2009 Nick As I live within the vicinity of the Isle of Wight (where the real Castle is situated) I don't expect the Carisbrooke Castle to be spelt without an "e" ! That might have stymied you if you were looking for any files,and yet it is spelt without an 'e' by whoever made the tin labels ! Anyway,there is a War Diary for that Hospital Ship under WO95/4143,which runs from Jan 1917 to May 1919the War Office elected to spell it with an "e" ! I don't know what sort of info it will carry. What I do know is that other WDs of that sort only generally summarise the number and types of patient they carry,as well as showing the daily record of the activity of the workers rather than the patients. But you never know,it's always worth a look ! Sotonmate EDIT: That ship is actually spelt without an E by Union Castle,I just noticed by Googling,though subsequent ones were ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
per ardua per mare per terram Posted 31 October , 2009 Share Posted 31 October , 2009 She is illustrated in this document: http://www.johnathersuch.com/genealogy/jesse.PDF Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickRing Posted 2 November , 2009 Author Share Posted 2 November , 2009 Nick As I live within the vicinity of the Isle of Wight (where the real Castle is situated) I don't expect the Carisbrooke Castle to be spelt without an "e" ! That might have stymied you if you were looking for any files,and yet it is spelt without an 'e' by whoever made the tin labels ! Anyway,there is a War Diary for that Hospital Ship under WO95/4143,which runs from Jan 1917 to May 1919the War Office elected to spell it with an "e" ! I don't know what sort of info it will carry. What I do know is that other WDs of that sort only generally summarise the number and types of patient they carry,as well as showing the daily record of the activity of the workers rather than the patients. But you never know,it's always worth a look ! Sotonmate EDIT: That ship is actually spelt without an E by Union Castle,I just noticed by Googling,though subsequent ones were ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickRing Posted 2 November , 2009 Author Share Posted 2 November , 2009 Yes confusing I'd agree. Have found some photos of the ship spelt with an e and indeed some without. Thanks Sotonmate for info, I will look up the WD next time I am at Kew. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nf3996 Posted 18 February , 2010 Share Posted 18 February , 2010 My grandfather (Thomas George Alexander, 1897-1994) was also wounded and shipped back to the UK on the Carisbrook Castle - I also have one of the empty boxes illustrated at the start of this thread. Does anyone know what the ship's war diary might contain? Would it be just a list of dates and ports departed from/arrived at? Or would it list the injured soldiers on board? I attempted to purchase a copy from TNA at Kew, but they said there were too many pages to copy. As I don't know when or where my grandfather was injured (probably somewhere in France/Belgium in the 1916-18 period) I was hoping I might find a clue in the war diary. Alan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nf3996 Posted 23 August , 2010 Share Posted 23 August , 2010 My grandfather (Thomas George Alexander, 1897-1994) was also wounded and shipped back to the UK on the Carisbrook Castle - I also have one of the empty boxes illustrated at the start of this thread. Does anyone know what the ship's war diary might contain? Would it be just a list of dates and ports departed from/arrived at? Or would it list the injured soldiers on board? I attempted to purchase a copy from TNA at Kew, but they said there were too many pages to copy. As I don't know when or where my grandfather was injured (probably somewhere in France/Belgium in the 1916-18 period) I was hoping I might find a clue in the war diary. Alan I can now answer my own question! I went to the TNA last Friday to look at a variety of documents, one of which was the HMHS Carisbrook Castle war diary. I looked at the entries for June-December 1917, roughly covering the period that soldiers injured during the Third Battle of Ypres were being shipped home (that period being when my gradfather was most likely injured). The diary does little more than list sailing dates and times, plus the number of patients carried. Sometimes it breaks the figures down into officers and other ranks, but not always. It also shows that on each voyage there were a handful of POWs being taken to England. Based on the figures in the diary, between June-December 1917, HMHS Carisbrook Castle made 38 crossings between Le Havre and Southampton and transported nearly 20,000 wounded officers and men home. Broken down by month, the figures show that October and November were the busiest time - the most crossings and the greatest number of injured. Jun: 1 crossing, 358 carried (this may not be wholly accurate as there is only one entry in the diary for June) Jul; 4 crossing, 1374 carried Aug: 5 crossings, 2808 carried Sep: 6 crossings, 2986 carried Oct: 8 crossings, 4590 carried Nov: 9 crossings, 4919 carried Dec: 5 crossings, 2555 carried Alan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ddycher Posted 21 July , 2013 Share Posted 21 July , 2013 All Came across this thread whilst looking into the Carisbrook Castle this weekend. Can shed a little bit on the mystery of the box though. In 1915 these boxes were handed out on the ship courtesy of the Union Castle Line. They contained a pipe, 1/2lb tobacco and some cigarettes (Western Daily Press 14th June 1915). Regards Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickRing Posted 22 September , 2013 Author Share Posted 22 September , 2013 Dave, thanks for taking the trouble to update this old thread. I can now add a little more detail to my Grandad's story. Nick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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