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The Great War (1914-1918) Forum

Remembered Today:

William Walter Latham


tanyaxx

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Hi..

Im researching my Great-Grandfather WILLIAM WALTER LATHAM..but cant seem to find much info on him.At the moment all i know is that he served in the MIDDLESEX REG,his reg no is..1226...and also served in the ARMY SERVICE CORPS..T/442123,which he was a PRIVATE in both..i know he was sent to the Theatre of war 3..and the date of entry on his medal sheet is 18/7/15,and he was entilted to a VICTORY,1915 STAR,BRITISH WAR MEDALS..Apart from that i know nothing else..where he fout,was he injured(which im sure he was)..how long he stayed in the army for..and if his name would be inscribed somewhere..I know he didnt die in the war,he died on the 10 Feb 1961..

If anybody can help with any info on where i can find out the missing pieces,id be truely grateful

Regards

Tanya

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T

His first war theatre was Egypt (3 on the medal card) and he landed there on 18.7.1915.

You can see the battalions of the Middlesex here on the LLT and work out which it might have been :

http://www.1914-1918.net/msex.htm

There are no precise matches for his date of 18.7.1915 but one (2/7 Bn) is pretty close.

If you want to find out for sure you can post the data shown on the Medal Card,against the medal issues (letters and numbers).

Sotonmate

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Thanks sotonmate..

VICTORY.....roll-.RASC101(E292)-this section is hard 2 read..or could be (E242)...page 30543

BRITISH...... SAME AS ABOVE

15 STAR.....roll-RASC/1C14..PAGE 2347

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t

OK,near enough (101B292) page 30543 relates to the original Medal Roll filed at Kew under WO329/2062. It will probably also show the Battalion he was in when he landed in Egypt on 18.7.1915.I will provide that info in a few days,plus whichever War Diary details relate to the Battn. You can then get to find out some of his activities.

By the way,all the medals are shown as issued by the RASC as that was the last unit he served in at the end of the war when they started the task of issuing all the campaign medals.

Sotonmate

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Hi Tanya

His ASC number denotes that he was in Horse Transport and probably involved in the transport of supplies and ammunition. Tracing a Unit will be difficult in the absence of a service record or family tradition.

Good Luck.

Peridot

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Hi Tanya

I don't think you will have much difficulty with the Middlesex part of your ancestors army career, once you have Sotonmate's information. The ASC is a different matter and in the absence of a Service Record and any clues from the Middlesex diary as to the Unit he was transferred to then the only place you may find his ASC Unit mentioned would be in something like the Absent Voters List for where he lived in 1918 which often contained these details or something like the Soldiers and Sailors Families Association membership lists if they also still exist for the area.

Both lists if they still exist would be likely to be in local reference libraries or the County Record Office for where he lived in the War. I am assuming in all this that the Service Record is missing?

Local Newspapers of the time may provide clues and his pre-War occupation may as well as presumably he was versed in dealing with horses?

Peridot

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Hi Peridot...

ive never researched anything like this before so im still learning where to find info on this subject..Im not sure if his service record exsists at this time.Do you have to pay for service records? I am sure ive read somewhere that you can not download them on the internet..so that will be my next quest..lol..Its very interesting to look through the different websites to try and understand what soldiers had to deal with..and its lovely when people can help you out on here if you are struggling on where to find info..I will have to take a trip to London to see if i can find any newspaper articles as you suggested..

So thanks very much for the info you have given me..its helped me understand so much in my search.

Regards

Tanya

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Hi Peridot...

ive never researched anything like this before so im still learning where to find info on this subject..Im not sure if his service record exsists at this time.Do you have to pay for service records? I am sure ive read somewhere that you can not download them on the internet..so that will be my next quest..lol..Its very interesting to look through the different websites to try and understand what soldiers had to deal with..and its lovely when people can help you out on here if you are struggling on where to find info..I will have to take a trip to London to see if i can find any newspaper articles as you suggested..

So thanks very much for the info you have given me..its helped me understand so much in my search.

Regards

Tanya

Hi Tanya

If you go to the LLT site under Researching a Soldier and click the appropriate links to search the Ancestry records for burnt and unburnt records you will se a list of the surviving fragments and there are names as the one you are looking for as I looked yesterday.

To view any likely records you need an Ancestry subscription , details of which will come up and I suggest that you try the 14 day free trial and then remamber to cancel it at the end of that time!!

Alternatively your local library may have free access and then it's a case of working through the list until you find any thing that fits. If nothing then you may be in difficulty with the ASC part of things as I am in a similar predicament with my grandfather.

You would be better trying archives of local newspapers to where he lived during the War as unless there is any question of awards or wounding then any news is likely to have been reported locally.

Photographs and postcards can sometimes give valuable clues as to whereabouts and his ASC number looks quite late in the War. It is also useful to search numbers either side of him until you find surviving records, as they may give a clue as to posting, if both you find either side are similar in Unit. I have slender evidence through another Forum member doing this for me that my grandfather may have had a Royal Garrison Artillery posting and it has also been possible to narrow down the type and date of enlistment by the same method.

Regards.

Peridot

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tx

It would help if you gave some idea of where he was from,when born etc. There are a few William Latham on Ancestry UK but none as yet seem to be for you.

Sotonmate

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Hi Sotonmate..

I know he was born in the year 1889...he lived in willesden,london..and he married a lady called Maud Wiggins on 30th oct 1909..and died on 10 feb 1961 age 72..thats all i know at the moment..hope that helps..and thankyou so much.

Tanya

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T

I have some info for later about the battalion in Egypt/Palestine but for now the Medal Roll shows he was with the 2/10 Middlesex which landed in Egypt in Jan 1916 and swelled its ranks with a steady stream of reinforcements over the next few weeks.

I have a pic of the Medal Roll so if you PM your e-mail address I will send it together with a summary of 2/10 in the Mid East.

The Medal Roll also states that he was transferred to the ASC on 20.10.1918,but no unit is shown.

Sotonmate

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Hi Tanya

There is a public member's tree on Ancestry with William and his 3 brothers and parents details, are you aware of this??

Regards Barry

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Hi Tanya

There is a public member's tree on Ancestry with William and his 3 brothers and parents details, are you aware of this??

Regards Barry

Hi Barry..

No i was not aware of this..Thanks alot i will have a look to see if i can find it.

Regards

Tanya

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  • 2 weeks later...
I have some info for later about the battalion in Egypt/Palestine but for now the Medal Roll shows he was with the 2/10 Middlesex which landed in Egypt in Jan 1916 and swelled its ranks with a steady stream of reinforcements over the next few weeks.

I have a pic of the Medal Roll so if you PM your e-mail address I will send it together with a summary of 2/10 in the Mid East.

The Medal Roll also states that he was transferred to the ASC on 20.10.1918,but no unit is shown.

Do you have details from both the 1914-15 Star and British War & Victory Medal rolls? They can provide different information.

A helpful site reveals the following: 2/10th Battalion Middlesex Regiment

Formed at Stamford Brook in September 1914 as a second line unit. Moved to Staines and attached to 2/Middlesex Brigade (201st), 2/Home Counties Division (67th).

24 April 1915 : moved to 160th (Welsh Border) Brigade in 53rd (Welsh) Division. Moved to Cambridge and in May to Bedford.

18 July 1915 : sailed from devonport, going via Imbros and landed at Suvla Bay on 9 August 1915.

December 1915 : evacuated from Gallipoli and moved to Egypt.

19 August 1918 : left the Division and disbanded in Egypt.

http://www.1914-1918.net/msex.htm

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