Rainford, Sam - of Haworth, West Yorkshire

[Andy Wade]

Today, I have been contacted by a lady who is related to Sam Rainford (born Bingley, 1884). He is named on the Haworth War Memorial with that spelling of his surname and on a local church memorial with the same spelling. The lady was born a Rainford too but is now called Underwood so there's little question about that spelling being correct.

He was her Great Uncle. According to her family, Sam died in 1918 (although I've not taken that as gospel) and with a bit of maths we can work out we would have been around 34 years old.

Having searched through the CWGC database on the following spellings I've drawn a blank:

Rainford

Rainforth

Raneford

Rayneford

Ramford

Ramforth

The nearest result I can find is Ranford, Samuel:

Name: RANFORD, SAMUEL

Initials: S

Nationality: United Kingdom

Rank: Private

Regiment/Service: Sherwood Foresters (Notts and Derby Regiment)

Unit Text: 15th Bn.

Date of Death: 16/06/1917

Service No: 54224

Additional information: Son of Mrs. Sarah Ranford, of Walsall.

Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead

Grave/Memorial Reference: I. G. 1.

Cemetery: LA CHAPELETTE BRITISH AND INDIAN CEMETERY, PERONNE

Now this looks quite possible spelling wise as it's just an omission of the letter 'i', but the relative is incorrect and is listed as being in Walsall, and the date of death is 1917. Too many things are wrong with it for my liking.

I'm a bit stumped.

[Verrico2009]

Andy,

I would have thought that this gentleman was the most likely, given the Yorkshire connection:-

Name: Sam Rainford

Regiment or Corps: West Riding Regiment, Labour Corps

Regimental Number: 1646, 252064

but his MIC records he was discharged 15.3.19. Could he have died from wounds shortly afterwards and is it a possibility his contribution was acknowledged by the local community, although not entered on CWGC?

Four Samuels, but again no indication that any of them died during the War:-

Name: Samuel Rainford

Regiment or Corps: Royal Field Artillery

Regimental Number: 67048

Name: Samuel Rainford

Regiment or Corps: Army Service Corps

Regimental Number: M2/032734

Name: Samuel Rainford

Regiment or Corps: British West Indies Regiment

Regimental Number: 8978

Name: Samuel J Rainford

Regiment or Corps: Royal Garrison Artillery

Regimental Number: 114903

[Verrico2009]

Ooooh - look what I've found...

Name: Sam Rainford

Estimated birth year: abt 1884

Age at Enlistment: 24

Birth Parish: Bingley

Birth County: Yorkshire

Document Year: 1908

Regimental Number: 161

Regiment Name: Batt West Rid Regt

Only 6 pages.

[Andrew Hesketh]

Geoff's seearch engine lists no Rainfords (or similar) with a Haworth connection.

[kenf48]

I wonder if you are looking at the right Christian name, e.g. my late father in law was christened 'Walter Henry' and was known throughout his life as 'Jim', if I hadn't been told I would never have known!

SDGW & CWGC list a Horace Rainford RFA RHA kia 27/10/1918 born and enlisted in Leeds (at least it's the right County!)

Ken

[Andrew Hesketh]

Looks like Verrico has hit a bullseye.

[Verrico2009]

Unfortunately his older records, Andrew. His service started at the end of 1900 and with a short break he'd clocked up 10 years by mid-1911. Not pinned him down for WW1 yet.

Louise

[Andy Wade]

This is amazing, thank you very much everyone for your replies, and so quick too!

It's a very interesting idea about him being commemorated locally as a war veteran who later died (possibly injured - gassing or something and died of complications later?) but not in the CWGC. I hadn't thought of that possibility at all.

[Peter Bennett]

This is amazing, thank you very much everyone for your replies, and so quick too!

It's a very interesting idea about him being commemorated locally as a war veteran who later died (possibly injured - gassing or something and died of complications later?) but not in the CWGC. I hadn't thought of that possibility at all.

Andy

If you were to get hold of a copy of his death certificate and it stated any connection to war service as the cause of death then he may be a non-com.

[Verrico2009]

That's a thought. The only Sam Rainford I can find on 1917-1919 search of BMD with dob 1884 is:-

Name: Sam Rainford

Death Registration Month/Year: 1921

Age at death (estimated): 38

Registration district: Bradford

Inferred County: Yorkshire West Riding

Could that be him? I would think Bradford would be the appropriate registration district for the Bingley/Haworth area: they probably have a Bradford postcode. [Edited to add I'm sure you know that better than I do, Andy - having looked at your connection to the area and me being an incomer from London!]

[Andy Wade]

Yes, Bradford is the registration district for Bingley. All the local villages and towns are Bradford Postcodes today as part of The City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council.

And yes, I agree, his death cert would seem to be the way forward.

First though, I'm going to try the local newspapers at the library in Keighley which are indexed with all the names connected to the wars with references to war scrapbooks and newspapers on microfilm rolls. If he's named at all then he'll probably be in there, so there may be a report on him dying of wounds or something of that nature. The local cenotaph in Haworth was unveiled on 11th November 1923 so in theory he could have died anytime between the start of the war and that date. If he died well after the war had finshed then it could certainly be the reason he's not in CWGC records.

Many, many thanks to everyone for all this help.

Looks like I'll have to get that Ancestry membership sorted out pretty sharpish.

[mmm45]

Andy

Dont forget the In Memoriam columns in the years after death usually very good at tracing the family back....I have researched a tunneller on the Whitwood(Castleford) memorial served throughout and died in pit accident in 1921 hes on the memorial which was unveiled in 1922.

Ady

[Andy Wade]

Ok here we go.

I've just received a copy of Sam Rainford's death certificate from his relative.

He died 15th February 1921 of "Tuberculosis of the lungs" but there's a word under this that I can't decipher so I've cropped a section out of the certificate for you all to look at.

His occupation on the DC is given as Wool Sorter which is the same as for his previous army records, so he went back into the same trade after demob in 1919. Under Wool Sorter it also says "Ex Army" and "Army Pensions".

His death is within the cut off date for CWGC but the question still remains unproven as to whether this is a war attributable death. If he was gassed in WW1 then I guess there could be a link but there's still a gap in the knowledge about him. My own view is that whilst he is certainly worthy of remembrance on the local memorial, it can't be proven one way or the other for the CWGC, at least not yet.

Thoughts anyone?

Here's the first section of the death cert details:

It reads as follows:

Column 1 - No. = can't make this out, but it doesn't matter.

Column 2 - When and Where died = 15th February 1921 - 19 Glenrose Terrace, Horton, Bd (Bradford). [should read UD for Urban District - cheers Ralph]

Column 3 - Name = Sam Rainford.

Column 4 - Sex = Male.

Here's the second section of the death cert details:

Column 5 - Age = 38 years.

Column 6 - Occupation = Wool Sorter - Ex Army - "Army Pensions".

Column 7 - Cause of Death = Tuberculosis of lungs - ? Can't read the next word. Certified by J. H. Waddington LRCP (Presumably London College of Physicians)

Here's the third section of the death cert details:

Column 8 - Signature, description and residence of informant = H. Rainford, Mother, Present at the death, 19, Glendare Terrace, Horton.

Column 9 - When registered = Fifteenth February 1921.

Column 10 - Registrar = Thos Bilsborough. [Cheers Ralph].

Incidentally there is a Glendare Terrace and also a Glenrose Terrace in Horton. Both are very close to the Bradford Scholemoor Cemetery which has a lot of CWGC graves (although not Sam Rainford's of course) and he may be buried in there. Finding his grave and maybe a register of it is the next plan of action. Sometimes they have a bit more information.

I'll keep you all posted.

[ralphjd]

Andy. Column two is U D for Horton Urban Council not Bradford. Column one on the two DCs I have just recd is a number, in my cases 330 and 335. Section 10 I reckon reads Bilsborough. Ralph.

[Andy Wade]

Andy. Column two is U D for Horton Urban Council not Bradford. Column one on the two DCs I have just recd is a number, in my cases 330 and 335. Section 10 I reckon reads Bilsborough. Ralph.

Hi Ralph,

Yes I agree. UD looks good for 'Urban District'.

I reckon it's Thos. Bilsborough - now that you've identified his surname.

[bruce]

I think also that under the cause of death is No p.m. Thus there was no post-mortem carried out to establish cause of death, it being well-established, especially with his Mother present at his death.

Bruce

[ralphjd]

Well spotted that man ! thought it was a "no" but never crossed my mind it was pm.

[Andy Wade]

Well spotted that man ! thought it was a "no" but never crossed my mind it was pm.

Yes, I'm sure that's correct. 'No pm' would be sensible.

There's also a curious squiggle immediately before the 'T' in Tuberculosis which is odd. Can't work out what that would be there for.

I wouldn't mind betting that the Doctor was their family GP who would be aware of the Tuberculosis anyway. Bit of an assumption, but I reckon it's a fair one.

[David_Underdown]

The squiggle is (1) I think, i.e. just one cause of death. I've got one very similar with CWGC for consideration at the moment, but in his case his pension record survives and gives the discharge as due to TB contracted on active service, so it's pretty clear cut. (though jsut to be difficult the doc gave the cause as phthisis, which is apparently the Greek for consumption, and so another name for TB). In my case it again states No PM and has (1) before the cause.

[Andy Wade]

Ok, next question...

If the Doctor has specifically stated Ex Army and "Army pensions", is this a reference to an actual Army pension or is it a disability pension (maybe because he was injured?).

I'm just thinking out loud and wondering if he was gassed in the trenches but survived this and was demobbed, but was on a disability pension because of bad lungs which eventually killed him/caused his death by TB.

He was in the Army since 1900 (according to his previous service records) so if he went from Territorial to Great war service he would have served 11 years in total from 1900 to 1911. Is that enough for an Army pension and if not can it be ruled out in favour of a disability pension? It would make sense even though it can't be proven at this point.

He entered France in April 1915 and was demobbed in 1919, so I reckon he left the army in 1911 to go back to being a wool sorter and then enlisted in 1914/15 for the whole war period. At least 15 years. Enough for an army pension? If he didn't leave the army he'd have served 19 years from 1900 to 1919.

He was also moved to the Labour Corps during the war period, so it's a possiblility he was injured and medically downgraded.

Sorry for 'going around the houses' with this.

Well spotted David, it is a (1) before Tuberculosis.

I've looked on the higher resolution version and it's a bit more obvious.

edit: Changed 'Regular' to 'Territorial'.

[ralphjd]

Andy. I think it says Army pensioner not pensions, the last letter(s) s does not look like the middle s as in pensions, nor the s in tuberculosis. Entitled to a war pension, as in thousands of other cases a pity the records didnt survive the second "conflict". Ralph.

[kinnethmont]

" If the Doctor has specifically stated Ex Army and "Army pensions ...."

This informaton will have been provided by the Informant (ie. his mother ) not the doctor who certified the death.

If paperwork could be found the cause of his discharge would have to match the cause of his death ie. Pulmonary Tuberculosis.

[David_Underdown]

Another DC I have describes the man as "Fancy Leather Worker (Army Pensioner)", and in his case the pension resulted from the loss of his foot.

[Andy Wade]

Thank you all for your continued input. I think this line of inquiry is certainly worth pursuing as there's a reasonable chance his death is war related. To die of tuberculosis two years after a trench war, particularly after being moved to the Labour Corps during service is enough reason to keep digging. I now know the reason his death isn't mentioned in the Keighley News is because he was living away from their circulation area. One avenue closes and another one opens up.

I'll start searching in the Bradford newspapers for references to his death on 15th February 1921.

Fascinating.

[chrisharley9]

Another DC I have describes the man as "Fancy Leather Worker (Army Pensioner)", and in his case the pension resulted from the loss of his foot.

One of mine has railway carriage painter (army pensioner) & gives his army number