Rainford, Sam - of Haworth, West Yorkshire

[KevinBattle]

LRCP is Licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians, i.e. formal qualification.

I think it's Glenrose in both instances, unlikely that his mother would be in a different street but same house number

Tuberculosis on its own may not have a war related link, but you'd need to establish just why he was "down graded" to Labour Corps. As a soldier with 11 years of training and experience, he's not a man you'd let go lightly.

If you've established his unit, perhaps there may be indications as to when and where he might have been wounded especially for when he could have been gassed.

I think Andy may have it right, enlisted at 17 in 1900, did 11 years, so was a wool sorter until rejoining in 1914/15 and again after demob.

As a precaution, did wool sorting have any high incidence of lung problems, such as unusually damp or disease from wool fibres or handling TB infected sheep etc?

[chrisharley9]

Sorry but the service record makes no statement as to any disease or injury which is the cause of his discharge so unfortunately I think his case is a non starter

[Andy Wade]

Yeah, I meant to change the Glenrose reference to match. It's very near to Scholemoor cemetery which gives me a good starting point on the search for a family grave.

Good to answer the LRCP point, cheers for that.

Excellent point about not letting such an experienced man go into the Labour Corps without good reason. Hadn't considered the wool sorting/TB possibility. I'll look into that.

One things for sure. If he isn't an IFCP candidate, it's not for lack of trying. He deserves no less than this.

MIC:

Private Sam Rainford. 1646. West Riding Regiment.

No date for transfer to Labour Corps. Entered France 14/4/15. Discharged 15/3/19.

[kinnethmont]

I'm with Chris on this, from the evidence obtainable this is a non starter as a non comm.

The is no reason to suspect he did not contract TB in the two years after he was discharged and die due to it. It was a common disease then and not one only associated with overseas service.

[Andy Wade]

I'm with Chris on this, from the evidence obtainable this is a non starter as a a non comm.

The is no reason to suspect he did not contract TB in the two years after he was discharged and die due to it. It was a common disease then and not one only associated with overseas service.

I agree, that's probably the case. I'll still follow up the grave and newspaper research and double check with the relative to see if any discharge papers or letters are forthcoming. He is still 'one of my men' so I'll be researching him as far as I can anyway. If anything interesting surfaces I'll post it here.

[ralphjd]

Andy. Not meant in a jocular fashion, but he is worth it. Pardon the pun. Ralph.

[PaulC78]

Looks to me like this man was demobilised rather than discharged due to sickness. Pension cards give his disability as DAH but don't state if this was attributable to or aggravated by service, however this doesn't tie in with the cause of death either way.

Lives of the First World War have a photo of Sam: https://livesofthefirstworldwar.iwm.org.uk/lifestory/3644334