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Remembered Today:

Help! Completely Stuck trying to trace an Officer


mlschofield

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I would be grateful for any suggestions as to how I might surmount the brick wall that I've come up against.

I am trying to complete the service record for my Late father-in-law, who was a 2nd Lt in the 1/8th Manchester Regiment.

I have been to the PRO and again looked through the battalion War diaries. There are only 2 relevant entries. The first shows 2nd Lt Norman Wood joining the battalion on 10th October 1917, and the second shows him as "Sick in H.P. (which I believe to mean Hospital) on 30 Nov 1917. At this time, the battalion were in the Givenchy area.

The only other solid data that I have is the entry from the London Gazette showing that he relinquished his commission on 29 Mar 1918; in May 1918 he was awarded the Silver War Badge.

I have looked through the PRO records WO339 and 338 and cannot even find a "long" number for him. The staff at the PRO were not surprised about the lack of any reference to Norman, attributing it to his very limited length of service.

So my questions are:

Can anyone suggest any other records that it might be worth trawling through?

Might there be a medical record trail to follow and if so what would be the starting point?

Might Norman have been admitted to Hospital in November 1917 with "shell-shock" and then the discharge process taken until March 1918 without his return to the line?

Thank you in advance

Captain Mike

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Hi,

This looks like his Medal Card. It shows him arriving in France August 1917

Regards Mark

--

Sorry, but I've had to remove the MIC - a reminder of the rules

Members MAY NOT use the GWF to display any images of MIC's, service records etc downloaded from Ancestry or any similar genealogy sites on behalf of a third party.

Alan

Edited by MagicRat
MIC removed
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If he was a Territorial Officer his record should be in WO374 rather than WO339.

I have looked through the PRO records WO339 and 338 and cannot even find a "long" number for him. The staff at the PRO were not surprised about the lack of any reference to Norman, attributing it to his very limited length of service.

:wacko:

Did they not refer you to WO374? There are four N Woods in there - all with middle initials - H, J, Mck and P respectively.

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His SWB number was 341446 and was sent to 70 Turner Lane, Ashton under Lyne, Manchester. Some 15,000 officers records have not survived and just doing a quick trawl through the pensions record Index (PIN 26) there is just one one near to that, an N G Woods. Most of the latter records were destroyed with only a representative selection being kept. If the archive mentioned above cannot help, try the local newspapers in his area, which may have a mention of him. It is also worth looking in local newspapers in the 1930's around the anniversary's of the start and end of the war. Some newspaper printed soldiers stories to coincide with these events.

TR

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Hi,

This is from the Army List 28 Nov 1917

THE MANCHESTER REGIMENT

8th (Ardwiok) Battalion (Territorial.)

2nd Lieutenant

1WOOD N 27 JUNE 17 (The number 1 would indicate he was with the 1st Battalion)

Regards Mark

post-14045-1277227927.jpg

post-14045-1277228077.jpg

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Hi,

From The Times 27 July 1917

Also

THE LONDON GAZETTE, 28 MARCH, 1918. 3909

Manchester Regt.—

2nd Lt. N. Wood relinquishes his commission on account of ill-health contracted on

active service, and is granted the hon, rank of 2nd Lt. 29th Mar 1918.

Regards Mark

post-14045-1277229854.jpg

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Thank you Alan. I already had the MIC.

Thank you Chris. I was not referred to 374. However, my Norman did not have a middle initial.

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Thank you Jane. I have been in contact with Tameside Library and they kindly trawled through the local paper but to no avail. I have now used up my allotted time with them and really need to find an Ashton area researcher to spend more time in the archives on my behalf

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