Here we go again

[Bardess]

I can 'see' Braine - Maine - Mairie. There seems to be 2 dotted i's. Any help appreciated.

[PhilH]

Looks like 'Maive' to me.

[Guest]

Could it be H.E.I. H?????

Mike

[Pighills]

Prairie?

[Guest]

What unit is it Diane, 1st Middlesex?

Mike

[Bardess]

No Mike, it's 11th Rifle Brigade

[Guest]

Oops1 Wrong again. i will keep looking.

Mike

[Simon Jones]

The medal index cards have Maj/ Lt Col H E R R Braine, Staff & Royal Munster Fusiliers.

[Bardess]

Thanks very much. Looks like a clear winner. There's two bob behind the bar for you Simon and a packet of scratchings each for the helpers. Cheers

[SiegeGunner]

I'm sure Simon has found the right man, but the Major didn't help by apparently adding a dot over another letter after the first 'i'.

Incidentally, what were his parents thinking of when they called him HERR Braine ...?

[Bardess]

Thanks Mick. Would it help any that the 11th Bn RB were under instruction in trench warfare from 1st Manchesters and 2nd Royal Welch Fusiliers?

[Stebie9173]

Here is his appointment as Brigade Major from 23-5-1915 i.e. in the right period.

http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/29199/supplements/5964

His full name was Herbert Edmund Reginald Rubens Braine

Steve.

[Bardess]

Steve does that sway the argument for or against it being his signature?

EDIT: oops, didn't read your reply thoroughly.

[SiegeGunner]

Thanks Mick.

I was thinking not of 'Herr' as in the German for 'Mr', but the phonetic 'hare' as in 'hare-brained', which I believe was in use around the turn of the century and would surely have given hours of amusement to his school-fellows. Perhaps, though, by the time of the war, it was avoiding the 'German' connotation that led him to drop the two Rs and sign himself simply H.E.