Guest J.Woodward Posted 10 March , 2003 Share Posted 10 March , 2003 I'm paying a visit to the Colindale Newspaper archive to see if I can find any mention of some chaps I'm researching. Could anyone tell me the average time it would take for the notice of a soldiers death to appear in his local paper? My problem is I have a very limited time span and can't therefore trawl through reams of newspaper on the off chance, I need to be quite specific with the dates. Bear in mind also that the troops in question died on the first day of a major offensive, Arras on the 9th April 1917, so presumably this would affect the time taken for their entries to appear. Also would the notice of officers deaths appear any quicker? Thanks in advance Joe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kate Wills Posted 10 March , 2003 Share Posted 10 March , 2003 Joe, Next-of-kin were first to be notified by the authorities, and in my experience any delay of obits in the papers reflects delays at source. In the majority of cases, notifications to the newspapers would come from the bereaved family, so thus allow a few days for a death at the front to filter through into print. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myrtle Posted 10 March , 2003 Share Posted 10 March , 2003 Joe When researching Welsh local papers I have found that the reports of soldiers' deaths appear on average between 9 days and 28 days after they have died. This I put down partly to the local papers appearing once a week. I wondered if the distance from home, made a difference, but found that those who died in Mespot received writeups on average from 9 to 17 days while there were cases of those who died in F&F taking longer. I did find however that when the announcement was accompanied by a photograph the report would not appear until a month later, in one case 2 months 2 weeks later. The news of a soldier's death would have been known very quickly by the local community through good old conversation and places of worship so therefore maybe there was not the urgency for the relatives to communicate their losses through the newspapers. Regarding if the officer's death would have been reported earlier all I can say is that a Major who died on 10th September 1916 was reported 11 days after his death while a 2nd. Lt. who died on the same day was reported 18 days later. This may have just been coincidence. Regards Myrtle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest J.Woodward Posted 10 March , 2003 Share Posted 10 March , 2003 Kate and Myrtle, Thanks for your help. Looks like there may be quite a trawl ahead of me - I have 23 men and one officer to find! Regards Joe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevin Posted 10 March , 2003 Share Posted 10 March , 2003 Joe I have even come across death notices posted a year or so after the CWGC site date as the man was posted missing,went back in the papers and found his mother had posted a notice asking for infomation about her son, this was at about the CWGC date, any way happy searching and take some head ache tablets with you. Regards Kevin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest lesley Posted 10 March , 2003 Share Posted 10 March , 2003 In my experience officers details often appeared before those of enlisted men, presumably beacause it was more noticeable when an officer went missing! that said I have instances where the notification has only taken days, for other it has taken many months. I know you are limited for time but there is a wealth of info to be gleaned from the newspapers so browse as much as you can. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kate Wills Posted 10 March , 2003 Share Posted 10 March , 2003 Joe Who is the officer, and which locality/units are involved? It could well be that forum members already have some information to hand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest J.Woodward Posted 10 March , 2003 Share Posted 10 March , 2003 Thanks Kate but I think I've already bored the forum to death on this topic! .........However nothing ventured nothing gained so here we go again The unit involved is the 10th Lincolns during their action at the Pont du Jour at the battle of Arras, the officer killed was Lt Winnard Fleetwood Cocks, 3rd Bttn attached 10th, from Cowes on the Isle of Wight. I won't tire anyone with the list of casualties I am researching but if anyone does have any info on the Lincolns please do contact me Sorry for the much reiterated request! Joe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cynthia Posted 10 March , 2003 Share Posted 10 March , 2003 Dear Joe, I have trawled through the Surrey papers at Colindale and found varying times for notices. In the case of the soldier I researched, Robert Stark, he was listed as missing on 28/9/16, but nothing appeared in the papers about him until November 23, where a request for information was asked for by his "anxious parents." On December 9, 1916, the official posting of his being "missing, believed killed" appeared in the papers. Someone told me that it depended on what the families told the papers, as was noted that news travelled fast around villages and newspapers were probably the last grapevine used. I suppose the difference would be whether someone was officially KIA or listed as missing that would determine the time frame for information to be posted to the newspapers. Cynthia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MartinWills Posted 10 March , 2003 Share Posted 10 March , 2003 Pretty much most officers would have an entry in the Times and most major libraries/reference sections are likely to have that on microfilm. Do not forget that there may be several local papers in the dead mans town/area and you may find one or more entries and copies of the papers locally. Here in Northampton the local papers did report some out of area residents who died with the Northants. Since you mention the Lincolns I wonder if you (or anyone else) might not know about the Archive CD Books Project at http://www.rod-neep.co.uk/ which make available books of interest (mainly genealogical) on CD. I mention it because the war records range includes the History of the Lincolnshire Regiment as well as several of the National Roll of the Great War; The history of the Green Howards (WW1 and WW2 volumes); Harts Army list for 1908 and the entire run of the Great War Magazine (in much less space than my paper set). Given the interest that the Manchester City Battalions on CD has generated elsewhere I guess some of you may want to take a look. The London National Roll is the only one I have seen and it is good value (£11 + VAT) for what it is. It is, however, only ONE of the London Volumes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greenwoodman Posted 11 March , 2003 Share Posted 11 March , 2003 I've just bought a copy of Peter Bryants Grimsby Chums, and as I'm sure you'll know there is an account of his death on p.92. As regards Colindale, if you are there for a whole day, you will get through about a year's worth of once a week local papers (based on the Sandbach Chronicle!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest J.Woodward Posted 11 March , 2003 Share Posted 11 March , 2003 Thanks you again for all your kind replies. Greenwoodman, I have indeed got Peter Bryants book, the Colindale archive is being followed by a Friday morning trip to the IWM document collection to look at the Vignole papers Bryant used. Fun fun fun! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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