private queens west surrey regiment

[telboy]

My grandfather was a private in the 2nd battalion West Surrey regiment and was wounded in ww1 .I have his medals and a copy of his medal card and would be grateful if anyone had any information on where and when he was wounded.His name is May Frederick G and his number was L9457 according to his medal card he was also given the silver war badge after his discharge.I have been told he was a regular that returned from south Africa before being sent to France/Belgium According to his medal card his swb is recorded as e/269 or b 269 on the swb list

[ss002d6252]

I cant see a service /pension record but if you can provide more info regarding him then it may be we can narrow it down further. Do you have a date of birth / place of birth ?.

Looks like he was an early entrant to the war as he went to france on 4oct1914 and got the 1914 star with clasp.

The Long Long Trail shows this :

2nd Battalion

August 1914 : in Pretoria. Returned to England 19 September 1914.

Joined 22nd Brigade, 7th Division. Landed at Zeebrugge 6 October 1914.

20 December 1915 : transferred to 91st Brigade, 7th Division.

I suspect that he was a regular as he wasn't given a 6 digit service number when they re-numbered the territorial army in 1916 and the movement of the regiment ties in with you had been told.

[jay dubaya]

Definitely a regular, his service number was issued sometime between 8th September 1908 and 27th January 1909

Jon

[telboy]

date of birth was 30th june late 1890's not sure of year Thorpelea Egham

I cant see a service /pension record but if you can provide more info regarding him then it may be we can narrow it down further. Do you have a date of birth / place of birth ?.

Looks like he was an early entrant to the war as he went to france on 4oct1914 and got the 1914 star with clasp.

The Long Long Trail shows this :

2nd Battalion

August 1914 : in Pretoria. Returned to England 19 September 1914.

Joined 22nd Brigade, 7th Division. Landed at Zeebrugge 6 October 1914.

20 December 1915 : transferred to 91st Brigade, 7th Division.

I suspect that he was a regular as he wasn't given a 6 digit service number when they re-numbered the territorial army in 1916 and the movement of the regiment ties in with you had been told.

[telboy]

Mistake it was late 1880's

I cant see a service /pension record but if you can provide more info regarding him then it may be we can narrow it down further. Do you have a date of birth / place of birth ?.

Looks like he was an early entrant to the war as he went to france on 4oct1914 and got the 1914 star with clasp.

The Long Long Trail shows this :

2nd Battalion

August 1914 : in Pretoria. Returned to England 19 September 1914.

Joined 22nd Brigade, 7th Division. Landed at Zeebrugge 6 October 1914.

20 December 1915 : transferred to 91st Brigade, 7th Division.

I suspect that he was a regular as he wasn't given a 6 digit service number when they re-numbered the territorial army in 1916 and the movement of the regiment ties in with you had been told.

[MickLeeds]

I think this is him in 1911.

Frederick George May, Born 1891, Hegham, Surrey. (transcribed as 'Hegham' presume they mean Egham)

(Pte), 2nd Battalion, Queen's Regiment.

Gibralter.

[kenf48]

The war diary for the 2nd Bn is on line via this link

http://www.queensroyalsurreys.org.uk/war_diaries/war_diaries_home.html

probably only listed as an OR (other rank)

Ken

[telboy]

many thanks for the information

I think this is him in 1911.

Frederick George May, Born 1891, Hegham, Surrey. (transcribed as 'Hegham' presume they mean Egham)

(Pte), 2nd Battalion, Queen's Regiment.

Gibralter.

[kenf48]

My grandfather was a private in the 2nd battalion West Surrey regiment and was wounded in ww1 .I have his medals and a copy of his medal card and would be grateful if anyone had any information on where and when he was wounded.

It is probably not possible to identify with any certainty on the information available when your grandfather was wounded. The SWB list at the National Archives may (almost certainly) give his date of discharge but, unless his wound was very serious the discharge (noted on the card as Disc) may have been months after the event. The SWB list is not online.

However we can say with certainty he was a pre-war regular soldier with the 2nd Bn. He probably left South Africa with the Bn to join the BEF. The war diary shows the Battalion had a short break to prepare for France on returning to the Uk, and the officers and married men were granted 24 hours leave. On the 4th October the Battalion which was at full strength of 1018 officers and men marched from Lyndhurst to Southampton for the crossing to France. By the end of November that number had been reduced by a quarter on the 25th November when the strength was 737 and 150 replacements arrived from the UK.

The Battle of Loos in September 1915 is cited by some authors as 'the final resting place of the regular army', in other words by the end of 1915 the original Battalions that went to France had been so reduced in numbers that few of the original officers and men remained. Those who had not been killed or wounded were often used to train New Army volunteers. We know from the mic it's unlikely Frederick served in another Battalion, or Regiment. We also know that he applied for the clasp-worn on the medal ribbon, and rosette - to be worn on the ribbon (the 7-7-(19)20 reference to C & R). This means he was under enemy fire between 5th August and 22nd November 1914.

There is a 1 in 4 statistical chance your grandfather was wounded in October/November 1914 I would guess this may be higher for two reasons, he does not seem to have returned to active duty; not every soldier applied for the clasp and rosette, but I think anyone wounded in that campaign would be more likely to do so, but that is purely speculation.

Ken

[telboy]

Many thanks for the information , I have downloaded the war diaries and will look at these to try and get more info.

It is probably not possible to identify with any certainty on the information available when your grandfather was wounded. The SWB list at the National Archives may (almost certainly) give his date of discharge but, unless his wound was very serious the discharge (noted on the card as Disc) may have been months after the event. The SWB list is not online.

However we can say with certainty he was a pre-war regular soldier with the 2nd Bn. He probably left South Africa with the Bn to join the BEF. The war diary shows the Battalion had a short break to prepare for France on returning to the Uk, and the officers and married men were granted 24 hours leave. On the 4th October the Battalion which was at full strength of 1018 officers and men marched from Lyndhurst to Southampton for the crossing to France. By the end of November that number had been reduced by a quarter on the 25th November when the strength was 737 and 150 replacements arrived from the UK.

The Battle of Loos in September 1915 is cited by some authors as 'the final resting place of the regular army', in other words by the end of 1915 the original Battalions that went to France had been so reduced in numbers that few of the original officers and men remained. Those who had not been killed or wounded were often used to train New Army volunteers. We know from the mic it's unlikely Frederick served in another Battalion, or Regiment. We also know that he applied for the clasp-worn on the medal ribbon, and rosette - to be worn on the ribbon (the 7-7-(19)20 reference to C & R). This means he was under enemy fire between 5th August and 22nd November 1914.

There is a 1 in 4 statistical chance your grandfather was wounded in October/November 1914 I would guess this may be higher for two reasons, he does not seem to have returned to active duty; not every soldier applied for the clasp and rosette, but I think anyone wounded in that campaign would be more likely to do so, but that is purely speculation.

Ken