2Nd Lt J G GARDNER DOW 26/9/1916

[Perth Digger]

This case has arisen as a result of Llew kindly sending me sections of the 1/Leics' War Diary that are of interest to me. The issue is: which Gardner died on that date?

According to the WD, it was 2nd Lt JG Gardner who DOW on 26/9/1916. But the CWGC and Officers who Died in the Great War don’t mention him. They do, however, mention a 2nd Lt William James Gardner, 1/Leics, DOW 26/9/1916, attached from the West Yorkshire Regiment. I can’t find a MIC for J G Gardner, either W. Yorks or Leics. But I did find a MIC for a 2nd Lt William J Gardner, former Sgt, Coldstream Guards (he’s mentioned in the WD). He was commissioned into the Leicesters on 23/12/1915 (he’d gone to France with the Coldstreams on 8/12/1914). His MIC does not mention his death, but when a Miss March applies for his medals on behalf of his mother, presumably postwar, he had died.

Now for the REALLY confusing bit. There is also a MIC for a D.G. Gardner, former CQMS in the Coldstreams, who became a 2nd Lt in the Leicesters. The MIC is stamped 1914-15 at the top, but no date is given for his commission. It also states that he went to France on 8 December 1916. This is wrong, because it also says that he DOW 26/9/1916. The France date should be 8 December 1914, like WJ Gardner’s, I think.

So, either there is a MIC for J G Gardner which will solve this (which I can’t find); or the clerks have put the date of death on the wrong MIC; or the CWGC has the wrong bloke. This last I doubt, but where else might I find out that J G Gardner, ex-West Yorks, really existed? And who was D G Gardner?

Thanks

Mike

[Coldstreamer]

4100 CQMS W J Gardner comm Leics 23.12.15 - dow 26.9.16 from Coldstream Guards 1914-1918

MIC shows france 8.12.14

[Perth Digger]

Thanks, Coldstreamer, I'd just checked the same source myself. I couldn't find the D.G Gardner, could you? Unless WG Gardner went from the Coldstreams to the W. Yorks and then to the Leicesters, the CWGC entry is incorrect. According to the 1/Leicester War Diary, 2/Lt W. Gardner was, by 1 September 1916, attached to the 18th Infantry Brigade. That was where the 1/West Yorks were at the time.

Mke

[Coldstreamer]

Seems like a few typos made by the clerks - can only find this Gardner in the Coldstream records

DG Gardner MIC doesnt show any page numbers though for the roll