MC help required.

[hadfield]

Hi all.

Can anyone provide me a list of Military Cross winners from the Poelcappelle area, 1917?

Regs

B

[scottmarchand]

I doubt it. You'd need to look at LG listings 3-4 months after the battle and filter them out looking for keywords you are zoned in on. Poelcappelle was not a battle itself, but one of many towns in the Ypres salient. Is there a more specific piece of information you are seeking but not actually asking?

[hadfield]

Hi Scott,

Thanks for the reply and sorry for the delay. I shall explain a little more, I have a Blue Muirheads Guide to Belgium. The book was originally owned by a J. Hoyle and throughout the book certain battles and places have been underlined and dates placed next to them in the margin. On such example refers to Poelcapelle on the 04/10/17 '...stormed by the 11th Division' (which has been heavily underlined) and the simple note in the margin says 'won M C' it occured to me that the owner of this book could have won the M C there and that he was meandering down memory lane? It could have been a relative, who knows? But would it not be interesting to find that a J. Hoyle had won the M C there, at that time? The book is dated 1924 under his name on the front inside cover.

Regs

B

I doubt it. You'd need to look at LG listings 3-4 months after the battle and filter them out looking for keywords you are zoned in on. Poelcappelle was not a battle itself, but one of many towns in the Ypres salient. Is there a more specific piece of information you are seeking but not actually asking?

[IPT]

Lt Cecil Douglas Gay, whilst with 1st Bn East Lancs (11th Division), was awarded his M.C. for action near Poelcapelle 4th October 1917.

[AndyMacdonald]

I think you should be able to find the NZ and Australian ones relatively easily, but it would involve some legwork. 49th Div could prove more difficult, as also with the 66th Div. I haven't categorised them according to this parameter in my research, but I will have a skim through for you. Will take a day or two.

AndyM

[hadfield]

Hi Andy,

Thanks very much for that, I shall look forward to your reply!

Regs

B

I think you should be able to find the NZ and Australian ones relatively easily, but it would involve some legwork. 49th Div could prove more difficult, as also with the 66th Div. I haven't categorised them according to this parameter in my research, but I will have a skim through for you. Will take a day or two.

AndyM

[Jon Shattock]

Hi

From a quick look I don't think you are going to be in luck. I can only see one Hoyle gazetted with the MC in the 6 months following that date see; http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/30482/supplements/957 and http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/30651/supplements/5004. However he was South Staffs and 11/ South Staffs were in 11th Division, so is a possible (he survived the war). Also there only seem to be Medal Index cards (MIC's) for 5 possible J Hoyle's i.e. they need to be 2/lieut, lieut or captain (in theory he could also be a warrant officer, but this would be unusual) . Looking at the MIC's for these the number of possibles comes down to 3. These are John R, 2Lieut, East Yorks; James Carr, Lieut/Capt Cheshire R and James John, 2 Lieut / Lieut, RFA. None of these appear to have won the MC. 11 Div was a British division and I don't believe had any colonial units assigned to it.

Good luck

Jon