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The Great War (1914-1918) Forum

Tank Corps - RQMS Heppenstall


hmsk212

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Hi

Can anyone give me information on 91973 RQMS Philip G Heppenstall of the Tank Corps. He enlisted on 10th September 1914 and first went overseas to Egypt with the 31st Divisional Army Cyclist Corps as A/CQMS 10953, landing on 12th December 1915. Given his number 91973, can anyone give me a date of transfer to the Tank Corps. His War & Victory Roll show he served with the 5th Tank Corps. He was discharged due to wounds on 6th September 1919. Any information on the date/place he was wounded would be much appreciated.

Steve

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Steve

I think he probably transferred to the Heavy Section MGC in early 1917; then transferred to the Tank Corps when they were formed in July 1917.

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91973 was a MGC (Heavy) number issued around 10 January 1917. Heppenstall appears sandwiched between a group of men of the Lancashire Fusiliers who transferred to I Battalion on 10 January 1917 (e.g. 91972 Private Edmund Riley) and a block of ASC men (most of them skilled fitters in civilian life) who transferred to I Battalion on 15 January 1917 (e.g. 91975 Private R.W. Bradburn).

Hope this helps

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Many thanks lads, that's a great help. Next time I'm at Kew I will trawl through 5th Tank Corps War Diary to try and find out when and where he was wounded.

Cheers

Steve

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  • 7 months later...

Hi

Can anyone give me information on 91973 RQMS Philip G Heppenstall of the Tank Corps. He enlisted on 10th September 1914 and first went overseas to Egypt with the 31st Divisional Army Cyclist Corps as A/CQMS 10953, landing on 12th December 1915. Given his number 91973, can anyone give me a date of transfer to the Tank Corps. His War & Victory Roll show he served with the 5th Tank Corps. He was discharged due to wounds on 6th September 1919. Any information on the date/place he was wounded would be much appreciated.

Steve

i am p.g.heppenstalls grandson and i have a lot of his papers,if you let me know if you are still interested i can supply further info,norris.
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Welcome to the Forum Norris

It's always good to know that personal papers have survived.

Can you tell us more about his later life

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sorry about the delay in replying to this post,my grandfather was badly wounded in the hip and ankle on 30th november 1917 whereby he contracted gangrene,his life was saved by an american surgeon by the name of Norris Vaux,after his recovery he returned to teaching in yorkshire,he then moved to barnstaple and became head teacher of ashleigh road school and was also president of barnstaple swimming club,he had two sons Norris [who i am named after ] and Bruce my father,Norris was a seafire pilot during ww2 but was unfortunately shot down by friendly fire near okinawa whilst defending his carrier from kamikaze planes,my father was in the royal navy and was operating on minesweepers in the north sea.my grandfather was awarded the MBE in 1944 for his work with national savings,he also became governer of the loyal order of moose from 1945-1946,he also was a member of the knights of st john,around 1950 he decided to join the church and was ordained,he first served as a curate at st pauls church paignton and then moved to holbeton in devon as the vicar,he was also the official chaplain at the winter games in switzerland sometime around the early fifties,after my grandmother passed away he decided to retire and moved to california where he did some guest services at a local church,he also married again to an american lady,after she passed away he returned to uk and resided in rest home in torquay where he passed away peacefully in 1976,he is buried at the church of st john the baptist north tawton near barnstaple.

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Hi,

I've been in contact with Norris and from looking at pages of P G Heppenstall's Small Book it shows that he originally enlisted on 10th September 1914 into the 12th Battalion ( Sheffield Pals ) York & Lancaster Regiment.

He was promoted to Sergeant on 28th September 1914 and on 2nd October 1915 he was transferred to the Army Cyclist Corps.

He was made Acting CQMS on 4th December 1915 and later confirmed as Colour Sergeant on 20th April 1916.

He was transferred to the MGC (HS) on 9th January 1917 as CQMS. The same day, now as part of E Battalion, he was Appointed Acting Warrant Officer Class 2 and also Appointed as Acting RQMS. Also on 9th January 1917 he was Promoted to WO Class 2 (Non Tech) and made RQMS. It seems that 9th January 1917 was a red letter day in his Army career.

Steve

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Thanks for the further information Steve

Norris - is there, by ant chance, a photo of him in uniform

Stephen

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That's superb - thank you

will try to update website over the weekend

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i would be interested to know where you found this pic as i have never seen it before and it is certainly not in the family files,i have a couple more if you want them,one is dated egypt 1915 the other has no inscription,i also have one taken i assume at a convalescence hospital but it is a group picture, am not sure how to upload them to this site any help would be appreciated,i would also be willing for the info i have supplied to be used on a memorial site,norris.

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If you have a scan of the picture, as a jpeg, then uploading should be easy

I suggest that you save the scan in "my pictures" making sure it is not more than 100kbs

Then use the "more reply options" button to the right hand side of this page which reveals a new "Replying" page

You will see there is an attach file paper clip - browse to the scan and then attach

then insert the file and click reply

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Guest twoharts

Many thanks for the link it certainly makes an interesting read and is a great memorial. Yes of course copy the photo from my tree. PG Heppenstall was my wife's great uncle (her grandmother's brother) & the search in creating the family tree has enabled otherwise lost contact to be made with Norris, who pointed me in the direction of this forum.

Peter

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Hi Norris

Looking at his Rank Markings I would have thought that the undated picture was taken between being appointed Company Quartermaster Sergeant on 4th December 1915 and being Confirmed as Colour Sergeant on 20th April 1916.

Steve

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