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Pte "Jack" Whatling


mrfrank

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Trying to find out more information regarding a photograph of a relative that came from the house of my late Grandmother. The subject is one of my Grandmother's brothers and from the cap badge he appears to be in a fusilier regiment and is wearing two wound stripes. The family were originally from Goxhill, nr Hornsea in East Yorkshire. The only other information that I have is that he was called Jack Whatling and that one of his brothers - George Whatling - died as a POW in Germany in 1918. Have checked the Medal Rolls and there is a possible candidate, a 2691 John Whatling who served with the Munster Fusiliers - can anyone confirm if this individual enlisted/was originally from East Yorkshire?

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Best thing to do is scan the photo and post it, that way you'll get an ID on the badge.

A couple of other things, did he survive or was he KIA? Do you know for certain Jack's correct name was John? if not your best bet is to get the 1911 or 1901 census and confirm his forename.

Sam

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Many thanks IPT, think that may be the clincher that he served with the RMF....need to find which battalion next! That link was a goldmine of family information and I've found that a brother, Charles William, died in 1919 whilst serving with the Royal Dublin Fusiliers - seems to be an Irish connection developing here!

Roughdiamond, I've attached the image, it isn't the best in terms of seeing the cap badge. According to the 1901 census John Whatling was born in 1898 at Skirlaugh, East Yorkshire. He does look young in the photo and the link posted by IPT does state that he served at Gallipoli [wounded] and the Bulgarian front. Mind, he would have been very young at Gallipoli in 1915. I was told by my father that he had survived the war but have not found any death details for him as yet.

Many thanks once again for your replies.

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mrfrank

That certainly could be a RMF Cap Badge and the other info backs it up, there are 2 Medal Cards for him both listing him as 2691 Pte RMF and later 92603 Pte Liverpool Regt (The King's). The 1st is for the 1914/15 Star http://search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/sse.dll?MS_AdvCB=1&db=MedalRolls&rank=1&new=1&so=3&MSAV=2&msT=1&gss=ms_r_db&gsfn=j&gsfn_x=1&gsln=watling&gsln_x=1&gskw_x=1&_F0003FD8=92603&dbOnly=_F0003FD8%7C_F0003FD8_x&_F0003FD8_x=1&_F0003FD9=liverpool+regiment&dbOnly=_F0003FD9%7C_F0003FD9_x&_F0003FD9_x=1&uidh=xy5 and lists him as J. Watling, his 2nd card is for the War and Victory Medals http://search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/sse.dll?MS_AdvCB=1&db=MedalRolls&rank=1&new=1&so=3&MSAV=2&msT=1&gss=ms_r_db&gsfn=john&gsfn_x=1&gsln=whatling&gsln_x=1&gskw_x=1&_F0003FD8=92603&dbOnly=_F0003FD8%7C_F0003FD8_x&_F0003FD8_x=1&_F0003FD9=liverpool+regiment&dbOnly=_F0003FD9%7C_F0003FD9_x&_F0003FD9_x=1&uidh=xy5 it correctly spells his name as John Whatling, I cannot find a Service or Pension record for him. You can download his Medal Cards free till Sunaday 13th Nov from Ancestry, if you can't manage, PM me your email address and I'll send you them.

On his "Star" Medal Card, it shows a "Date of Entry Therein" of 09/07/1915 for the "Balkans", this means he could have served with one of 3 Bn's of the RMF, the 1st Bn as a reinforcement who were already serving in Gallipoli, but this is unlikely as they went to France from Gallipoli and the piece in IPT's post #2 states he served on the "Bulgarian Front" better known as the "Salonika Front".

This leaves 2 other possible Bn's, the 6th and 7th RMF, these Bn's served together as you can see from the Long Long Trail extract below and the 6th eventually absorbed the 7th in Nov 1916, as you'll also see they served in Salonika, Palestine and France. The "Date of Entry Therein" on his Medal Card matches the date the 6th and 7th sailed from Liverpool with the 10th (Irish) Div, normally I believe the date should be when they arrived in Theatre but it seems not in this case.

Finally you'll notice the last entry for the 6th Bn states they were "disbanded 3rd August 1918", there's a good possibility this is when he was transferred to The King's (Liverpool Regt), which Bn is another question, the same as whether he was 6th or 7th Bn RMF, the answer is in the Medal Rolls at Kew.

6th (Service) Battalion

Formed at Tralee in August 1914 as part of K1 and attached to 30th Brigade in 10th (Irish) Division. Moved to the Curragh.

May 1915 : moved to Basingstoke.

9 July 1915: embarked at Liverpool and sailed to Gallipoli via Mudros. Landed Suvla Bay 7 August 1915.

2 October 1915 : moved via Mudros to Salonika.

3 November 1916 : absorbed the 7th Bn.

September 1917 : moved to Egypt for service in Palestine.

30 April 1918 : left the Division and sailed from Port Said, arriving Marseilles 1 June.

5 June 1918 : absorbed by 2nd Bn, although a cadre remained and was disbanded on 3 August after a brief period under 117th Brigade in 39th Division.

7th (Service) Battalion

Formed at Tralee in August 1914 as part of K1 and attached to 30th Brigade in 10th (Irish) Division. Record same as 6th Bn.

3 November 1916 : absorbed by the 6th Bn.

All the best

Sam

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I was told by my father that he had survived the war but have not found any death details for him as yet.

This could be him from the England & Wales, Death Index: 1916-2005

Name: John Whatling

Birth Date: abt 1898

Date of Registration: Jul-Aug-Sep 1957

Age at Death: 59

Registration district: Holderness

Inferred County: Yorkshire East Riding

Volume: 2a

Page: 79

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  • 11 years later...

Hi, my name is tim whatling,  i found this site by accident,  and was happy to have found more about my grandfather john whatling      

If you would like more info on him please contact me through (email address removed by moderator) Is the photo of the man in uniform john whatling 

any info please get in touch       Thanks tim 

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  • Admin

Welcome to the forum Tim. @mrfrank is still visiting forum, my tag will with any luck alert them to your post. I’ve removed your email address from your post, as it’s not a good idea to put information like this on a public forum. 

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