Researching the London Gazette

[Beselare]

I am helping a friend to trace the footsteps of his grandfather, Sgt. Henry Allan (11741) of the Cameron Highlanders. I need to firmly establish which battalion he was in. He was awarded the MM and on the medal is inscribed "S-11741 SJT H ALLEN 5/CAM N HIGHRS." (His surname is misspelt on the medal). Does that guarantee he was with the 5th (Service) Battalion?

Also I have tried to access the London Gazette database to find out when he was gazetted and for what reason. There is obviously a trick to doing this and I am going round in circles and getting nowhere. Can someone please give me an idiot's guide to using the Gazette database?

Many thanks

Bob

[alf mcm]

Bob,

He was gazetted on 12th November 1918. {Used Allen 11741 in the search box}. There is no mention of why he got the M.M. Your best bet would be a local newspaper at the time of his award, or just after.

Regards,

Alf McM

[SteveE]

He was gazetted on 12th November 1918.

Alf

With all due respect that's only half the picture . What you've found is the award of a second MM, i.e. a bar to the original MM.

The initial MM was promulgated in London Gazette #30768, 27th June 1918, Page 7587. Link is Here.

S/11741 Sjt. H. Allen, Cam. Highrs. (Kilsyth)

The bar to the MM, London Gazette #31007, 13th November 1918, Page 13394. Link is Here

S/11741 Sjt. H. Allen, M.M., Cam. Highrs. (Kilsyth).

Regards

Steve

[alf mcm]

Well spotted Steve. I hadn't realised he had been awarded a bar to his M.M.

Regards,

Alf

[Beselare]

To Alf & Steve

Thank you for taking the time for that research. The family was not aware that he had a bar to the MM. If either of you have a spare moment, could you please let me know which key strokes you used to access those files.

Bob

[alf mcm]

Bob,

The London Gazette is sometimes hard to search. If you put in the soldier's service number and/or surname you will usually get a result. BHe careful with numbers which have a prefix i.e. S/11741, since the prefix is not always shown.

Regards,

Alf

[Guest goodwr01]

I'm not sure how many people are aware but if you do have any issues searching the London Gazette then you can look your subject up in the indexes. These can be downloaded or viewed online and enable you to search by topic and name within each three month period. They are at www.london-gazette.co.uk/indexes. Firstly use the contents page at the beginning (if there is one) to find the part of the index you need then browse through to your subject.

Regards

Richard

(ps I work for the London Gazette)

[Jarvis]

Richard, thanks for the tip ... downloading the indexes allows fast access to discover exactly which gazette(s) is/are required.

Once downloaded and saved the search can be localized to your own PC before actually going on-line, saving download time, and bandwidth on the gazette itself.

Thank you for the tip. excellent. I wonder what other gems of advice there are for the gazette ?

regards, Jarvis

[aradgick]

Sometimes it is easier to do a Google search which brings up the London Gazette entries

[hen190782]

London Gazette Indices

I have downloaded the PDFs from 1914 Volume 3 to 1918 Volume 4 and have converted the content into a Word document ... the files are large but I am happy to provide copies if a CD and return postage is supplied.

Nigel