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The Great War (1914-1918) Forum

Oakley Reginald Vicary from Exeter, Devon, England


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Posted

Hi all,

I believe I may have my first candidate who may have served on the British side in the Great War: Oakley Reginald Vicary. He was born 17 July 1885 in Exeter, Devon, England, son of Walter Oakley Vicary and Emily Grace nee Gale. His wife was Dorothy May nee Veysey. I see a British Medal Rolls Index Card entry for an Oakley R Vicary but I cannot see it. Can anyone tell me if this MIC belongs to this chap?

Thanks,

-Daniel

Posted

Hi all,

I believe I may have my first candidate who may have served on the British side in the Great War: Oakley Reginald Vicary. He was born 17 July 1885 in Exeter, Devon, England, son of Walter Oakley Vicary and Emily Grace nee Gale. His wife was Dorothy May nee Veysey. I see a British Medal Rolls Index Card entry for an Oakley R Vicary but I cannot see it. Can anyone tell me if this MIC belongs to this chap?

Thanks,

-Daniel

Hi Daniel,

On Ancestry there is an MIC for a Oakley R.Vicary, he served as 95860 Gnr. Royal Garrison Artillery and also as 251645 Royal Engineers. He must be your man with such an unusual first name and correct second initial.

Hope that this answers your question?

Robert

Posted

Unfortunately his service papers do not appear to have survived :angry2:

Posted

He was home on leave in January 1918. He married Dorothy May Veysey in Tiverton, Devon that month.

Posted

Holy smokes! I post, have a sandwich, come back and an answer already! Well done gentlemen!

I am sorry to hear his papers did not survive. What medal entitlement did he have? That may clue me in as to when he went overseas.

Thanks all!!

Daniel

Posted

Holy smokes! I post, have a sandwich, come back and an answer already! Well done gentlemen!

I am sorry to hear his papers did not survive. What medal entitlement did he have? That may clue me in as to when he went overseas.

Thanks all!!

Daniel

Hi Daniel,

He was only entitled to the BWM and VM, unfortunately there is no date for going overseas-- but obviously after 1/1/16.:thumbsup:

Robert

Posted

Hi Daniel,

He was only entitled to the BWM and VM, unfortunately there is no date for going overseas-- but obviously after 1/1/16.:thumbsup:

Robert

This is quite helpful! Thanks.

-Daniel

PS: He is my first cousin, twice removed. :)

Posted

I just downloaded a copy of his MIC, thanks to the free access day for Ancestry UK!

Now, seeing as it is my very first MIC, I need to read up on the LLT on how to decipher it (no that there is much on it to decipher). I get the rank and service number bits but I suspect the medal rolls bit I need to read up on.

-Daniel

Posted

I'm afraid you're right, his MIC tells you very little.

He served in the Royal Garrison Artillery as Gunner 95860 and in the Royal Engineers as (Sapper?) 251645.

His British War and Victory medals are recorded in Roll RE/101/B129 Page 28300. That's it!

This will tell you all about the medal rolls, held at the National Archives in Kew: http://www.1914-1918.net/grandad/medals.htm

Posted

Given the following statement on the LLT, I am not too optimistic the Rolls will add anything:

Royal Artillery, Royal Engineers, Army Service Corps, Army Ordnance Corps, Royal Army Medical Corps

The rolls of these Corps (for the British War and Victory Medal) rarely give any unit information. The exception is the roll of the 1914 Star, which usually gives the man's unit when he first went overseas.

I am also a few thousand miles from Kew, so that's a problem right there, too...

:)

Daniel

Posted

Don't think of it as 'several thousand miles', think of it as a few hours and several hundred dollars!

As your man wasn't awarded the 1914 Star, you probably have little to gain from a visit to Kew. At least you've found your first British soldier!

Best wishes,

Sandie

  • 2 weeks later...
Posted

I recall reading in another thread that the service number could be used to try and figure out which specific unit a man enlisted with or what his enlistment date was. Would I be able to attempt something like that with Oakley, given we have his service numbers?

-Daniel

  • 8 months later...
Posted

Yesterday I found a photo of the man himself!

post-32240-0-89671000-1348435807_thumb.j

-Daniel

  • 1 year later...
Posted

It's a small world!

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