Looking for Info on Military Medal Winner. Cpl Cook

[Brenda]

I am trying to find out about a MM winner R/10222 Cpl. Walter Bertram Cook, mentioned in the London Gazette 6 Jan 1917, of the K.R. R. C. I have found a medal card, but doesn't have full information on, I think it is the card used on his discharge. He joined the KRRC on the 2 Feb 1915 and was discharged on the 13 Aug 1917. Reason given Pra 392 XV11 KR. Wounds. It has (M. M.) written above his name, but doesn't mention any other medals. I think the KRRC was involved in the Battle of the Somme, but no matter where I look, I can't find him or why he would have been awarded this medal.

I can't find any service records for him and would like to know why he won the MM. I don't know his date of birth or where he was born, so seem to be stuck on finding out any more about him. Can anyone point me in any direction to find out more.

Thanks, Brenda

[Stebie9173]

The medal card you have found is for his discharge from the army (and the award of the silver war badge) but the figures on the middle right M/101 B/23 2907 refer to the award of his campaign medals (there is a stamped on grid in red that is almost invisible). The two medals on this card would denote that he went overseas on or after 1-1-1916.

The campaign medals roll book will be stored under file reference WO329/1526 at the National Archives (these books are not yet online):

http://discovery.nat...ls?uri=C4436744

The SWB medal roll page is on Ancestry here:

http://search.ancest...M 0401-0700.267

The VM/BWM medal roll will need to be accessed at the National Archives unless someone here has a copy. You may want to edit your post to include, say, "K.R.R.C." in the title so the experts can easily recognise your request.

His discharge on 13-8-1917 would suggest that he was wounded during the period of the Somme battles, but it would depend on which battalion he was in as to whether he fought there or elsewhere.

Military Medal cards are on the National Archives site (but not Ancestry) under file series WO372/23.

Description

Medal card of Cook, W B

Corps Regiment No Rank

King's Royal Rifle Corps R/10222 Corporal

Date 1914-1920

Catalogue reference WO 372/23

http://discovery.nat...ls?uri=D6146600

Though they do not give a date of the actual deed, nor details of the deed itself, they will give the battalion he was serving with, so you may want to download it and check.

The announcement of the MM award was published in January 1917 in the London Gazette of 6-1-1917:

R/10222 Cpl. W. B. Cook, K. R. Rif. C.

http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/29893/supplements/344

In most cases this would suggest a date of award around September/October 1916.

Steve.

[Stebie9173]

Birth records would suggest that there were two Walter Bertram Cooks, both born in 1879 - one in Maldon, Essex and one in Thingoe, Suffolk.

The Essex man was later married at Chelmsford in 1906 to Mabel (Minnie) Elizabeth Weedon (probably) and died on 5-3-1949 at Rayleigh, Essex.

The Suffolk man became an electricity worker and can be found on the 1911 Census at 35 Dennington Park Road, West Hampstead, London N.W.

Steve.

[KevinBattle]

You'd need to view the Medal Rolls at the National Archives at Kew (or post a request in the Documents look up section) as in peacetime the British Army used the same numbers but for different Battalions...

Therefore:-

BRIDGES FM R/10229 20TH BN 29/05/1919 KING'S ROYAL RIFLE CORPS

BROWN FJ 10229 1ST BN 27/07/1916 KING'S ROYAL RIFLE CORPS

RUSS L 10221 4TH BN 25/05/1915 KING'S ROYAL RIFLE CORPS

shows two instances of "10229" and that's why it then changed to a unique Service Number to replace the Regimental Numbers and thus reduce confusion....

The Walter Bertram Cook in Rayleigh occupied premises in the High Street that are now Boots the Chemist.

His estate went to his widow Mabel Eliza as Stebie has already found for you.

It might be that he became a shop keeper due to his wounds, perhaps the electricity worker might have been more able bodied....

If you know who he married that might help pin him down a bit more firmly....

[Brenda]

Thank you so much for the information, I have downloaded the MM card and his Silver War Badge details, and I will order the other document mentioned.

This is the first time I have used this site and am really amazed at the quick and efficient responses I have received. I am trying to find out this information for a friend of mine who has the medal in his family but doesn't know any more, so I can give him some information to work on.

Brenda

Will the campaign medals roll book show me why he was awarded the MM? Would like to know before I order it. thanks

[FZ1]

Will the campaign medals roll book show me why he was awarded the MM? Would like to know before I order it.

Hi Brenda,

The campaign medal rolls referred to here will not show you the reason for the MM award. Unfortunately, there are very few citations for the award of the Military Medal available (citation = details of act/acts that led to the recommendation) but the recommendation itself might be available in Reginmental records.

Howard Williamson is currently compiling a list of all known MM awards and citations, but unfortunately, that's not likely to be complete until 2014.

One of Howard's other works [1] has the following note about London Gazette MM entries on 6/1/17:

This Gazette covers operations on the Somme from August to November 1916. In the main, they are for actions of Oct 1916 at the Transloy Ridges and on the Ancre. These include Le Sars and Regina Trench. [Also a note about awards for a couple of trench raids]. Dates in this Gazette range from 21 Aug 1916 to 13 November 1916.

There's no guarantee that your man was in one of these specific actions, but its a good place to start for further research.

Regards,

Jon

[1] The Great War Medal Collector's Companion, Williamson, 2011

[Brenda]

Just spoken to my friend (Ben Cook) he thinks the Rayleigh man would be the right one, as they are from Essex and the medal was found in a Bungalow that he was working on in Rayleigh, so looks good. thanks again.

[taylov]

Brenda,

I have been working to supply Howard Williamson with information about Rifle Brigade and K.R.R.C. MMs by going through all of the hard copies of War Diaries held at the Winchester "Rifles Museum". There is enormous variation from one Battalion to another in respect to how much detail about awards is included.

However, I checked my notes this morning and found R/10222 Cpl. W Cook in a list of those in 1st Bn. KRRC awarded the MM for actions at the Somme "covering the period August to November 1916, mainly for October 1916". His name does not appear in the 1916 list of awards in the Chronicle of the KRRC but because of the date of the LG entry is included in the 1917 volume on page 48 - 1st Battalion Roll of Honour, 1917.

The 1916 Chronicle lists the locations of 1st Battalion as follows -

27 to 29 July - Capture of Delville Wood

Late August - Hebuterne sector (there is a list for August awards and Cpl. Cook's name is not included, so you can reasonably assume it must be a later action.)

September - ditto, Southern sector.

Ocotber - Serre, left sector.

November - Mailly Maillet

November 14th - Beaumont Hamel

Hope this helps.

Tony

[Brenda]

Hi, thanks a lot for the information. I assumed that anyone awarded the MM would have something written about what they did to deserve it, but then again, they were in the midst of all that terrible war, so not all things were chronicled. Thanks again, I will keep looking and if I find anything positive I will let you know,. Brenda

[taylov]

Hi, thanks a lot for the information. I assumed that anyone awarded the MM would have something written about what they did to deserve it, but then again, they were in the midst of all that terrible war, so not all things were chronicled. Thanks again, I will keep looking and if I find anything positive I will let you know,. Brenda

There would have been a recommendation at the time containing details of his action prepared to support the award of his MM. Alas, the central records of these were destroyed during the Blitz in 1940 along with some 70% plus of all WW1 service records.

Perhaps up to half of the 110,000 or so WW1 MMs may have something found in regimental histories, war diaries, press reports etc and these are being collated for Howard Williamson's project. I don't think anything else on Cpl. Cook will be found in the KRRC records so it may be a case of looking at local newspapers of the time to see if his MM award was reported. If he came from other than a large city, there's a fair chance it would have been in the local paper.

Good luck

Tony