British Red Cross and St. John Enquiry Lists

[Cynthia]

I was trawling through Ray Westlake's latest catalogue and came across an entry in the secondhand section for the "British Red Cross and St. John Enquiry List No. 14 - 1917 Wounded and Missing." Not being familiar with this, I wondered what sort of information it actually contains and whether it is a good tool for researchers.

Does anyone have one of these? Is is useful for research of soldiers? I would be most interested in the volume for 1916. Would an entry indicate that a family had asked for the assistance of the Red Cross and/or The St. John's Ambulance?

Thanks for any information.

Cynthia

[Paul Reed]

It is just lists of men who were posted 'missing'; in most cases it gives company and even platoon, as well as battalion, but there are no other details about the soldiers. Not all the soldiers listed died; many were prisoners of war. The only complete set of these lists - to my knowledge - is with the Red Cross in Geneva.

[Cynthia]

Thanks, Paul. I had been in contact with the British Red Cross a few years ago, who told me they had very little information remaining from the searches for missing soldiers during the Great War. I figured that this book, and others in the series, might just be compilations of the lists of missing and wounded, but am glad you confirmed that.

Cynthia

[Terry_Reeves]

Cynthia

The list is as Paul has described, but also gives the regimental number and in some cases a change of regimental number. It also covers the AIF and Canadian Infantry.

The BRCS and SJAB did go to some lengths to discover the circumstances of a soldiers death. I have seen correspondence with a family of an officer who was killed at Arras in 1917 which shows that they wrote to individuals in his platoon to discover the exact circumstances of his demise. It was interesting to see the real account alongside a letter which offered sympathy and stated that he had been killed instantly and felt no pain. The eye witness account was somewhat different.

Terry Reeves