Pte James Knight Connell, 15231 12th Battalion Cheshire Regiment

[Guest claire.turner]

Hi I was wondering if anyone can help with some research, i recently started searching for my Great Uncle who died in ww1, i have found some info about him but i was wondering if anyone can recommend any sites to search for free as im coming up against a few that are trying to charge me to view, which i wouldnt want to do just yet, any info would be very welcome as i am very new to this

his name was James Knight Connell (although ive found it spelled as James Night Connell) and he was pte 15231 of the 12th Cheshire Regiment, i believe he served in Salonika for most of his 4 years and believe he was killed at the battle of doiran in Sept 1918, i also found some other bits and pieces that are very hard to read and also found he was awarded posthumously either 2 or 3 medals which were passed onto his father.

any help or tips would be great

[GraemeClarke]

Morning Claire

Forum member John Hartley MAY be the man with some answers as your man hails from Stockport and he has this site (although he is NOT on it).

http://www.stockport1914-1918.co.uk/

Heres a bit from that site about the action your relative was killed in

http://www.stockport1914-1918.co.uk/battle_report.php?name=salonika

AND he IS mentioned at the end.

Regards,

Graeme

[BillyH]

Soldiers Died and CWGC have him listed as a Private, but his medal card says Sergeant.

He went to France first on 6.9.1915 and qualified for a 1915 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal. His service papers don't seem to have survived.

BillyH.

[ralphjd]

BillyH. A quite substantial amount of documents for this man on Ancestry, all very readable and a very sad letter from his mum included. Ralph.

[BillyH]

Well spotted Ralph,

I had made the error of searching for - James K. Connell - and there didn't seem to be anything.

I overlooked that in post #1 Claire had said that James N Connell was also sometimes used.

It is interesting to note that he had been promoted to Sergeant but reverted to a Private at his own request shortly before he was killed.

BillyH.

[ralphjd]

BillH. I only spotted it by the entry on the left hand side of the Ancestry page not by his "other" initial. Hope Claire sees this, there is a lot to read which should help her. Ralph.

[SALONIKA]

The Cheshire regiment was involved during Second Battle of Doiran, September 1918.

[John_Hartley]

James Connell is remembered on the main town war memorial at Stockport Art Gallery.

As mentioned above, he was killed during the capture of Pip Ridge. Upthread, Graeme linked to the write-up on my website.

I know very little about him but what there is, is here: http://www.stockport1914-1918.co.uk/soldier.php?name_id=581