Tucker Buck's grandson Posted 12 January , 2014 Share Posted 12 January , 2014 The above name is one of just two out of eighty-three names on our local War Memorials for whom we cannot establish a local connection. Because of the unusual surname we believe him to be Private Thomas David Raraty who was born in Greenwich in 1884 and served with the 76th Battery of the Royal Field Artiillery having enlisted at Woolwich, Kent.. He is listed on CWGC at the Baghdad Cemetery and on his Medal Roll Card it says he died in Turkey. As the 76th Battery were at Kut and he died on the 7th August 1916 he may well have died at the Turkish POW camp at Kastamuni. We know he was living with an Aunt in Greenwich in 1901 (having left the Greenwich workhouse) and already serving in India by 1911. When he established a connection with our small village in North Somerset is proving to be very elusive. Our objective in finding that link is so we can, with confidence, read out the full names of all those on our War Memorials at the annual Remembrance Day Service. We have contacted "his family" but they are unaware of his life before entering the Army. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevinBattle Posted 12 January , 2014 Share Posted 12 January , 2014 Without involving Sherlock Holmes, any chance of telling us which little North Somerset village this involves? It might be that a link could be found from in laws in the village but without knowing where it's not a line able to be pursued. Agreed the name is a raraty!! Boom boom! Thomas David is the ONLY CWGC occurrence of that Name, so difficult to avoid the conclusion that he and yours are the same... just need the connection! EDIT: I see that my awful pun is actually closer to the truth His Baptism record shows him as RarIty!, Mother Emma, father David RarIty Name: Thomas David Rarity. Record Type: Baptism. Baptism Date: 6 Jul 1884. Father: David Rarity. Mother: Emma Rarity. Parish or Poor Law Union: Blackheath Hill Holy Trinity, Greenwich. Parish Registers In 1901 he was staying with relatives. The Combe family in Tavistock, which is getting closer to your neck of the woods... There seems to be a branch of the Combe family at Earnshill, Curry Rivel, does that help? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tucker Buck's grandson Posted 12 January , 2014 Author Share Posted 12 January , 2014 Without involving Sherlock Holmes, any chance of telling us which little North Somerset village this involves? Hi Kevin, The village is Pill, Near Bristol. Someone else had researched the "Auntie Combe" connection and I understood that to be Greenwich also but the family member I have been in contact with was unaware of her and was off to contact their family researcher. The parents being registered as Rarity is also something I was not informed of and I will refer that back. They both died of TB when he was fourteen which is why he found himself in the Workhouse. Thank you very much for your reply. Andrew Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sotonmate Posted 13 January , 2014 Share Posted 13 January , 2014 I'm not sure that someone incarcerated at Kastamuni and died there would be moved as far as Baghdad for burial,+/- 1200 miles.Did they really do that ? David does have a grave in Baghdad,so it is not just a Memorial place. SDGW doesn't help with the Somerset connection, by the way. Born Greenwich,enlisted Woolwich,it says. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin kenf48 Posted 13 January , 2014 Admin Share Posted 13 January , 2014 On 14/01/2014 at 04:25, sotonmate said: I'm not sure that someone incarcerated at Kastamuni and died there would be moved as far as Baghdad for burial,+/- 1200 miles.Did they really do that ? David does have a grave in Baghdad,so it is not just a Memorial place. SDGW doesn't help with the Somerset connection, by the way. Born Greenwich,enlisted Woolwich,it says. From the CWGC Cemetery details:- "The North Gate Cemetery was begun In April 1917 and has been greatly enlarged since the end of the First World War by graves brought in from other burial grounds in Baghdad and northern Iraq, and from battlefields and cemeteries in Anatolia where Commonwealth prisoners of war were buried by the Turks." The register is on Ancestry and has a number of entries that state 'died of *** while a POW' (although Raraty's entry has the bare details which is hardly surprising for an orphan - if we had a service record we could see NOK - unfortunately Soldier's Wills has no entry for him either). The OP says he was serving in 1911 but I can't see him on the 1911 Census for the 76th Battery who were stationed in India. As for the connection with the village it could have been anyone who made a donation to the memorial who asked for his name to be included it's by no means unusual as the numerous threads on the forum will show e.g. Ken Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sotonmate Posted 13 January , 2014 Share Posted 13 January , 2014 Ken Thanks. I quite often read the CWGC data but not today ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tucker Buck's grandson Posted 14 January , 2014 Author Share Posted 14 January , 2014 I'm not sure that someone incarcerated at Kastamuni and died there would be moved as far as Baghdad for burial,+/- 1200 miles.Did they really do that ? David does have a grave in Baghdad,so it is not just a Memorial place. SDGW doesn't help with the Somerset connection, by the way. Born Greenwich,enlisted Woolwich,it says. I came across another 76th Battery Driver who died 3 weeks after Thomas and he was listed as a POW and still commemorated at Baghdad and I also read that there was some consolidation at Baghdad from other sites. I will be checking Kevin's statement that he was staying with his Auntie (surname Combe) at Tavistock and not Greenwich as we have on our file in the local Library tomorrow. The free ebook by Captain E O Mousley of the 76th Battery which details the siege of Kut and the march to Kastamuni makes for very grim reading and his account is that of an officer who witnessed the trials and tribulations of the rank rank and file. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tucker Buck's grandson Posted 14 January , 2014 Author Share Posted 14 January , 2014 The information that he was serving in India in 1911 originates from voting records. The Mrs Combe (nee Wickham) (a widow) who he was living with in 1901 was definitely living in Greenwich and not Tavistock. Household also included her four children and her brother James G Wickham. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nhclark Posted 15 January , 2014 Share Posted 15 January , 2014 Not sure where this will end up, but here is my contribution. Henry Combe married Ellen Agnes Wickham, Greenwich RD, December qtr 1875. Henry Combe aged 46 died Greenwich RD March qtr 1901. Ellen Agnes Combe (Wickham) died in 1932 aged 77. David George Raraty married Emma Wickham Lewisham RD Jun qtr 1877. They were the parents of Thomas David Raraty, and a number of other children. In 1891 Tom Raraty was at home with his parents at 22 Cold Bath Street, Greenwich. David George was a carpenter, born Sydenham, Kent. David George Raraty aged 67 died Greenwich RD March qtr 1898. Emma Raraty aged 52 died Greenwich RD June qtr 1898. In 1901 Thomas D. Rarity was staying with his widowed aunt Ellen Agnes Combe (Wickham) at 18 Bennet Street, Greenwich. Nowhere near Tavistock. In 1911 Thomas David Raraty aged 26 was serving as a driver with the 67th Battery Royal Field Artillery at Neemuch, Rajputana, India. I cannot find anything that would connect the Raraty family with Somerset. The Combe and Wickham families would also seem to have been from Kent. Perhaps he had a lady friend from your village? Perhaps we will never know. However I'm sure that you have the right man. Noel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tucker Buck's grandson Posted 15 January , 2014 Author Share Posted 15 January , 2014 Thanks for putting all the known facts down on one message Noel especially making it clear that Mrs Combe was Thomas's Mum's sister and confirming in detail that he was serving in India in 1911. You say the 67th Battery then and we have the 76th Battery at the time of his death. Andrew Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin kenf48 Posted 15 January , 2014 Admin Share Posted 15 January , 2014 As a matter of interest have you found the original process whereby names were submitted to be placed on the memorial? As it appears to be a Church rather than a Civic Memorial that may be relevant though as the church was destroyed in WW2 I guess the familiar story of Luftwaffe weeding. According to the UKNIWM 38 of the names are also on the Easton in Gordano Memorial, is he one of them? Ken Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tucker Buck's grandson Posted 15 January , 2014 Author Share Posted 15 January , 2014 Hi Ken, The History Society have been concentrating on that and just this afternoon one of their members sitting next to me found an image of the "paper" list (red and black lettering) of the 38 Easton-in-Gordano names to which you refer and printed it off (includes my great uncle). Thomas, however, is on the Christ Church Pill War Memorial (the two villages are adjacent) and as you say that Church was destroyed by a German plane which had been attacking Avonmouth Docks. There is a photo of the Christ Church War Memorial (same site as bombed church) on Billion Graves which I forwarded to a member of his family. Andrew Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nhclark Posted 15 January , 2014 Share Posted 15 January , 2014 Andrew, I just checked to make sure I didn't have another "Senior's Moment" and I confirm that Thomas was with the 67th Battery in 1911. It's clearly stated on the page on which his name appears, and on the front cover of the enumeration book. If you would like a copy of same, please PM me with a direct e-mail address and I will gladly send. Noel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tucker Buck's grandson Posted 16 January , 2014 Author Share Posted 16 January , 2014 Noel has found a local News Paper cutting dated July 1921 covering the unveiling of the Pill War Memorial with some useful names which we research locally. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlie962 Posted 1 July , 2017 Share Posted 1 July , 2017 Did you find any clues from the name on his CWGC headstone record Charlie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ss002d6252 Posted 1 July , 2017 Share Posted 1 July , 2017 (edited) Monies were left from effects to his sister's Rose and Lillian but he also left monies to a Laura. Nothing next to Laura's name to indicate she was a relative. Craig Edited 1 July , 2017 by ss002d6252 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tucker Buck's grandson Posted 1 July , 2017 Author Share Posted 1 July , 2017 That is so intriguing. We finally gave up on ever finding an answer at our last meeting in June whilst assuming a romantic liaison was probably behind it. The Secretary of our Society who leads the Research Group is like a terrier - this will re-ignite her tenacity to find the answer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlie962 Posted 1 July , 2017 Share Posted 1 July , 2017 (edited) A couple of links to add to the intrigue, and to wind up the terrier: 1) Thomas (Tom) had a brother Charles, b1887 Greenwich. I think he is Charles William Raraty who married 1915, Pancras, Laura A Fitzsimmons. They are both in the 1939 Register for Hendon. I think she might be Laura Amelia, born 1895 Pancras. Died 1973 Brentwood. 2) David & Emma, Tom's parents, in the 1881 census for Lewisham, had a Lodger- James Combes, single, aged 30, Bricklayer, born Blackheath. He could be the other half of Ellen Agnes, the aunt ? edit 3) Lilian Dancey, born 1882 died Nuneaton 1964. no direct link but a Lily Maud Russell born 1884, married Sidney Thomas Dancey, BATH q3 1908 the 1911 census for Batheaston, Somerset has Lily Maud and Sidney Thomas Dancey. Discrepency 2 yr s on Lily's birth? Getting closer ?? see post below But nothing to your neck of the woods. Tell me again exactly where it is please. Ah- I think I'm about 25 miles away still? Charlie Edited 1 July , 2017 by charlie962 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ss002d6252 Posted 1 July , 2017 Share Posted 1 July , 2017 Quote 1) Thomas (Tom) had a brother Charles, b1887 Greenwich. I think he is Charles William Raraty who married 1915, Pancras, Laura A Fitzsimmons. They are both in the 1939 Register for Hendon. I think she might be Laura Amelia, born 1895 Pancras. Died 1973 Brentwood. 'Laura A' is the name given on the effects records so that looks like he could have left the monies to his sister in law. Craig Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlie962 Posted 1 July , 2017 Share Posted 1 July , 2017 re money left..Why not to his brother, who was still alive? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlie962 Posted 1 July , 2017 Share Posted 1 July , 2017 I see Ancestry have a photo of the Wedding of Charles William Raraty and Laura Amelia Fitzsimmons Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlie962 Posted 1 July , 2017 Share Posted 1 July , 2017 Silly me. Lilian Raraty, Tom's sister, married William Dancey 1911, Lewisham, thus becoming Mrs L Dancey per CWGC reference! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlie962 Posted 1 July , 2017 Share Posted 1 July , 2017 I suspect one needs to look for a good friend of his in 76 Battery RFA who comes from your area and probably had a sister.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tucker Buck's grandson Posted 1 July , 2017 Author Share Posted 1 July , 2017 Sorry guys. My digital file has gone missing so I could not check that I already knew Laura as his sister in law. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlie962 Posted 1 July , 2017 Share Posted 1 July , 2017 Incidentally he was first buried at Baghtche, a railway work camp in the Amanus mountains. The CWGC subsequently moved and concentrated these graves at Baghdad. I didn't find any trace of him in the ICRC records but the Turks were very late establishing rolls and many had died already on the long marches or at camps. "Bagtsche was a railway work camp, under control of the German construction company, in the Amanus Mountains, (now Nur Mountains)." to quote Maureene Charlie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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