Corporal William James Francis, Army Cyclist Corps

[Clarissabell]

Hi. I am trying to find information about this man, Corporal William James Francis, was killed in France—He was Corporal in the Army Cyclist Corps and was killed in action on July 6th 1917. He was the only child of Frederick and Amelia Francis, of Merrion, and was born in Merrion. On leaving school he obtained a clerkship in the Congested Districts Board. He joined the army in January, 1915.

Can anyone tell me a little more about the Army Cyclist Corps - the work he would have been involved in etc.?

Regards,

Clarissabell

[sotonmate]

cb

"He was the only child",you write. His gravestone says " Our only one",as presumably requested by his parents at the time.He is buried at Oak Dump Cemetery,Ypres, in Plot H5,which he shares with 682989 Pte.S G Speller of 22 London Regiment,who was killed on the same day.

His Medal Index Card shows his number as 729 and a date into France of 4 Oct 1915. I have found no confirmation of a specific Cyclist Unit but feel that he would have been in the Divisional Cyclist Company of 36 (Ulster) Division which landed it's units on this date and on days either side. There is a unit War Diary at Kew under reference WO95/2496/2 which runs from Oct 1915 to Jun 1916 (but not yet digital for download) when the unit ceased to be part of 36 Division. As this was around the time of the start of the Battles of the Somme it may well have been assimilated into Infantry units,the Diary may well have the answer.

You can read of an Army Cyclist's lot from this page in the Long Long Trail:

http://www.1914-1918.net/armycyclistcorps.html

[stdape2011]

He was in the 10th BN and was the only son there is a service record for him

Edited 30 January , 2014 by stdape2011

[sotonmate]

cb

stdape has found his record,great,there are quite a few missing !

The XCCB shown on his record means that his unit was attached to X Corps Cyclist Battalion. 36 Division were part of X Corps for the Battles of the Somme,but not for later Battles at Messines in mid-1917 when the Cyclists were a resource for the Corps Commander. There will probably be another War Diary to cover that period.

[Clarissabell]

He was in the 10th BN and was the only son there is a service record for him

Thanks cb -Just seeing your note now! Great. I will try to look up that record. Imagine cycling around in that environment.

Cheers, Clarissa