Field Bakeries

[Guest Jamjar90]

I am looking to document the Field Bakeries, would like information of any soldiers who were bakers before the First World War and any soldiers who worked in the Bakeries. Any references in war diaries, letters or postcards home which mentioned bread.

[Ron da Valli]

I have a victory medal to a Pte S-306927 Thomas Cundiff Army Service Corps.

He was a baker & sub postmaster in civvy st. He joined 'K' Field Bakery Company, at the ASC depot in Bath.He served in Egypt. His service records are on Ancestry. If I find out any more I'll let you know.

[johnboy]

http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=160862

Might help. Try a search of the forum as there are other threads on this topic.

[Guest Jamjar90]

Thank you, I would like to list him in my "book" I'll also take a look on Ancestry. It looks as though his skill was put to immediate use. If you have any family stuff around which bakery he worked for before signing up and whether he went back to baking at the end of the war that would be fantastic. I think there are some WO docs on Egypt so when I get these I will try and piece together their work.

My great grandfather won the DCM for his work in the Field Bakery. I am working with the Royal Logistics to try and pay tribute to these men.

[Waggoner]

Have you looked at the two histories of the ASC in the First World War for information? I am thinking of Beadon's Vol. II of the History of the RASC and Young's ASC, 1903-1918. I recall that there is some information about bakeries there.

All the best,

Gary

[EastSurrey]

My grandfather,Private Charles Plomer,RASC, has both'Burnt' and 'Pension' records and also an entry in the National Roll( which suggests he worked at Dieppe and Boulogne and was injured in an air raid).He was a baker by profession, from Portsmouth, and enlisted 7.6.16 and was mobilised 19.2.17.He joined the Supply Depot at Bath 20.2.1917, then 157th Bakery Section at Tunbridge Wells,7.2.17. He disembarked Le Havre 6.1.1918 and joined 17th Field Bakery 12.1.1918.He was injured on the railway in France ,12.5.1919.He was discharged 3.12.1919. He continued in the bakery business for the rest of his working life.

Michael

[Ron da Valli]

Thomas Cundiff was born in Macclesfield in 1880 and died there in 1973 age 93.

In the 1911 census he was listed as a journeyman baker, but on enlistment he was a grocer,baker and sub postmaster at Black Rd Post Office Macclesfield. His obituary in the local newspaper stated that he had been a sub postmaster at the same PO for 53 years, so it's probably safe to presume he was also grocer & baker.

Here's the obituary, if you can read it;

[John_Hartley]

If you search the archive databases at both the IWM and the Liddle Collection, you'll come up with loads of collections which mention Field Bakeries - letters, diaries, generall accounts of service, etc.

Very few of the British war diaries for the FBs or Lines of Communication companies survive. What few do remain relate to service in "other theatres" of war. FWIW, they also tend to be more personnel record than war diary - noting numbers of men reporting sick etc. Much more detailed information in the surviving Australian diaries.

John

[anthony osborne]

John,

have you managed to dig anything out on the 4th or 8th Field Bakeries in your searches?

Ant

[David_Underdown]

Isaac James Attwater was a pastry cook pre-war, and served in field bakeries, he has two sets of records on Ancestry,

http://search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&db=BritishArmyService%2c&rank=0&gsfn=&gsln=attwater&sx=&=%2c%2c%2c&gs1co=1%2cAll+Countries&gs1pl=1%2c+&year=&yearend=&sbo=0&sbor=&srchb=r&prox=1&ti=5538&ti.si=0&gss=angs-d&pcat=39&fh=7&h=149138&recoff=

http://search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&db=BritishArmyService%2c&rank=0&gsfn=&gsln=attwater&sx=&=%2c%2c%2c&gs1co=1%2cAll+Countries&gs1pl=1%2c+&year=&yearend=&sbo=0&sbor=&srchb=r&prox=1&ti=5538&ti.si=0&gss=angs-d&pcat=39&fh=8&h=149139&recoff=

Likewise George Sydney Elphick was a baker and also served in field bakeries

http://search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&db=BritishArmyService%2c&rank=0&gsfn=&gsln=elphick&sx=&=%2c%2c%2c&gs1co=1%2cAll+Countries&gs1pl=1%2c+&year=&yearend=&sbo=0&sbor=&srchb=r&prox=1&ti=5538&ti.si=0&gss=angs-d&pcat=39&fh=35&h=628912&recoff=

http://search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&db=BritishArmyService%2c&rank=0&gsfn=&gsln=elphick&sx=&=%2c%2c%2c&gs1co=1%2cAll+Countries&gs1pl=1%2c+&year=&yearend=&sbo=0&sbor=&srchb=r&prox=1&ti=5538&ti.si=0&gss=angs-d&pcat=39&fh=36&h=628839&recoff=

[WhiteStarLine]

I once found this link, where somebody had gained their PhD documenting the AIF's Field Bakeries. Somewhat incredulous, I downloaded it and ended up reading the entire dissertation, as it was very well written and interesting in its own right.

http://researchrepository.murdoch.edu.au/64/

Abstract

The First World War and the Australian Imperial Force have generated thousands of books and articles. Many studies adhere to the emphasis of C.E.W. Bean, and recount the history of the infantry or a particular infantry battalion. Others examine both the short term and long-lasting effects of the war on the Australian psyche. Some historians have acknowledged that a particular group of non-fighting combatants has been neglected, but generally, this group has been employed in dangerous and difficult pursuits. Very few historians have studied the roles of non-fighting combatants whose contribution is considered as lacklustre, such as the Australian Field Bakeries.

[John_Hartley]

Ant - nothing new that we havnt already chatted about. By the by, I think the book is lurching slowly towards finding the right publisher.

[Ron da Valli]

Here are a few to be going on with:

Edited 3 March , 2014 by SPOF
Copyright images removed.

[Ron da Valli]

Sorry but the MIC cards were copyrighted so had to be removed.

Here are the soldiers details:

Pte J H Anderson S1/1126 9th Field Bakery ASC

Pte J E Anderson S/28798 2nd Field Bakery ASC

Pte Robert Anderson S5/1678 7th Field Bakery ASC

Pte Walter Ernest Burnell 41st Field Bakery ASC

Arthur Eagle S4/091470 8th Field bakery ASC

George Marshall S/18078 25th Field bakery

Frederick J Roots S/25726 1st Field Bakery

[anthony osborne]

John,

great news - can't wait to have a read!

All the best,

Ant

[Ron da Valli]

I must admit your original post has raised my interest in this topic. I'll look forward to your book coming out.

[cathyaus]

Hi jamjar90

I am currently researching Acting Serjeant Harry William Marshall S4/157367 of 58th Field Bakery, Army Service Corps who died on 23rd December, 1915 & was buried in Durrington Cemetery, Wiltshire on 27th December, 1915.

I haven't found anything about him - just letting you know there is another one for your research.

Cathy

[brianmorris547]

jamjar90

When I was looking for a WD for No 4 General Base Depot RE at TNA I pulled WO 95/4189 which is 4 Base Supply Depot, Rouen. It has nothing to do with the RE but my notes say, Deals with Field Bakeries.

Brian

[Guest hundon]

My grandfather Pte. Frank Langton (a baker by trade) was serving in the 23rd Field Bakery in July 1917.

He was subsequently gassed and invalided out.

[Dai Bach y Sowldiwr]

And the terrier's role was to catch the rats.

(My dad,when an apprentice baker,had the job of custodian of the bakery ferret for the same purpose).

[GWF1967]

I am looking to document the Field Bakeries, would like information of any soldiers who were bakers before the First World War and any soldiers who worked in the Bakeries. Any references in war diaries, letters or postcards home which mentioned bread.

I have a postcard of ASC bakers at "Happy Valley" if I remember correctly. Let me know if you would like a scanned copy.

[Guest Minou]

My Grandfather A/Cpl. William Holloway S4/109590 served with the 37th Field bakery.

He was a baker in civilian life , living in Portsmouth. At the out break of the war he volunteered (age 45).

In June 1915 he was drafted into the ASC and promoted to acting Corpl. having run his own bakery in Portsmouth

and London for many years. He also had the claim to being the first civilian baker to serve on a Royal navy warship

in his early life. I do not have any photographs of him. He was transferred to the labour corps at the end of the war due to ill helath.

He served in France from May to Dec 1918. I assume that prior to this he served in Colchester where he met my grandmother.

Post war he returned to baking at the "Home made bread company" in Colchester.

Any information on the 37th Field bakery would be most appreciated.

[Guest MDM]

My Grandfather John Spence Mathie  was a sergeant in the 37th Field Bakery.  He returned after the war to be the Bakery Manager for various Co-op stores throughout the Falkirk area. I do have a photo from the Bovington Camp but unable to attach it due to the size.  Sorry - no year noted.  I can forward it to anyone interested

[Dai Bach y Sowldiwr]

40 minutes ago, MDM said:

My Grandfather John Spence Mathie  was a sergeant in the 37th Field Bakery.  He returned after the war to be the Bakery Manager for various Co-op stores throughout the Falkirk area. I do have a photo from the Bovington Camp but unable to attach it due to the size.  Sorry - no year noted.  I can forward it to anyone interested

I am sure lots of people would love to see the  image.

 

If your image is too big (greater than 225kb) then you can do a few things:

 

1) Use an image editor like Easy Thumbnails, photoshop, Gimp etc and reduce the quality of the image, rather than the height and width dimensions of the image. It depends of course on the initial size of the image. For example, say you had an image that was 4000x3000 pixels and 8mb, reducing the quality from 100%to 60% will reduce the image to about 2mb. Then reduce the dimensions, say to 1200 x 900. That will reduce the size of the fole to about 100kb, allowing you to post.

Just reducing the dimensions straight off  to comply with the file size limit might  mean the  file would be too small to show any detail of note on the forum.

 

2) Failing that, you could upload the full size file to a site like Flickr, Picasa or Photobucket. You can then post the link to the url, and the image would then display in your post.

 

[Phil Wood]

I have researched a chap on my local memorial - Charles Thomas Lake Taylor - he was a baker pre-war, enlisted Jan 1915 and went with 10th Div to Gallipoli (not sure if the Bakery went ashore with the division). He then went to Mesopotamia where he died of heat exhaustion - hot work baking bread in 40C temperatures.