Private Dominic HOBEN (New headstone to be issued)

[dog]

I sent an e-mail to the CWGC querying the regiment inscribed on his headstone, which is inscribed North Staffordshire Regiment.

"Thank you for your email of the 3rd April, and let me take this opportunity to apologise for the delay in our response to your enquiry. This is due to the large volume of correspondence we are currently receiving, which I am sure you can appreciate.


Having looked into this case and after consulting with a colleague I believe the headstone to be incorrect and should be inscribed with the Royal Berkshire Regiment details and not the North Staffordshire Rgt. Casualties are commemorated by the regiment that they died whilst serving with and as such it is not uncommon to see the casualty listed under a different regiment to what they joined with.


Having checked our records, apart from the headstone schedule, which ultimately was used for the inscription of the headstone, all indicate that this casualty died whilst serving with the Berkshire Regiment. Please be aware that all of our information was given to us after the war by the relevant service authorities.


In closing I feel it is now appropriate to change the headstone to reflect this, in conjunction with the current online record for this casualty".

[Peter Woodger]

"Casualties are commemorated by the regiment that they died whilst serving with and as such it is not uncommon to see the casualty listed under a different regiment to what they joined with".

The above statement by CWGC is very often not true in the case of men who were transferred to different Regiments in 1918 when their own battalion was disbanded . In my cemetery registers I now have one column for the regiment they were serving at death and another for the regimental badge on their headstone.

Peter

[Tom Tulloch-Marshall]

"Casualties are commemorated by the regiment that they died whilst serving with ... " is correct in theory, with the exception of men serving with the Labour Corps when they died, - if they had previous regimental or corps service. Anything deviating from that is wrong and probably reflects the detail supplied to the IWGC by the War Office having been incorrect.

Tom

nb - Peter - ref outstanding past correspondence between us (pc photos which I promised you), please be aware that I cannot pm you or access past pms.Can you contact me by email please.