Looking for Service Records KOSB

[micheli]

Hello,

I am looking for the records (service, attestation, discharge) of the below individuals and cannot find them in Discovery.

Adam McClory - 359350 or 6963 (I have obtained this medal card)

Thomas F (Flowers) McClory - 201056 (I have obtained this medal card)

James B (Brown) McClory 74542 or 4542 (no medal card found - died at home)

All of the above KOSB and brothers of my great grandfather.

James McClory, brother of my grandfather born the 2nd of Jan 1899 - cannot find record of him anywhere

I would pick these up at Kew as I have an upcoming trip to London.

Regards,

Michele

Newspaper Articles -McClory, James (1899-1953) - 12 September 1918, Southern Reporter..docx

[micheli]

The article above refers to him as John. This is a mistake. I have verified that this is actually James. Perhaps he was registered as John - he had an older brother named John who died as an infant. His two named parents are my great grandparents. The address noted has been matched up with Valuation Rolls and other records so I do know that the individual that is being referred to in this article is in fact James.

[micheli]

Here is a portrait of young James

[roughdiamond]

Michele

You won't get service records on Discovery, the National Archives do not hold Service and Pension records, you need to look on Ancestry.com for them, they also have far better quality Medal Card images which are in colour, this is a link to it http://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/db.aspx?dbid=1219 you can take a 14 day free trial.

The photo seems to show him wearing a Highland Light Infantry Glengarry and Badge, the badge may also be Royal Scots, but the Glengarry colour is wrong. Do you have the original photo? can you make out what metal lettering is on his epaulette, left shoulder? Is it "RS" or "HLI"?

Finally, I take it you've seen the CWGC entry for James B McClory http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/664834/McCLORY,%20JAMES it shows his number as 4542, the "7" you refer to may have been the Bn he was with, he'd only have a medal card if he'd served in a theatre of War.

Sam

[ss002d6252]

FMP are currently easier to search to find service records than ancestry and have the advantage of better quality scans. They do a free 14 day trial.

Craig

[roughdiamond]

Adam McClory - 359350 or 6963 (I have obtained this medal card)

Michele

Adam McClory actually has 3 cards on Ancestry and 4 on Discovery or as we on here call it NA's (National Archives) and on 2 that appear on both sites his number is "6393" (rather than "6963"), that's his KOSB number, the other number 359350 is from when he later transferred to the Labour Corps who he finished the War with. One card that appears on both sites shows only his Labour Corps number and a 4th, the one only on the NA's, shows a KOSB number "6963" but no Labour Corps number, here's an explanation of each.

The 3 cards on Ancestry and the NA's are:

1915 Star card - Ancestry http://search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&MS_AdvCB=1&db=MedalRolls&rank=1&new=1&MSAV=2&gss=angs-d&gsfn_x=XO&gsln=Mcglory&gsln_x=XO&dbOnly=_F8007A65%7c_F8007A65_x%2c_F00061C3%7c_F00061C3_x&uidh=qoe&pcat=39&fh=0&h=3893269&recoff=10&ml_rpos=1

NA's http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/SearchUI/Details?uri=D3811897

This card is listed on NA's and Ancestry as being for "Adam McGlory" it also wrongly lists his Regiment on Ancestry as "King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry and Labour Corps" instead of "KOSB and Labour Corps" but it's for him as it has both numbers above, it shows he entered the "Egypt" theatre of War on 23/05/1915, I reckon the code No 3 against "Theatre of War first served in" on his medal card maybe wrong and should read "2b" for Gallipoli as no Bn's of the KOSB were in Egypt around that date, I reckon he went there with the 1st Bn. This link explains how to interpret a Medla Card

http://www.1914-1918.net/soldiers/interpretmic.html

British War and Victory Medals card - Ancestry http://search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&MS_AdvCB=1&db=MedalRolls&rank=1&new=1&MSAV=2&gss=angs-d&gsfn_x=XO&gsln=mcclory&gsln_x=XO&dbOnly=_F8007A65%7c_F8007A65_x%2c_F00061C3%7c_F00061C3_x&uidh=qoe&pcat=39&fh=0&h=1030836&recoff=10&ml_rpos=1

NA's http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/SearchUI/Details?uri=D3772150

This card on Ancestry is listed with the correct name but again lists his Regiment as "King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry and Labour Corps" instead of "KOSB and Labour Corps".

Silver War Badge (SWB) card - Ancestry http://search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&MS_AdvCB=1&db=MedalRolls&rank=1&new=1&MSAV=2&gss=angs-d&gsfn_x=XO&gsln=mcclory&gsln_x=XO&dbOnly=_F8007A65%7c_F8007A65_x%2c_F00061C3%7c_F00061C3_x&uidh=qoe&pcat=39&fh=1&h=1030837&recoff=10&ml_rpos=2

NA's http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/SearchUI/Details?uri=D3772151

This card on Ancestry only lists him as Labour Corps with the 359350 service number and shows he enlisted 28/01/1910 and was discharged as "Surplus to military requirements (having suffered imparment since entry into service)" on 15/02/1919. this explains what a "SWB" was http://www.1914-1918.net/soldiers/swbrecords.html

The links other than those for the Medal Cards are from the website "The Long Long Trail", this one explains how to research a soldier http://www.1914-1918.net/soldiers/research.html

The 4th card which is not on Ancestry but is on NA's is this one http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/SearchUI/Details?uri=D6374739 listing him only as "6393 (is this where you got the number from?) A McClory KOSB"

In most cases cards like this with an initial only and not on Ancestry are Bravery Awards (Ancestry don't have them) Bravery awards are announced in the London and/or Edinburgh Gazette, but I cant find an entry, I suspect it maybe a Mentioned in Despatches (MiD) this is the lowest level of award, the reason I suspect it is this is because normally the higher awards Military Medal (MM) Distinguished Conduct Medal (DCM) and Victoria Cross (DCM) would be noted by their initials on other cards, the MiD is not, the only way to find out is to order the card if you don't already have it.

Sam

[roughdiamond]

Thomas F (Flowers) McClory - 201056 (I have obtained this medal card)

Thomas has 2 service numbers 7933 and the one you quoted 201056, his medal card is wrongly listed on Ancestry as KOYLI instead on KOSB (just like Adams above). The 2nd number 201056 is significant as it identifies him as a Territorial Force (TF) Soldier http://www.1914-1918.net/tf.htm

In 1917 the Territorial force was renumbered from 4 digit numbers like 7933 that they had upto 1917 to 6 digit like 201056 this explains why http://www.1914-1918.net/renumbering.htm every Bn of every Regiment was allocated a unique block of numbers.

Thomas' 2nd number was from a block allocated to the 4th Bn KOSB this shows the blocks of numbers and which Regiments and Battalions they were allocated to http://www.1914-1918.net/TF_renumbering_infantry.htm so he was either 1/4th or 2/4th, the 1st link about the TF above will explain the difference.

So as his Medal Card shows no "Date of entry therein", it means he arrived in a theatre of War after 01/01/1916 as they stopped putting dates in after 31/05/1915. He has a 4 digit number which means he arrived in Theatre before the renumbering of 1917, so that tells you he was there before 1917.

Finally, the 1/4th and 2/4th were both part of 52nd Div until June 1918 so more or less went the same places, as they were both in theatre from early 1915, it means Thomas would have been a reinforcement, this http://www.1914-1918.net/52div.htm tells you where the Division were and when.

Sam

[micheli]

Hello roughdiamond :-) Many thanks for this - although I already have all the medal cards :-) Their service records are not on ancestry. I did find attestation/discharge papers for a maternal great grandfather at Kew in March - ADM 157. Just wondering if there is a similar file at Kew with untagged men in it just like that of my great grand father's file - he may not be searched in Discovery. Thanks for the your insight into young James (as opposed to his uncle James Brown McClory.

[micheli]

ss002d6252 - thanks :-) Did check - the service records on FMP to no avail however found a lot of important stuff :-)