Pte W. Dearnaley 16th Bn Manchester Regiment

[Guest Tony322]

I am researching a relative that died of his wounds on 28.7.17 (wounded on 27th). His details are;

38104 Pte William Dearnaley (some records have him as Dearnally)

D Coy

16th Bn Manchester Regiment

I have located his casualty listing in the Bn War Diaries and that he was likely to have been in work parties provided by his coy around Sanctuary Wood when injured. He died the next day, either at 10th or 17th CCS as these units were located where he was buried (Lijssenthoek cemetery) at the time.

Other than that I have little of his time in the Battalion, such as his enlistment date or the platoon he was in while serving with D Coy etc.

Hope you can help

Tony

[John_Hartley]

Welcome to the forum.

Information about his platoon is almost certainly not recorded anywhere. His enlistment date would only exist in his service file, if this survived the fire in the 1940s.

[themonsstar]

Here is a copy of the medal roll for his BWM & VM.

[Guest Tony322]

Thanks for the replies, sadly I don't think his service record survived. I am waiting for a reply from the Oldham archives as those that enlisted were published in the Oldham Chronicle, especially at the start of the war, but hopefully they will confirm if this went on to 1918, which will give an indication of when he enlisted at least.

I purchased a useful CD from the Manchester and Lancashire Family History Society. It has details of the 1914 enlistments as mentioned above, along with Chronicle listings of deaths and loads of accompanying photos that were printed. I hope to go to both the Oldham archives and the Manchesters archives in Aston in November, so might find a few more 'snippets'!

As some information sources state that he enlisted in Oldham, then I can only suspect that there is some form of evidence that feeds those sources?