254th Coy Royal Engineers

[hertsmil]

I am researching a soldier that came from my home town of Hatfield in Hertfordshire his name is Frederick John Basill I have also found this same man listed as Bassill in some of the military records but still same man.

I have quite a few records for this man pension records, medal index cards plus others but unable to find correct service records for him.

In his medal index records it says that he served in the 1st/1st Herts Regiment as private 2332 Frederick Basill but also served with the Beds and Herts Regiment as private 265397 Frederick Basill, this is not the problem Frederick was killed in action 8th April 1917 aged 21 and is buried at Bethune Town Cemetery.

On the CWGC site it states that Frederick was attached to 254th Coy Royal Engineers, as I understand 254th Coy R.E. was a tunnelling company so why would a soldier from a infantry regiment be with this company.

Does any one have information as to what he might have been doing with this company or know if the war diaries are available for this company.

Any information would be a great help.

Many thanks, Andy

[Langdon]

Hi Andy,

I can't help with why he became attached to the the RE but the Company's war diaries are here at the TNA downloadable for £3.30 or free to view at Kew.

His transfer to the Bedfords (renamed B&H in 1919 in recognition of the Hertfordshire men who served in the regiment) doesn't indicate on his MIC which battalion, but there should be links with the 254th to explore.

Mike