Tonbridge School lookup please

[pierssc]

Please could someone with access to a copy of "Tonbridge School and the Great War of 1914-1919: A Record of the Services of Tonbridgians in the Great War of 1914 to 1919" be kind enough to do a look-up to see if there are any entries for any members of the Colin family from Mauritius in the period 1900-1918 among those who served?

There should be at least one, and possibly three or more there.

Many thanks

Piers

[mrfrank]

Only one of that name I can find is Capt Jean Pierre Colin who left the school in 1911. MC RAF.

T/2nd Lt 14th Middx17/6/15

T/Lt attd RFC 1/8/16

Flying Officer 10/8/16

Capt RAF 1/4/18

MC France - Gazetted 22/6/18

Would you also like the MC citation?

Edited 3 February , 2015 by Mike Frankish

[pierssc]

Brilliant Mike, many thanks, that's the chap I'm looking for. Don't worry about the MC citation - I've got it already.

It confirms that the "Pierre Colin" of the 1911 census at Tonbridge school is the same as "Jean-Pierre Colin" of the RFC and RAF, and thus the Mauritius link, which helps with onward research. It ties up with http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=26404

No other biographical details there I suppose?

Many thanks indeed.

Piers

[mrfrank]

Sorry Piers, no further biographical details.

Mike

[pierssc]

Thanks

[paul_adam]

Piers,

The Tonbridge School Register seems to name him as Peter Colin, attended 1909-1911, Ferox Hall (house). Second son of Anthony Colin, b1894. Served in the 1914-18 War (MC).

The address on the reverse of his MIC is Royal Hotel, Aldershot which doesn't help a lot.

You can order his RAF service sheet from the NA here http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D8247859 which will be a single sheet but may well have some family detail (Address, next of kin). If you haven't got that already of course....

Paul

[pierssc]

Thank you Paul, that adds another couple of useful bits to the picture - it clarifies his year of birth, his position in the order of children (which ties in with the passenger lists I have found, making it more likely that it is him), confirms his father's name, and gives me something to go on as to when he may have arrived in the UK.

I've already seen his MIC and got his AIR 76 file, thanks. My impression is that the family didn't really have a permanent abode in the UK - his father appears in various electoral lists during the war years, residing mainly in mansion flats in London, and a different address each year, but always with the business address in common. The business appears to have failed in mid 1918 - I dare say that import/export (I assume from/to Mauritius) was a very difficult line to be in in wartime. So that sort of ties in with his address being at a hotel. I've got an estimate for copying his WO 339 file (WO 339/5582) but as it comes in at nearly £150 I think it sounds like a good excuse for me to save my money and go down to Kew and look up another couple of files at the same time!

My interest in him by the way is simply that he flew on 43 occasions as my grandfather's observer in the autumn/winter of 1916 and I would like to know a bit more about him.

Cheers

Piers