1/1 (?) Cyclist Battalion

[Guest sylcec]

Thank you for permitting my post. This query on behalf of a friend.

David Walker Ward b. 1889 Kirkintilloch, lived in Glasgow, (address in 1913 was Springburn Rd,), 1920 m. and migrated to Australia.

I can find no service record, pension record,(not surprising) but also no MIC or SWB. (Interestingly there is a "burnt" service record for his brother James Main Ward)

DWW is said to have served in the Royal Scots Fusiliers, in France and copped an injury to bridge of nose from a passing bullet. Hospitalised, sent home (or vice verse) and when fit transferred to the 1/10 CYC Bn - think she must mean 1/1 Cyclist Battalion, and sent to Ireland where he was a despatch rider, apparently from August 1918 to August 1919 and demobbed in Co. Clare. A poss reg # quoted (source not known) of 50329 or 50529. Story further goes that after war over he could have applied for a pension or have passage paid to Australia.

Are you able to unravel this and suggest what I might be able to prove or find more evidence of? I have suggested to my friend the possibility that the first part of the story may not represent what actually happened. (gut feeling on my part).

Thanks for all and any advice

Sylvia

[Ron Clifton]

Hello Sylvia, and welcome to the Forum!

The most likely unit is 1/10 (Cyclist) Battalion, Royal Scots (note: not Royal Scots Fusiliers). The "fractional" title indicates a unit of the Territorial Force, but in each case there should be either the name of a regiment or a geographical indicator between 1/1 and Cyclist.

The cyclist units served mainly in the UK, including garrison duties in Ireland. There were Corps Cyclist Battalions in France but these were generally not Territorial units.

If he served in France with RSF there should certainly be a MIC. Have you tried alternative spellings (difficult with Ward, I know)? He would only have been entitled to a SWB if he was discharged as unfit, which seems not to have been the case.

Ron

[David Porter]

Welcome to the Forum Sylvia,

This sounds like the 1/10th (Cyclist) Battalion of the Royal Scots. See here - http://www.1914-1918.net/royalscots.htm

EDIT: Beaten by Ron by a few seconds.

[Guest sylcec]

Many thanks Ron and David particularly for clarifying the unit. Do you know what sort of records were created by or about this Cyclist Battalion? Are there any war diaries for instance, or rolls of men recruited to the unit?

As you can tell, I'm floundering - not sure what questions to ask or where to ask them ...

I note the existence of the book "Pontius Pilate's Bodyguard" by Lt Col Robert Paterson about the Royal Scots in WWI - can you recommend this?

Thanks again

[MaureenE]

If he became a despatch rider, perhaps he then rode a motor cycle.

There are some online editions of The Motor Cycle - perhaps there may be some mention of the Battalion in these magazines.

See http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=209312&p=2195031for the archive.org links. For some strange reason, these books do not appear when searching within archive.org, at least for my browser.

Cheers

Maureen