26318 Pte William Barry York and Lancaster Regiment 16th (Transport Workers) Battalion

[ManchesterLass]

Hello everyone

I'm a newbie to all this, so please forgive any mistakes, I'm trying to find out more about my Great Grandfather Private William John Barry, he ended up serving in the York and Lancaster Regiment 16th (Transport Workers) Battalion, which I've learnt means that he didn't fight in France or anywhere else? I have been lucky to find some papers that refer to him, but what I've found has left me slightly confused and with a lot of unanswered questions, I do realise this is common, but I'm not sure how to get answers.

He was born in 1874/75 in Preston Lancashire according to the 1911 Census. At the time of his attestation he lived on Warton Street in Lytham St. Annes.

I have a attestation document dated 15th July 1915 which has him in Corps 2/5 KLR (Kings Lancaster Regiment?) but where his number is there are 3 numbers, 2 crossed out and the number 26318 which is the number I've used to find out what little I could about him. The other numbers in hierarchical order are 17594 and 24127. On question 4 of the attestation document there is a question "In what corps did you serve with the army or other forces?" and my Great Grandfather has N.L.M. there, I cannot find out what this is an abbreviation for.

I also have his 'Proceedings on Discharge' papers, he was discharged on the 18th August 1916 as being "no longer fit for war service" with a 392 (XVi) added, he died in December 1916, I have to obtain his death certificate to try and find out what he died of. If he wasn't in France, what could have happened to him to make him no longer fit for service and how do I find out? I do believe that he should have qualified for a Silver War Badge but I cannot find any further information out about this.

I'm hoping that some of you kind souls that have already got an understanding of how to uncover the past can give me some pointers because at the minute I'm going round in circles. I did have an account with Find My Past but it expired, its looking like I need a pay to search account of some kind to continue my research, but which one? Is Ancestry better than FMP or is there a better resource? I can find very little information about the York and Lancaster Regiment 16th (Transport Workers) Battalion and what they did, so any recommendations for discovering more would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks in advance

[ss002d6252]

He originally enlisted July 1915 as on a 1 yr Territorial force enlistment to the Kings Liverpool Regiment and was transferred to the Royal Defence Corps where he served until being discharged in May 1916 on the basis he had enlisted in to the regular army.

On enlistment in to the regular army he was re-numbered as #26318 in the 16th Y&L http://search.findmypast.co.uk/record?id=gbm%2fwo363-4%2f007285191%2f00393&parentid=gbm%2fwo363-4%2f7285191%2f19%2f392- states he had previously served in the Royal Defence Corps. This page in his records - http://search.findmypast.co.uk/record?id=gbm%2fwo363-4%2f007285191%2f00394&parentid=gbm%2fwo363-4%2f7285191%2f19%2f392 - outlines his terms of service.

He was discharged in Jul 16 due to cancer - http://search.findmypast.co.uk/record?id=gbm%2fwo363-4%2f007264164%2f02591&parentid=gbm%2fwo363-4%2f7264164%2f188%2f2582

Craig

[clk]

Hi ManchesterLass,

Welcome to the Forum.

...N.L.M. ...I cannot find out what this is an abbreviation for.

Possibly North Lancashire Militia - for example Edit: this link doesn't work properly - put "North Lancashire Militia" into the keyword box

There is some good advice on how to research a soldier on the LLT.

Ancestry verses FMP? Both sites have advantages, and disadvantages, over each other. As it seems that you might already have a copy of his service/pension papers, and given that he didn't serve abroad I doubt that you will find much additional information about his time in the military on either site. (Ancestry has medal index cards and medal rolls for men that did; and a selection of war diaries for some of the units that went overseas). If you didn't already have a copy of his papers, I'd tend to go with FMP, as the image qualities are better than those on Ancestry. If you were considering re-subscribing to FMP, this topic might be of interest.

Good luck with your research.

Regards

Chris

[ss002d6252]

A nice description of the duties of the transport workers battalion's is given here - http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1919/aug/05/transport-workers-battalions

Craig

[ManchesterLass]

He originally enlisted July 1915 as on a 1 yr Territorial force enlistment to the Kings Liverpool Regiment and was transferred to the Royal Defence Corps where he served until being discharged in May 1916 on the basis he had enlisted in to the regular army.

On enlistment in to the regular army he was re-numbered as #26318 in the 16th Y&L http://search.findmypast.co.uk/record?id=gbm%2fwo363-4%2f007285191%2f00393&parentid=gbm%2fwo363-4%2f7285191%2f19%2f392- states he had previously served in the Royal Defence Corps. This page in his records - http://search.findmypast.co.uk/record?id=gbm%2fwo363-4%2f007285191%2f00394&parentid=gbm%2fwo363-4%2f7285191%2f19%2f392 - outlines his terms of service.

He was discharged in Jul 16 due to cancer - http://search.findmypast.co.uk/record?id=gbm%2fwo363-4%2f007264164%2f02591&parentid=gbm%2fwo363-4%2f7264164%2f188%2f2582

Craig

Thank you Craig and everyone that has replied, I renewed my FMP account to view the links you gave me. I have to say that I was shocked by his cause of death, its not the story I thought I was going to be revealing, he wasn't a part of the war for very long, I'm wondering if it was because of his age that he didn't sign up until 1915? I have a photo of him in uniform but it isn't very clear so I can't make out the badge on his cap. The photo I have of him he looks a lot younger than 40, so maybe he was involved in the Boer War or some other conflict in his younger days? Would there be separate records for this or would he carry the same record if he'd been in the army before?

Many thanks - Debs

[ss002d6252]

Thank you Craig and everyone that has replied, I renewed my FMP account to view the links you gave me. I have to say that I was shocked by his cause of death, its not the story I thought I was going to be revealing, he wasn't a part of the war for very long, I'm wondering if it was because of his age that he didn't sign up until 1915? I have a photo of him in uniform but it isn't very clear so I can't make out the badge on his cap. The photo I have of him he looks a lot younger than 40, so maybe he was involved in the Boer War or some other conflict in his younger days? Would there be separate records for this or would he carry the same record if he'd been in the army before?

Many thanks - Debs

Until 1916 there was no conscription so enlistment was voluntary until then.

Craig

[BillyH]

If you can scan the photo and add it here then you may get an answer about the cap badge and whether it is a pre-war uniform.

As a new member you may find it difficult to post images, this link may explain how to do it :

http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=213613&hl=%22posting+images%22

BillyH.

[ManchesterLass]

Hi BillyH

I've attached the photo of my Great Grandad Barry. Hopefully someone will be able to shed some light on the uniform. The photo has seen better days I'm afraid, but then again it is over 100 years old! Thanks for the guide to uploading photos, it was most useful

Debs

[BillyH]

Hi Debs,

The cap badge is King's Liverpool. Nothing else to see on the photo to my eyes, but I am not an expert.

Also it is not a 'Pals' badge (17th-20th Battalions) or 6th/8th/or10th Bn's which had different badges.

A nice photo by the way, he could be near enough 40 to my eyes.

Craig in post #2 mentioned him enlisting in the Territorials in 1915, so have a look at the following page from the Long Long Trail website :

http://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/army/regiments-and-corps/the-british-infantry-regiments-of-1914-1918/kings-liverpool-regiment/

BillyH.

[ManchesterLass]

Hi Billy, thank you, you have better eyes than me, plus I have no idea what I'm looking for The 1915 attestation document says 2/5 KLR so maybe its the 2/5th Kings Liverpool Regiment Battalion, he got transferred to the 16th (Transport Workers) Battalion and stayed in the UK. I'm confused by the back of the photo, I've edited the original. In it original state its postcard sized and on the back says Post Card and underneath Carte Postale??? Debs

[ss002d6252]

He'd been placed in to the Royal Defence Corps from 2/5th Kings Liverpool and rather than remain with them he voluntarily enlisted in to the 16th battalion.

Craig

[Rusty2727]

Hi ManchesterLass,

 

My great grandfather also joined the 2/5th KLR on the 15th July 1915 also....he joined up late because he was already in the Merchant Navy, while on shore he was given a white feather, so joined up following that....but maybe our G.Grandfathers new each other!....who knows!