Wellington Regiment NZEF

[Skoyen89]

Wilfred James Richard LATHAM came from my home village, Tetsworth in Oxfordshire, and is commemorated on the War memorial and in the church here.  He emigrated to New Zealand in 1914, came back on board a troopship in 1917 and was killed at Briastre, France on 12th October 1918.  He was in B Company of the Wellington Regiment on the troopship and in 1st Battalion, Wellington Regiment when he died.  Is it possible to work out which Company he was in when he died? (they are named after locations they originally came from (?) eg Hawkes Bay, Taranaki etc in the account I have of the battle).

 

His grave was found at map ref 5Y BE 24 D20-70 originally.  Does anyone have a map of the area or can help me pinpoint this spot?

 

Thanks!

[Main Body]

Have checked out his military record, and on his casualty form it states he was attached to the 9th Coy(company) when he was killed. This is the Hawkes Bay company. If you follow this link http://www.aucklandmuseum.com/war-memorial/online-cenotaph you can investigate his basic record and this further link https://www.archway.archives.govt.nz, will enable you to view the full details of his service record.

[Herekawe]

Hi

 

There is a brief description of the fighting around Braistre in "The Wellington Regiment" pp 308-314. This is on line just put in "The Wellington Regiment" and you will get onto it.

The companies were duplicated in each Brigade, apart from the Rifle Brigade,  and were a carry over from previous organisations, 9th Hawkes Bay, 11th Taranaki, 7th Wellington West Coast and 17th Ruahine. 

 

Braistre is just south of Solesmes.

 

 

 

James

 

 

Edited 18 July , 2016 by Herekawe
Tried to add a map.

[Skoyen89]

Many thanks to Herekawe and main Body for your input and suggestions.  I had found the Wellington Regiment History (but didn't know what Company he was in) and also the Auckland Museum Online Cenotaph, and even the Archway Archives page (but I hadn't found the tab to take me to the online service record and thought I had to contact them for them to digitise it!!).  I am now much clearer on his service and the place of death thanks to your help

 

.....now to find a map of the area from the time where I can look up the map references.

 

Again thanks

 

 

[Herekawe]

Glad you found that useful.

 

There should not be too much trouble with the maps, "From the Uttermost Ends of the Earth" by John H Grey has maps of the area on pages 342 and 343 as well as a description of the fighting. That is a common book in NZ Libraries. 

 

Other wise go the website of the National Library of Scotland at http://maps.nls.uk/ww1/trenches/index.html at that point with a bit of searching you will find a map of the area you should get to 57B.NE and find a couple of 1918 maps there.  http://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=13&lat=50.1558&lon=3.5355&layers=101465122

 

There are several thread in the past about interpretation of  the map references but Braistre itself is in square 24 of map 57B NE and using the letters and numbers that will give you close to the exact point.

 

Cheers

 

James