Warwickshire Yeomanry Transportation to Alexandria

[liliasodell]

I have a postcard sent home by my Grandpa (Warwickshire Yeomanry) on which he lists his travel route with times, from Tidworth to Marseilles. He was part of the 'third line' recruitment in May 1915, transferred to '1st line' in February 1917 at which point he was shipped out to Egypt.

Using his pension records for dates, I've come up with the following itinerary (exact transcription from the pc, with additional info from the records in brackets).

 

departed from T(idworth) at 7.30am Monday (5th Feb. 1917)

reached South(ampton) - 2.0pm

embarked  6.0pm

reached Le Havre 1.0am (Tuesday 6th Feb)

disembarked 4.30pm

entrained 5pm, started 8.0pm Tuesday night.

arrived Marseilles early Friday (9th Feb),

(Wednesday 28th Feb, disembarked Alexandria)

 

Can anyone help out with -

1 - the name of the ship from Southampton to Le Havre.

2 - any information about the ship, and any details of what might have happened between Marseilles and Alex, including any stop-offs.

3 - which camp they would have been sent to on arrival in Alex - I'm thinking Sidi Bishi (I have some photos taken by Grandpa of this camp) but am not sure.

4 - would they have taken their horses with them, or were they allocated a horse on arrival in Egypt?

 

Thank you!

 

Lilias

 

 

[sotonmate]

Grandad was 1/1 Warwickshire Yeomanry, which was already in Egypt when he was sent to join them. 1/2 and 1/3 were in the UK at this time.

You are unlikely to find which ship he sailed to France in, if a unit was landing for the first time that info is usually in the War Diary but unless you are lucky and have his papers where it might be entered, you will be disappointed. He is likely to have crossed initially on a channel ferry.

What you will probably find is his ship from Marseilles to Alexandria, probably not his name but a manifest for military passengers will show the number of soldiers to each unit draft on board for the journey. This would entail looking in ship files in the WO25 series at Kew and looking through those ships which left Marseilles up to a few days after 9 Feb 1917. The file may show any stops en route, maybe Malta.

Horses usually already in service with unit.

According to the Long Long Trail the 1/1WY were part of 5 Mounted Brigade of the Imperial Mounted Division in Feb 1917, and became a part of the Australian Mounted Division in June 1917. April 1918 the 1/1WY joined with the South Notts Yeomanry and became B Battalion of the Machine Gun Corps. May 1918 left Alex en route for Europe and their ship "Leasowe Castle" was torpedoed and they returned to Egypt ! Jun 1918 sailed again for Taranto Italy and trained to Etaples, France. Aug 1918 became 100 Battalion Machine Gun Corps.

 

Edit: The file you need is here:

http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C4400424

[liliasodell]

11 hours ago, sotonmate said:

Grandad was 1/1 Warwickshire Yeomanry, which was already in Egypt when he was sent to join them. 1/2 and 1/3 were in the UK at this time.

You are unlikely to find which ship he sailed to France in, if a unit was landing for the first time that info is usually in the War Diary but unless you are lucky and have his papers where it might be entered, you will be disappointed. He is likely to have crossed initially on a channel ferry.

What you will probably find is his ship from Marseilles to Alexandria, probably not his name but a manifest for military passengers will show the number of soldiers to each unit draft on board for the journey. This would entail looking in ship files in the WO25 series at Kew and looking through those ships which left Marseilles up to a few days after 9 Feb 1917. The file may show any stops en route, maybe Malta.

Horses usually already in service with unit.

According to the Long Long Trail the 1/1WY were part of 5 Mounted Brigade of the Imperial Mounted Division in Feb 1917, and became a part of the Australian Mounted Division in June 1917. April 1918 the 1/1WY joined with the South Notts Yeomanry and became B Battalion of the Machine Gun Corps. May 1918 left Alex en route for Europe and their ship "Leasowe Castle" was torpedoed and they returned to Egypt ! Jun 1918 sailed again for Taranto Italy and trained to Etaples, France. Aug 1918 became 100 Battalion Machine Gun Corps.

 

Edit: The file you need is here:

http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C4400424

Thank you for the info and guidance! Much appreciated.

Grandpa was actually in hospitat in Alex in May 1918, and was discharged the day before the Leasowe Castle sailed. He saw them off (he was no longer fit for frontline duties). I know he lost some mates when it was sunk and he always included missing this journey in the list of 4 times he escaped death.

Thanks again

Lilias