Historians on the Royal Warwickshire Battalions

[michaeluk007]

Is there anyone out there that can try and help me  find out my Grandfathers actual RWR Battalion, I know he was in either the 1/5 or 2/5 battalion, not sure which ?

I do already hold some information about him,

 

 ^{I know he joined the 5th battalion in Thorpe street in Birmingham on 8th November 1915,  5264 Private Frank Nash 5th Battalion Royal Warwickshire Regt then was issued with the new renumber 201439 some time I presume in 1917 however this was deleted on his medal index card and a line put through this new number, I know that number also relates to the 5th battalion on renumbering lists,
he later transferred to 29th Machine Gun Corps , 29th division , not sure when he transferred but guessing around the renumbering time in 1917,}

 

^{Thanks Michael}

 

[sotonmate]

His MGC number was 90788 and you might be able to get a date for the issue of that.

His Medal Index ( the one that I saw on Ancestry) only shows 5264 RWR and 90788 MGC, and a date of entry into war zone taken as after 1915 due to no Star medal being issued. It's the Medal Roll which shows the deleted second RWR number.

I see that another soldier with 90784 MGC ( no other Regiment shown on MIC ) enlisted on 6.12.1915, though I suppose that he could have been in another Regiment on Home Service and later transferred to the MGC.

It would have been 29 Machine Gun Battalion of 29 Division that he joined, it was formed in Feb 1918 from the 3 Brigade MG Companies of that Division, plus,probably, a draft of soldiers to make up to complement.

[michaeluk007]

Many thanks for trying to help sotonmate, yes I have both his medal index card and his medal roll, the most difficult thing for me is trying to find out which battalion he served with in the Royal Warwickshire Regt, it was either 1/5 or 2/5 , no idea which one and something I have been trying to find out for years, I have had very helpful people suggest that he may have been in 1/5 and/or 2/5 but no sound proof to date, you cannot even go by numbers near to his as those have served in both battalions,   the reason I want to know is so I can trace his battalions actions on the somme, I have visited many times but I don't know which area to investigate due to the different battalions area of operations, the 1/5 certainly took part in the battle of the somme near Serre on 1st July 16,   the 2/5 were involved in the Battle of Pozieres to the north of france,   I have the war diaries for both the 1/5 and 2/5 batt but do not know which one was his battalion, so frustrating, I am wondering if I will ever know,  my grandfather joined the 29 Machine Gun Battalion sometime in 1917 and on 29th September 1918 won the Military Medal with 29 Machine Gun Battalion for actions near Kruiseke in Belgium, I have his citation and was wondering if there would be anyway of finding out who he transferred from to the Machine Gun Corps, I was wondering if there was anyone out there who could check whether his service records have survived, another option would be to check whether he was hospitalised at any stage, I do know that he was gassed and I think but not sure that he came back to blighty to recover and I think it was a hospital of some description in Weston Super Mare but not completely sure on that, that is what my father told me, any help on this would would make me so happy !!

 

[Roger H]

Forum member Terry Carter may be able to help you

 

Roger

[michaeluk007]

Yes many thanks Roger, Terry has assisted me in my research before but unfortunately he couldn't really find out much more than I already know, Terry was really helpful and an inspiration to us all in the research field of WW1.