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Samuel Keenan - Gunner -Royal Field Artillery - Regiment Number 5825 - Labour corps - Regiment Number - 693688


Keeno82uk

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I have been referred to this forum for help researching my great granddad who served in WWI as a Gunner in the Royal Field Artillery and served in the Labour Corps and was awarded three medals that I know of. I'm an novice when it comes to researching my family tree (and indeed this forum), but have made a good go of it. The details about this individual that I have accrued so far are:

 

Name: Samuel Keenan

Year of Birth: 1892

Hometown: Runcorn, Cheshire

Father: William Keenan

Married 1915 - Alice Slavin

 

Military: Gunner - Royal Field Artillery  - Reg: Number: 5825 /  Acting Corporal - Labour Corps - Reg No: 693688

(details obtained from Medal Roll Card through Ancestry.com and marriage certificate)

UPDATE: Source Forces War Records: Battalion = 94th Brigade - 21st Trench Mortar Brigade - 30th Division

 

I would be grateful if anyone on here could provide me with further information regarding Samuel's service in the war etc, as I am unsure whether he died in action or anything relating to his time after the war.

 

Any help would be appreciated.

 

Thanks

 

Mal Keenan

 

Edited by Keeno82uk
added new information
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Welcome to the forum Mal.

 

I couldn't find Samuel Keenan on the Commonwealth War Graves list of casualties, so I think he survived the War. I struggled a bit with his birth year, which seems to be a bit earlier than he put on the marriage certificate (on your tree I think on Ancestry). I did find that he may have emigrated to Australia. There is a crossed out entry on the Outgoing Passenger list for a voyage in 1923 to Fremantle Australia which has a 31 year old Samuel Keenan with the same address as on his marriage certificate. I am not sure why the entry is crossed out. Maybe he booked but didn't turn up.

 

The link is http://interactive.ancestry.co.uk/2997/40610_B001020-00137?pid=44348340&backurl=http://search.ancestry.co.uk//cgi-bin/sse.dll?_phsrc%3DNND2305%26_phstart%3DsuccessSource%26usePUBJs%3Dtrue%26gss%3Dangs-c%26new%3D1%26rank%3D1%26gsfn%3Dsamuel%26gsfn_x%3D0%26gsln%3Dkeenan%26gsln_x%3D0%26msbdy%3D1892%26msbdy_x%3D1%26msbdp%3D1%26cpxt%3D1%26cp%3D11%26MSAV%3D1%26uidh%3D9p8%26pcat%3D40%26h%3D44348340%26recoff%3D6%207%26db%3DUKOutwardPassengerLists%26indiv%3D1%26ml_rpos%3D2&treeid=&personid=&hintid=&usePUB=true&_phsrc=NND2305&_phstart=successSource&usePUBJs=true#?imageId=40610_B001020-00137

 

David

 

Edited by dgibson150
Mixed up the surname
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Hi Mal,

 

There is some good advice on how to research a soldier on the Long Long Trail - see here. Unfortunately, it would appear that the service file for Samuel was amongst those destroyed by fire during the Blitz. That means that you are going to have to piece together his war story from what remaining sources there are. What you already know is that he first arrived in active theatre (France) on 18th July 1915 with the Royal Field Artillery, and subsequently served abroad with the Labour Corps. What you don't know is the specific units. One record that might help is a transcription of a 1917 hospital admission/discharge record which is available from Forces War Records - see here. I'm sorry that I can't tell you what it says, as I don't currently subscribe to that website.

 

Good luck with your research.

 

Regards

Chris

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thank you for your help. 

 

Australia may be a line of inquiry when researching this gentleman :)

 

Equally, if anyone can help me shed some light on Samuel migrating to Australia or look into what the medical admission / discharge document says. I'd be most grateful. 

 

Thank you again :)

Edited by Keeno82uk
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From "No Labour, No Battle", a history of the Labour Corps by John Starling & Ivor Lee, the Labour Corps number 693688 was issued towards the latter end of the period September to December 1918.

It is not possible to derive the Labour Company from the number.

 

Phil

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thanks Phil. interesting stuff. Will keep searching and will post anything I find out of courtesy. 

 

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His date of arrival in France coincides with 19th Divisional Artillery (86th, 87th,88th and 89th Brigades). 

The actual unit should be given in the hospital record indicated in post #3 but there was some re-organization of batteries prior to 1917.

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On 09/09/2016 at 15:21, clk said:

Hi Mal,

 

There is some good advice on how to research a soldier on the Long Long Trail - see here. Unfortunately, it would appear that the service file for Samuel was amongst those destroyed by fire during the Blitz. That means that you are going to have to piece together his war story from what remaining sources there are. What you already know is that he first arrived in active theatre (France) on 18th July 1915 with the Royal Field Artillery, and subsequently served abroad with the Labour Corps. What you don't know is the specific units. One record that might help is a transcription of a 1917 hospital admission/discharge record which is available from Forces War Records - see here. I'm sorry that I can't tell you what it says, as I don't currently subscribe to that website.

 

Good luck with your research.

 

Regards

Chris

 

Chris, Managed, with the help of my father-in-law to gain access to the Forces War Records site which provided the following information.

 

Years Service: 3 years
Months With Field Force: 2 years 3 months
Ailment: Gas shell. Slight W.
Date of Admission for Original Ailment: No. 1 07/10/1917
Date Transferred to Other Hospitals: No. 6 Convalescence Depot 15/10/1917
Battalion: 94th Brigade (Why is this important?)
Other unit info: Attached 21st Trench Mortar Battery
Archive Reference: MH106/1144MH106/1144 can be found at The National Archives in Kew, and contains First World War Representative Medical Records of No. 18 General Hospital: 06/10/1917 to 27/10/1917. British and Colonial Other Ranks, R.F.C., R.N.D. and Operations. No. 18 General Hospital at CAMIERS, FRANCE (12 U.S.A. Base) Ser: 8684-10668.

 

 

Would love more information about his time spent during the war, his actions, where he fought, but wouldn't know where to start. Noticed there may be a war diary floating about somewhere which would provide more info. Can anyone on here provide further information based on the new information discovered?

 

thanks

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On ‎9‎/‎9‎/‎2016 at 11:38, Keeno82uk said:

I have been referred to this forum for help researching my great granddad who served in WWI as a Gunner in the Royal Field Artillery and served in the Labour Corps and was awarded three medals that I know of. I'm an novice when it comes to researching my family tree (and indeed this forum), but have made a good go of it. The details about this individual that I have accrued so far are:

 

Name: Samuel Keenan

Year of Birth: 1892

Hometown: Runcorn, Cheshire

Father: William Keenan

Married 1915 - Alice Slavin

 

Military: Gunner - Royal Field Artillery  - Reg: Number: 5825 / Labour Corps - Reg No: 693688

(details obtained from Medal Roll Card through Ancestry.com and marriage certificate)

 

I would be grateful if anyone on here could provide me with further information regarding Samuel's service in the war etc, as I am unsure whether he died in action or anything relating to his time after the war.

 

Any help would be appreciated.

 

Thanks

 

Mal Keenan

 

 

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27 minutes ago, aidan said:

on lives of ww1  Samuel keenan's number in the rfa is 5825   in the labour corps is 69368815.dennisgill@hotmail.co.uk.

 

I had a friend in prescot named mally keenan who died years ago,any connection.

 

Had the information about the regiment number for RFA and Labour Corps already. thank you through. 

 

I do not think there is any connection to the Mally Keenan mentioned. I'm assuming Mally is short for Malcolm (i often get called it) The only other Malcolm Keenan I know is my dad Malcolm Keenan snr and hes living. 

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New information has come to light. I have found evidence relating to the labour corps Samuel served in, which mentions his rank as being A/CPL (acting corporal?) I've attached a snippet from the document showing this. The date of the document being 1919. 

 

Now, I'm unable to find any information about this regiment in the Labour Corps and what role the Labour Corps played in WWI. If someone could help me find more information regarding this, I'd be most grateful.

 

thank you

Capture.PNG

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Keeno, The Labour Corps provided manual labour for roads,railways, trenches and earthworks etc. Wounded or unfit soldiers not considered bad enough to be repatriated often ended up there.

 

Tomo

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51 minutes ago, Tomo.T said:

Keeno, The Labour Corps provided manual labour for roads,railways, trenches and earthworks etc. Wounded or unfit soldiers not considered bad enough to be repatriated often ended up there.

 

Tomo

 

Ah that makes sense. He was wounded in action, so he probably was assigned a less hazardous part to play in the theatre of war

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Correct, Soldiers were assessed and downgraded medically according to the long term affects of their injuries. A man had to be pretty badly mauled to obtain the coveted 'blighty' and the army would make further use of him if they possibly could.

 

Tomo

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As I've mentioned above, I discovered Samuel was wounded by a "Gas Shell" and sought medical treatment for about a week. Can someone provide more information about what sort of gas  was used and its effects?

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Most likely Phosgene or 'mustard gas' look it up on here (search) or google.

 

Tomo

 

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