Keeno82uk Posted 9 September , 2016 Share Posted 9 September , 2016 (edited) 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 21 September , 2016 by Keeno82uk added new information Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dgibson150 Posted 9 September , 2016 Share Posted 9 September , 2016 (edited) 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 9 September , 2016 by dgibson150 Mixed up the surname Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clk Posted 9 September , 2016 Share Posted 9 September , 2016 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keeno82uk Posted 19 September , 2016 Author Share Posted 19 September , 2016 (edited) 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 19 September , 2016 by Keeno82uk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Evans Posted 19 September , 2016 Share Posted 19 September , 2016 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keeno82uk Posted 19 September , 2016 Author Share Posted 19 September , 2016 thanks Phil. interesting stuff. Will keep searching and will post anything I find out of courtesy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Porter Posted 20 September , 2016 Share Posted 20 September , 2016 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keeno82uk Posted 21 September , 2016 Author Share Posted 21 September , 2016 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aidan Posted 21 September , 2016 Share Posted 21 September , 2016 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aidan Posted 21 September , 2016 Share Posted 21 September , 2016 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keeno82uk Posted 21 September , 2016 Author Share Posted 21 September , 2016 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aidan Posted 21 September , 2016 Share Posted 21 September , 2016 thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keeno82uk Posted 21 September , 2016 Author Share Posted 21 September , 2016 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomo.T Posted 22 September , 2016 Share Posted 22 September , 2016 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keeno82uk Posted 22 September , 2016 Author Share Posted 22 September , 2016 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomo.T Posted 22 September , 2016 Share Posted 22 September , 2016 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keeno82uk Posted 22 September , 2016 Author Share Posted 22 September , 2016 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? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomo.T Posted 22 September , 2016 Share Posted 22 September , 2016 Most likely Phosgene or 'mustard gas' look it up on here (search) or google. Tomo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomo.T Posted 22 September , 2016 Share Posted 22 September , 2016 More information about the Labour Corps here http://www.labourcorps.co.uk/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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