magumba Posted 12 September , 2016 Share Posted 12 September , 2016 Hello folks I came across the i.d bracelet recently on my travels and have just started researching the gentleman in question and its becoming apparent he may have been an original Grimsby chum and ended his service with the RAF as an officer. I've got the medal index card and RAF service record also a casualty report with him having ''influenza-not serious'' but i'm having trouble arranging it chronologically and its becoming apparent that Richard Martyn Close had quite an interesting history Could I ask for assistance or nudges in the right direction to glean more information and help in deciphering some of the abbreviations used on the various documentation Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sotonmate Posted 12 September , 2016 Share Posted 12 September , 2016 (edited) There is also a service record at Kew,here: http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C1169452 not digital as yet. It will likely have his papers from first enlist as 610 Lincolns and probably up to transfer to RAF. Edited 12 September , 2016 by sotonmate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IPT Posted 12 September , 2016 Share Posted 12 September , 2016 There's something on FMP from WO 76 - Regimental records of officers' services 1775-1914,Sherwood Foresters (Misc. Battalions): records of officers' service, which shows that he was in France 9/1/1916 to 25/4/1917, Ireland 7/2/1917 (??) to 29/9/1917, and Grand Fleet Group RAF 21/11/1918 to 4/2/1919. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magumba Posted 12 September , 2016 Author Share Posted 12 September , 2016 Thank you for that Sotonmate & IPT Its certainly getting more interesting .below are 2 pages from the RAF service record (total 5 pages but 3 have no entries except name) and this is where I'm struggling a little with my deciphering skills Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TTracer44 Posted 13 September , 2016 Share Posted 13 September , 2016 Is this info all for the same man, not saying it isn't but you have him as a Grimsby Pal with home Address as Matlock Bath, Derbyshire then Address on medal card 255 Cromwell rd, Peterborough. Just that the alarm bells start to ring. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magumba Posted 13 September , 2016 Author Share Posted 13 September , 2016 From what I can gather the Peterborough address dates to around 1923,the E of Q (emblem query ?) entry on the card and the address appear to be in the same hand using the same colour ink He relinquished his commission ''on ceasing to be employed'' on 03/02/19 and that ties in with IPT's info on grand fleet group RAF. I think he enlisted on or around the 5th October 1914 from the Army service numbers website so its not inconceivable that he moved at the end of his service I'm still struggling to decipher the entry tacked underneath Lincoln regt and above Sherwood Foresters it appears to me to be DLG 2/lieut then Sherwood foresters lieut Royal Sussex and Kings regiment ditto. Also officers had to apply for their medals which is why you very often find addresses on their index cards and very rarely on rank and file Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IPT Posted 13 September , 2016 Share Posted 13 September , 2016 On the medal card, it reads like 2nd Lt Durham Light Infantry. There is the below note in the document I mentioned in post #3. The 53rd (Young Soldiers) Bn were at Clipstone at the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TTracer44 Posted 13 September , 2016 Share Posted 13 September , 2016 I presume that is the Clipstone Barracks that were in Sherwood Forest near Mansfield. 40 minutes ago, IPT said: On the medal card, it reads like 2nd Lt Durham Light Infantry. There is the below note in the document I mentioned in post #3. The 53rd (Young Soldiers) Bn were at Clipstone at the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TTracer44 Posted 13 September , 2016 Share Posted 13 September , 2016 hello Magumba, just been looking at the first sheet of his service record it's a bit feint but can I see Hosp, 28'7'18, Wothorpe Drift, Stamford. If so that would interest me immensely and would need to do some research to find out more, there is a large house there that was called the Elms in 1911 and owned by the Hunt Family who were Brewers in the town, it's a possibility. Also can't read the next column after is it a date! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magumba Posted 13 September , 2016 Author Share Posted 13 September , 2016 Hi TTracer Dates are on casualty card here http://www.rafmuseumstoryvault.org.uk/archive/close-r.m.-richard-martyn first card on left hand side (28/7/18) The date and diagnosis (influenza) ties in with the tail end of the first of three pandemic 'waves' in the UK 1918-19 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1918_flu_pandemic#/media/File:1918_spanish_flu_waves.gif Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TTracer44 Posted 13 September , 2016 Share Posted 13 September , 2016 Thanks for that magumba, certainly looks like there was a military hospital at Wothorpe, Stamford, I shall do some research into that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sotonmate Posted 14 September , 2016 Share Posted 14 September , 2016 Magumba I am at Kew next week and can look in the service file if you wish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magumba Posted 20 September , 2016 Author Share Posted 20 September , 2016 Apologies to anyone following this due to my absence but a horrible life intrusion has kept me away from things for a while Sotonmate...many thanks for the kind offer but I fear I may have missed your Kew visit TTracer44 I would be interested to find out about the hospital as I can find out little from some preliminary googling I have a vague recollection that I did some searching on one of the 'free' weekends on ancestry and if I remember correctly Richard Martyn Close was married in Birmingham and his first born was born in Lancashire (might be totally wrong...I saved nothing) and another vague recollection is ''Banking'' I also found out that Richard died in March 1976 and recorded at Spilsby Lincs I'm also in Matlock Bath on a regular basis and his address (and that of his parents) is still there ,which kind of ties in with the finding of the i.d bracelet which was found buried at the bottom of a box of pound items at a car boot sale 3 miles from Matlock ! I believe theres an interesting story here somewhere... starts out as a Grimsby chum and ends up with the Grand Fleet RAF...its just collating the information into a 'digestible' format Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sotonmate Posted 22 September , 2016 Share Posted 22 September , 2016 (edited) Magumba Summary of service: 2.10.1914 at Grimsby. 610 Private 10th Lincolns "C" Company. Later at Brocklesby Park,Ripon,Parham Down,and Warminster, to 8.1.1916. L/Corporal July 1916. France 9.7.1916 to 26.4.1917. Depot at Lincoln Barracks 27.4 to 4.7.1916. Officer Cadet OCB Fermoy Ireland 5.7.1917 for 2 months. 2/Lieutenant 3 Battalion Sherwood Foresters 25.9.1917. 10.12.1917 Selected for RFC reported at Reading for training. Note in RAF forms above re-hospital refer to his having an adenoids operation prior to acceptance for flying training. Lieutenant 26.3.1919. 20.1.1921 Dispersal Certificate shows his duty with EEF in Egypt and Sudan as an Officer of the Sherwood Foresters,attached to 2 Bn King's Regiment. There seems to be a possibility that he was re-employed after the statement on his above RAF form of 3.2.1919 that he relinquished his commission. Released and relinquished Commission on completion 17.2.1921. This detail from his own summary and other detail in his papers in WO339/115361. Edited 22 September , 2016 by sotonmate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TTracer44 Posted 22 September , 2016 Share Posted 22 September , 2016 Hello Magumba, I had a look in the booklet Stamford and the Great War but no mention of the Auxillery hospital at Wothorpe, so I googled ( Wothorpe Auxillery hospital WW1) and I found a reference Just saying Jan 1st 1918, 24 beds 626 Patients, at Wothorpe Villas 2nd Drift, Wothorpe, I presume the amount of patients was the total as only 24 beds. When next at the local Library I will make some enquiries. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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