Pte. W. R. Stewart #10153, New Zealand - Fell Between the Cracks

[laughton]

Private William Robert Stewart #10153 is listed as a missing on the CATERPILLAR VALLEY (NEW ZEALAND) MEMORIAL but I think he fell through the cracks and his grave site is known.

 

He is recorded here for the on GRRF 1975538 as being in Plot 3 Row H Grave 16 at the Bulls Road Cemetery in Flers. I had to wonder why they struck out his number and marked him as an UNKNOWN, until I checked his record.

 

His Military Service File has him buried in the ESTAIRES COMMUNAL CEMETERY AND EXTENSION on two forms and in what appears to be H.3.C or 4.3.C, 2 which is not a valid grave site reference.

 

http://ndhadeliver.natlib.govt.nz/delivery/StreamGate?dps_pid=FL22971752&dps_dvs=1480524201541~772

 

http://ndhadeliver.natlib.govt.nz/delivery/StreamGate?dps_pid=FL22971756&dps_dvs=1480524201541~772

 

I did go back through all the Estaires documents and there are two NZ STEWARTS in that cemetery in 3.J.9 (Leslie) and 3.L.14 (Donald) but they are not William Robert Stewart. It would appear that someone checked the records, thought he was buried elsewhere (which he was not) so they took him off the list for the Bulls Road Cemetery, Flers.

 

His complete Military Service File with the errors noted above is here: http://ndhadeliver.natlib.govt.nz/delivery/DeliveryManagerServlet?dps_pid=IE19705520

 

Clearly he was "concentrated" in Bulls Road Cemetery but unfortunately they only have the GRRF files and none of the COG-BR.

 

Perhaps someone in New Zealand wishes to look into this further as I see that his file was only approved on 28 September 2016. I assume that means approved for uploading to the site but I am not familiar with the details of the review process.

 

Bulls Road Cemetery should have COG-BR documents unless they were lost in the WWII bombings.

 

Richard

[TEW]

The direct links to the two pages don't seem to be working for me. But found that page 15 of his file must be one of them, extract below;

I don't think 43C or 4.3.C is purporting to be a grid reference, is it not just a report number?

 

31959 G ? 

 

The GRRF you gave for Plot 3 Row H Grave 16 dated 25/9/1920 doesn't actually name him, originally just gave NZ 10153 Unknown, then later the number crossed out.

 

The red capital C in the far right column probably indicates those with red ticks were concentrated, this and other sheets are marked as Exhumations.

 

Difficult to suggest reasons why an exhumed, concentrated body believed to have the number 10153 had the number removed from the record sheet.

 

One would think that the GRU had a copy of 'Report Estaires 1 43C' to work from. Why would they later have uncertainty about the number?

 

CWGC mentions Portuguese and French being removed from Estaires post-war but no mention of original or removals of NZ troops.

 

TEW

 

 

[laughton]

Strange, the links work if you have his file open but not once it is closed. The two links are on page 2 and page 15 (you showed that) in his file here:

 

http://ndhadeliver.natlib.govt.nz/delivery/DeliveryManagerServlet?dps_pid=IE19705520

 

I will look into that posting issue further, as it is useful if you can post the direct image link.

 

It is my belief that they looked up the number 10153 and saw that it was already reported as being in another cemetery (albeit the wrong Stewart) and so they figured it could not be him. This is not the first time we have seen this error in the records. In the vast majority of cases they also find that the person with that number is still alive. In this case he was not and they had the wrong Stewart in the other cemetery. Therefore they stopped their search.

 

The best evidence that it is him would be the COG-BR. Without that we don't know the exhumation location and we can not assume that the cemetery is in close proximity to where he was exhumed. I have made that mistake before! They could be tens to hundreds of kilometres away - it all depended on what cemetery was open to accept concentrations. I have one case where the remains were exhumed near Mons and buried near Ypres.