Pte Wilfred Henry Hornsey

[Guest rosswheeldon]

Hi

My Great Grandfather's brother Wilfred Henry Hornsey enlisted with the Durham Light Infantry as part of the 18th bn and died 1/7/1916 apparently whilst transfering to hte Machine Gunners Corp.

If anyone has any idea of approaches for my research I would be very much appreciative.

Cheers,

Ross Wheeldon

[jim_davies]

Welcome to the forum,

Have you tried the mainsite. http://www.1914-1918.net/index.htm

This will pretty much give you most of what you need to know regarding reserach avenues.

Wilfred Henry Hornsey, is recorded on Soldiers Died, as being born and enlisting at Darlington. With previous service in the DLI (service number 85).

[gord97138]

Ross:

Welcome to The Forum.

Here's from the CWGC:

gordon

Casualty Details

Name: HORNSEY, WILFRED H.

Initials: W H

Nationality: United Kingdom

Rank: Private

Regiment: Durham Light Infantry

Unit Text: 18th Bn.

Date of Death: 01/07/1916

Service No: 18185

Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead

Grave/Memorial Reference: Pier and Face 14 A and 15 C.

Cemetery: THIEPVAL MEMORIAL

[jim_davies]

Interestingly just checked SD again and there's two entries:

1)Wilfred Henry Hornsey, Pte 22769, MGC, KIA 01/07/16.

Born & Enlisted Darlington.

Formerly 85 DLI

2)Wilfred Henry Hornsey, Pte 18/85, 18th DLI, KIA 01/07/16

Enlisted Darlington

????

Never seen two entries for the same man before.

Jim

[Guest rosswheeldon]

I am currently write a history of the Hornsey side of my family and the chapter I have set aside for Wilfred is entitled "The Man Who Died Twice". Apparently he was transfering between regiments at the time of his death from the DLI to the Machine Gunners Corp.

What research I have suceeded with tells me that the Heavy section of the MGC was formed around the time of his death. So thats where I need pointing. Does anyone know if the War diarys still exist for either of these regiments?

Cheers,

Ross Wheeldon

[JulianB]

Ross,

The War Diary for the 18th Bn DLI should be easy to find (at Kew, or even up in Durham), BUT you need to know which bit of the MGC your man was in - I'm afraid that is much more difficult. At the time of his death there were nearly 200 independant Companies of the MGC and yes, they each kept a WD (All I can tell you is that he was not in the 123rd which is the one I'm researching !). As for the Tank Corps they were also divided into different companies (or Battalions ??, I don't know much about them). You may be lucky if his service record survives at Kew. Otherwise there are some MGC researchers here who have done lots of number crunching to suggest roughly what Coy he was in.

good luck

Julian

[hmsk212]

Hi

Soldiers Died in the Great War indicate that he was in the Machine Gun Corps (Infantry).

Steve

[Patesian]

Your relative was almost certainly transferred to 93 MG Coy, whose War Diary is to be found at Kew under reference WO95/2362. If you follow this up and make a successful hit, I would be grateful for any information recovered.