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Remembered Today:

In which Base Hospital did my Soldier Die?


RussT

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I posted this request for information a few days ago but it apparently breached Forum Rules (which wasn't my intention) and so was removed by the Moderators. I'm having another go - hopefully this time the request is structured in a way that is acceptable. In the previous post a couple of fellow Forum Members kindly responded with some useful information within the intent of the request, so I thank them. They shouldn't feel it necessary to re-post that information as I managed to take note of it before the post was removed.

 

Many thousands of wounded and sick soldiers were evacuated to Base Hospitals during the war. It is in the nature of things that some soldiers succumbed to their wounds or sickness and died in hospital - although the number who did die, as a percentage of those admitted, was remarkably very low. Given that the majority of British soldier military service records were destroyed, it's not uncommon to hear from later generations seeking information as to which hospital their soldier died.  Many relevant Hospital War Diaries that I have looked at do not identify the solders who died in them and its seems the hospital registers, which must have existed at one time, are long since destroyed. One of my relatives died of wounds and is buried in Boulogne Eastern Cemetery - I've naturally concluded he must have died at a Base Hospital in the Boulogne area but because he has no relevant service records, I had no idea which actual hospital it might have been..

 

With a view to answering this question for my relative, I've had a go at developing a methodology that should help to predict the Base Hospital in which a soldier died (either through sickness or wounds). I hope to post about the methodology (it's not sophisticated !) in a future post - but in the meantime this post requests information on the soldiers in the Table below to help validate the methodology. I've no idea if the methodology has wider application as I've only developed it on a small sample for a specific Base area over a short timeframe within which I have a personal interest. Nevertheless, it might of interest to others seeking similar information for their relatives.

 

The following Table lists 29 men who are believed to have died in a Base Hospital within the Boulogne area throughout July 1917 and for whom I have been unable to find any information for the actual hospitals in which they died. Nevertheless, I've been able to make a prediction for the specific hospital - although for two of the men I've only been able to narrow it down to two possible hospitals, and for one man a prediction has not been possible.

 

I've trawled through all the usual sources e.g. Service Records, Soldiers Died Great War, Soldiers' Effects Records, CWGC, Medal Rolls etc without luck. So the request here is to anyone who might have information on these men as to the actual hospital in which they died. If any are forthcoming, it might help to explore whether the methodology is robust.

 

I've also listed the same men in plain text below the Table in case of future internet searches.

 

 

Predictions Hospitals 2.jpg

 

2266 Sgt Harold Herbert Smith, Army Pay Corps
53645 Pte Thomas Moores, Royal Welsh Fusiliers
23230 Pte George Frederick Carroll, Royal Irish Fusiliers
22960 Pte Arthur Henry Phillips, Wiltshire Regiment
650878 Gnr John Morrison, Royal Field Artillery
T4/174281 Pte Samuel Stirrat, Army Service Corps
Major Basil Ziani De Farranti, Royal Garrison Artillery
25911 Pte Thomas Hayes, Lancashire Fusiliers
230910 Pte Frederick Robinson, King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry

2nd Lieutenant Allan Stanley Wilson, Border Regiment
33828 Pte Sidney Arthur Fountain, The Loyal North Lancashire Regiment
1247 Pte George Stoneman, The Queen's (Royal West Surrey Regiment)
8022 Pte Henry Hennesey, Royal Sussex Regiment
11143 Sgt Walter Young, Lancashire Fusiliers
27/250 Pte James Wood Fletcher, Northumberland Fusiliers
25493 Pte Howard Wolsgrove Lawrence, Worcestershire Regiment
L/9472 Frederick Howard Currell, The Queen's (Royal West Surrey Regiment)
10736 Pte Robert Dillon, Royal Warwickshire Regiment
14630 L/Cpl Walter Hedley England, Notts & Derby Regiment
225101 Pte Leonard Edward Nash, Royal Fusiliers
201820 Pte George Pritchard, South Lancashire Regiment
358814 Pte John Edward Martin, The King's (Liverpool Regiment)
29551 Pte Frank Dent, Gloucestershire Regiment
382319 L/Bmbr Kenneth Thomas Lind Payne, Royal Garrison Artillery
S/18475 Pte James Paterson Fyfe, Seaforth Highlanders
31455 Pte Christopher Marshall, Worcestershire Regiment
307352 L/Cpl William Thomas Sargent, West Yorkshire Regiment
36032 Pte William Evans, Worcestershire Regiment
962 Pte Matthew McCullock Scott, Machine Gun Guards

 

Edited by RussT
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I have Base Hospital records of deaths in some areas.  The records are mostly in French, except the soldier’s name and regiment.  They were sent to my late father from a contact he had in France but I don’t know where they are originally from.  I’ve checked some of the entries from service records and they appear to be accurate.  Unfortunately I don’t have any from hospitals in the Boulogne area but I do have them from hospitals in Rouen, Dieppe, Etretat, La Treport, and Havre.  If you don’t get much of a response to help you with your list, then maybe you could test your methodology on one of the areas above and I could check it against the lists I have.  Might help you establish if your methodology is robust.

 

Just a thought.

 

Barbara

 
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Thomas Moores RWF53645 died at 83 General Hospital according to the 1st Bn casualty books.

 

(wounded 14 5 1917)

Edited by Hywyn
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1 hour ago, BJanman said:

I have Base Hospital records of deaths in some areas.  The records are mostly in French, except the soldier’s name and regiment.  They were sent to my late father from a contact he had in France but I don’t know where they are originally from.  I’ve checked some of the entries from service records and they appear to be accurate.  Unfortunately I don’t have any from hospitals in the Boulogne area but I do have them from hospitals in Rouen, Dieppe, Etretat, La Treport, and Havre.  If you don’t get much of a response to help you with your list, then maybe you could test your methodology on one of the areas above and I could check it against the lists I have.  Might help you establish if your methodology is robust.

 

Just a thought.

 

Barbara

 

 

Barbara,

 

Thanks for that potential source of information - I will bear it in mind if I am able to get round to those base areas.

 

Regards

 

Russ

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18 minutes ago, Hywyn said:

Thomas Moores RWF53645 died at 83 General Hospital according to the 1st Bn casualty books.

 

(wounded 14 5 1917)

 

Hywyn

 

Great - looks like I got at least one correct !

 

Out of interest, are those Bn casualty records on line?

 

Thanks very much for posting that information

 

Regards

 

Russ

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4 minutes ago, RussT said:

 

 

Out of interest, are those Bn casualty records on line?

 

 

Not that I know of Russ. They are in the RWF archive collection now held at Wrexham County Archives.

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