12/1617 L/Cpl Walter Millington - non-commemoration?

[Brigantian]

Walter enlisted in the Sheffield City Battalion (12th Bn York & Lancs.) on 25 August 1915. He was discharged to Class Z Reserve from 15 Officer Cadet Battalion on 5 March 1919.

 

According to his Death Certificate, Walter died in Sheffield from Malignant Endocarditis on 23 September 1919, over six months after discharge from the Army. Endocarditis is an inflammation of the heart lining, usually resulting from bacterial infection. During active service, such infections could be caused by poor oral hygiene, human body lice, infected wounds, etc.  

 

Walter was survived by his wife and five-month-old daughter. He was buried in Wardsend Cemetery, Sheffield on 26 September 1919 - I am attempting to trace his grave. He is commemorated on two Sheffield War Memorials, but not by the CWGC.

 

Some papers survive from his WO 363 file including:

 

Letter from Ministry of Pensions, dated 24 April 1920 confirming that Walter’s Widow is eligible for pension.

 

Pension First Award-Widow form dated 15 Feb. 1921, showing a weekly Widow’s pension of 26s 8d and a child allowance of 10s per week, back dated to the day following Walter’s death.

 

Walter’s Protection Certificate dated 4/2/19 showing his Medical Category on discharge as ‘A’

 

Completed next of kin details form for the issue of his medals (entitled to BWM & VM)

 

Completed next of kin details form for the issue of Memorial Plaque & Scroll.

 

Two receipts signed by his wife, but these appear water damaged and do not show what they acknowledge (e.g. two separately issued medals or a pair of medals and a plaque, etc).   

 

No papers survive in Walter’s service record that might have shown details of illnesses, injuries or hospital admissions.

 

The difficulty is in showing that his death, after being discharged Medical Class ‘A’, was caused or aggravated by military service. Clearly, the Ministry of Pensions were so convinced or they would not have awarded a pension. But is this point sufficient to convince the MOD?

 

I will attempt to obtain copies of any Pension Record Cards held by the WFA, but they may not take the point in issue any further

 

Any advice would be welcome.

 

Mark

[Brigantian]

Bump!

[ss002d6252]

On 02/07/2017 at 11:25, Brigantian said:

Walter enlisted in the Sheffield City Battalion (12th Bn York & Lancs.) on 25 August 1915. He was discharged to Class Z Reserve from 15 Officer Cadet Battalion on 5 March 1919.

 

According to his Death Certificate, Walter died in Sheffield from Malignant Endocarditis on 23 September 1919, over six months after discharge from the Army. Endocarditis is an inflammation of the heart lining, usually resulting from bacterial infection. During active service, such infections could be caused by poor oral hygiene, human body lice, infected wounds, etc.  

 

Walter was survived by his wife and five-month-old daughter. He was buried in Wardsend Cemetery, Sheffield on 26 September 1919 - I am attempting to trace his grave. He is commemorated on two Sheffield War Memorials, but not by the CWGC.

 

Some papers survive from his WO 363 file including:

 

Letter from Ministry of Pensions, dated 24 April 1920 confirming that Walter’s Widow is eligible for pension.

 

Pension First Award-Widow form dated 15 Feb. 1921, showing a weekly Widow’s pension of 26s 8d and a child allowance of 10s per week, back dated to the day following Walter’s death.

 

Walter’s Protection Certificate dated 4/2/19 showing his Medical Category on discharge as ‘A’

 

Completed next of kin details form for the issue of his medals (entitled to BWM & VM)

 

Completed next of kin details form for the issue of Memorial Plaque & Scroll.

 

Two receipts signed by his wife, but these appear water damaged and do not show what they acknowledge (e.g. two separately issued medals or a pair of medals and a plaque, etc).   

 

No papers survive in Walter’s service record that might have shown details of illnesses, injuries or hospital admissions.

 

The difficulty is in showing that his death, after being discharged Medical Class ‘A’, was caused or aggravated by military service. Clearly, the Ministry of Pensions were so convinced or they would not have awarded a pension. But is this point sufficient to convince the MOD?

 

I will attempt to obtain copies of any Pension Record Cards held by the WFA, but they may not take the point in issue any further

 

Any advice would be welcome.

 

Mark

'War Pensions and Allowances' by Hogg is probably the best reference in respect of WW1 pensions - https://archive.org/details/thewarpensionsallow00hoggrich

 

Page 130 gives an overview of the rules on issuing a widows pension - https://archive.org/stream/thewarpensionsallow00hoggrich#page/130/mode/2up/search/widow
 

Craig

[John_Hartley]

On 02/07/2017 at 11:25, Brigantian said:

 But is this point sufficient to convince the MOD?

 

Mark

 

Not out of the question but I think it would prove to be a tricky one. On the one hand, there is a pension award, so that is supportive. As is his death relatively soon after discharge. However, and this is what I think is a big "however", there is nothing to indicate the cause of death was caused or aggravated by service (as you note). And, indeed, he appears to have had a normal Class Z discharge with a Class A medical condition, rather than a medical discharge.  As such, I'm not convinced of likely success of this case and, had it been presented to the In From the Cold Project, I doubt we would have put it forward.

 

That said, it's a borderline matter and you may wish to follow it through and I would entirely understand that. It's a matter of throwing as much evidence as you can muster at CWGC/MoD, so I suggest you do  try to follow up the pension record card held by the WFA. And, if not already done so, look at the local newspapers to see if there was an obituary for him, or an "in memorium" notice the follwing year. I would also look at the newspaper for the report, if any, of the unveiling of the two memorials on which he's commemorated - always possible they printed a short biography of the men named that might hold something useful

 

Sorry not to be more encouraging

 

John

 

 

[ss002d6252]

To get the widows pension the condition was that the death was in some way related to service.

 

A 26s 8d pension would have fallen under either #1 or #2 - #1 wouldn't appear to apply as he was already discharged.

His widow was 25 when he died so it looks like it was possibly paid on the pre-war income basis rather than the standard age range based pension.

 

#3 is covered by article 15 of the Royal Warrant as a temporary pension for non service related deaths.

Craig

[ss002d6252]

Subsequent to the details in the above book further various amendments to the war pension rules were made - In Sep 1919 the amount for a war widow with children was 26s 8d per week - http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/written_answers/1952/feb/26/1914-18-war-widows#S5CV0496P0_19520226_CWA_158

 

This means you can link the amount back to the conditions of the widows pension but whether or not the CWGC would accept the chain of evidence...

 

Craig

[John_Hartley]

26 minutes ago, ss002d6252 said:

 but whether or not the CWGC would accept the chain of evidence...

 

Very possibly not, as I've suggested. The issue is that the NAM is generally unwilling to act on a single piece of uncorroborated evidence in its advice to the MoD. Especially, as here.,where there is actual contradictory evidence in the form of the Class Z discharge.

 

 

[ss002d6252]

Just now, John_Hartley said:

Very possibly not, as I've suggested. The issue is that the NAM is generally unwilling to act on a single piece of uncorroborated evidence in its advice to the MoD. Especially, as here.,where there is actual contradictory evidence in the form of the Class Z discharge.

 

 

The Class Z discharge doesn't preclude him falling under #2 on the criteria though. I can see the difficultly with the CWGC etc however the only way a widow could get a widows pension was for a death either in or associated with service (we can ignore the 15s rate under #3 of the criteria).

Craig

[John_Hartley]

If the NAM/MoD agree  that the interpretation of the regulations means that his death must be related to service then there will be a clear cut case for approval. I will be glad to be proved wrong as it will, I think, set a precedent that can be used for the future.  I'd suggest that Mark makes his submission to CWGC on that basis and we'll see what's what. It will certainly simplify the  evidence gathering for future submissions.

[ss002d6252]

5 minutes ago, John_Hartley said:

If the NAM/MoD agree  that the interpretation of the regulations means that his death must be related to service then there will be a clear cut case for approval. I will be glad to be proved wrong as it will, I think, set a precedent that can be used for the future.  I'd suggest that Mark makes his submission to CWGC on that basis and we'll see what's what. It will certainly simplify the  evidence gathering for future submissions.

Out of curiosity do you have similar cases where this has come up before but haven't , as yet, gone to through the process.

I think it's certainly one that could benefit as being put through as a 'test' case.

Craig

Edited 14 July , 2017 by ss002d6252

[John_Hartley]

Craig

 

We have cases, from time to time, where we are not ourselves convinced of the probability of success and, in these instances, we don't put them forward. I'm aware of a number of cases where, for example, men have appeared in the soldiers effects register but have subsequently been proved not to have died. When we doing our original checks, we used to get similar with death certifictaes - certificiate issued but man actually not dead. The most recent "back burner" case I'm aware of, was the highlighted on a recent thread where evidence was produced that two similarly named men, killed same  were in fact separate men and not a duplicate as first thought. We had not submitted that one because, on balance, we felt the similarities were so close that it was almost bound to be a duplicate - another researcher separately found the evidence, in soldiers effects, that there were separate people and the case has now gone forward.

 

It's a matter of principle for the Project that we only submit good quality cases and not those where we feel we are "chancing it". On the other hand, I remember much discussion between Terry Denham and myself about a chap who had been discharged with a mental illness and, within a few days, committed suicide. I was very keen to see him put forward as I felt there was a direct link between the illness and the suicide. At first, Terry did not agree because there was not the usual direct link between cause of discharge and cause of death. He was absolutely right to test my arguments which were, basically, that it was similar to a man being discharged with, say gunshot wounds but then dying of a related contracted illness (say something related to a later amputation). The case went forward and, to the best of my recollection, was approved.

[Brigantian]

Craig

Thanks for the pension regulation information and links. They are most helpful in providing additional circumstantial evidence.  

 

John

Thank you for your thoughts and advice.

 

Whilst I can build a case from circumstantial evidence, it lacks that decisive link confirming death resulted from Army service, particularly when discharged in apparent good health. Although there are obvious difficulties with this case and the chances of success slim, I’ll give it a try and report back when CWGC have ruled.

Thanks again for the comments.

Regards

 

Mark

[Wardsend]

Hi Mark I'm the Chair of Friends of Wardsend Cemetery and came across Walter's story in the BNA the other day. A quick Google search brought me here. One of our committee has located his grave and just sent me a photo of his headstone. We hold a Remembrance service every year where we make a point of remembering all those buried or remembered at Wardsend. I was particularly moved by Walter's story and wondered if you could help us put something about him together for our website. Best wishes, Howard 

[Wardsend]

1 hour ago, Wardsend said:

Hi Mark I'm the Chair of Friends of Wardsend Cemetery and came across Walter's story in the BNA the other day. A quick Google search brought me here. One of our committee has located his grave and just sent me a photo of his headstone. We hold a Remembrance service every year where we make a point of remembering all those buried or remembered at Wardsend. I was particularly moved by Walter's story and wondered if you could help us put something about him together for our website. Best wishes, Howard 

 

https://wardsendcemetery.wordpress.com/

[Wardsend]