Riflemen Walter Richard Bedingham 2nd Bn Kings Royal Rifle Corps

[TRICKY DICKY RGJ]

2 minutes ago, MBrockway said:

Here's the map of the action showing 2/KRRC's dispositions by company - all the coys without regiments named are 2/KRRC:

[KRRC Chronicle 1915, facing p.68]

 

That's great i can't thank you enough for this info . Do you know which company he was in ? 

[TRICKY DICKY RGJ]

11 minutes ago, Matlock1418 said:

Apologies, I posted too soon - we must have crossed as I was editing/posting the image above

I'm afraid the image isn't exactly the clearest I've seen/produced [I've tried to get better but no significance difference???]

Much is probably self-explanatory but here are a few interpretations that may assist/interest you:

Of course, there was a sad aftermath - his widow made an initial claim for a war pension for herself and for a pension allowance(s) for her children under the prevailing Royal Warrant [which in this case would initially have been the 1915 RW] - Article 11 [widow] and Article 12 [child(ren)]. 

This pension index card was in the soldier’s name and there was another briefer card in the widow’s name so they could be cross-referenced/accessed.  These came from/lead to a ledger page(s) via the claim case references [also at WFA/Fold3] and then to an awards file the awards file probably deliberately destroyed once its use was passed [as was the common case]

The original Case No. 253 claim reference was largely replaced by a later Ministry of Pensions one of 11/W/62221 - the 11 representing pension region 11 [SE England Region] and 11/APW/21137 an Alternative Pension Widow's claim under Article 13 [his widow would have had to produce some sort of evidence that her husband’s proven earnings from employment and/or business before his service were sufficiently high to entitle her to a higher pension - providing that that calculation came out higher than the minimum/standard one].  APW details typically recorded in more detail on a separate pension ledger page [which I have not found] and we can see this APW calim was sent to teh Ap {Alternative Pensions] branch and from the card that she was unsuccessful.

Form 104-88 = Death notification of a married man sent from the man’s Record Office to the War Office.

Form 104-76 = Declaration made by the Widow of a Soldier in support of claim to pension for herself and children

Date of birth: 4.12.82 = his widow’s - required because her pension could be age-related/supplemented if she was >35 [which she obviously was not]. Such an age banding of pension is believed to address the less likely possibility of re-marriage with increasing age.

The standard pension initially paid to his widow was 18/6 per week from 25.5.15 [there usually was an approx. 6 month gap between death and paying of a pension - in the meantime standard Separation Allowances continued to be paid – so, unlike what many observers think when they first see such a card, there was not a complete absence of monies in the intervening period]. And we can see he must have initially been missing and was later Presumed Dead

That was 10/- pw for a widow <35 plus increments of 5/0 and 3/6 pw respectively for the children. 

The child(ren)'s allowance(s) were paid to their mother, typically until they reached 16 when such payments ceased [occasionally up to 21 if they were in some form of further vocational training or sometimes if they had impairment/disability] - then the child(ren) would certainly be expected to go out to work to earn their keep. Or paid until the earlier death of a child. Hence their recorded dates.

She could have potentially received a grant to cover urgent expenses arising from her husband's death - often for mourning dress, sometimes for moving home [typically downsizing as she would no longer be expected to keep a home in the same level of comfort as her husband might have expected had he returned!] - commonly used for local newspaper death notice inserts [these quite often had a photo = so a good place to search, e.g at British Newspaper Archive or through Find my Past] but I don't know why she was ineligible

Noted for Novel is thought to mean i.e. special treatment/calculation.

S.A. means Separation Allowance - A portion of a soldier's pay which was matched by the government and sent to his dependants to make sure they were not left destitute while he was on active service.  SA were often more generous than pensions and children’s allowances because a wife had to maintain a home in the same level of comfort as before ready for her husband’s return whilst a widow did not have such a need and costs – after all, apparently, she could then cut back and down-size her home!  Typically, the No. for whom SA is paid on the card reflected the number of children – as we can see here

I think the WWG.98 was possibly a certificate identity number to allow for the collection of the pension and allowances from a Post Office - but I am a bit more cautious about that.

Images of other PIC and PL available by subscription at the Western Front Association https://www.westernfrontassociation.com [highly recommended!] and/or Fold3

I hope of interest

M

Thanks anything and everything will be of interest to me many thanks again 

[MBrockway]

12 minutes ago, TRICKY DICKY RGJ said:

That's great i can't thank you enough for this info . Do you know which company he was in ? 

Apologies, but his Service Record is in poor condition and I cannot see his Coy in 1914 anywhere

 

[TRICKY DICKY RGJ]

5 minutes ago, MBrockway said:

Apologies, but his Service Record is in poor condition and I cannot see his Coy in 1914 anywhere

 

Ok thanks 

[Gardenerbill]

To avoid duplication of effort and for clarification I have passed 4 documents to Richard.

I did some research into the family including:

Parents marriage 1878, children's baptisms 1884 and 1887, sisters death 1881, 1891 census, mothers death 1897, fathers death 1899,  1901 census

 

They had 3 boys:

Walter as discussed here.

Ernest served with the Royal Dublin Fusiliers but was discharged 1905 did not serve in the Great War as far as I am aware. 

Henry "George" served with the Royal Marines

Once Richard has digested all the information I have provided I am sure he will have some more questions.

[MBrockway]

Noon 14 Sep 1914 Situation Map from the I Corps HQ diary showing the I Corps, 1st Division sector - less clear, but shows the contours better, and I'm sure a Rifleman will want them to appreciate the lie of the land

Order of Battle -

1st Division

  1 (Guards) Bde:  1/Coldstream Guards; 1/Scots Guards; 1/Black Watch (on map as "42nd"); 1/Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders

  2 Bde:                2/Royal Sussex; 1/Loyal North Lancs; 1/Northants; 2/KRRC

  3 Bde:                1/Queen's; 1/South Wales Borderers; 1/Gloucs; 2/Welsh

  

Wide view ...

 

Zoomed into the relevant area ...

Edited 22 November , 2023 by MBrockway
Added note re Black Watch labelled on map as the 42nd

[MBrockway]

And here's the narrative of the 1st Division action from the Official History (pp.395-401):

Order of Battle (repeated for convenience) -

1st Division (Gen Lomax)

  1 (Guards) Bde (Brig. Maxse):  1/Coldstream Guards; 1/Scots Guards; 1/Black Watch; 1/Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders

  2 Bde (Brig. Bulfin):                 2/Royal Sussex; 1/Loyal North Lancs; 1/Northants; 2/KRRC

  3 Bde (Brig Landon):               1/Queen's; 1/South Wales Borderers; 1/Gloucs; 2/Welsh

Serocold was OC 2/KRRC

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited 21 November , 2023 by MBrockway
Orbat with Bde commanders added

[MBrockway]

There's also a long description in the 1915 KRRC Chronicle, but my copy is very fragile, I'm in a rush and no time to scan it properly for you.

[TRICKY DICKY RGJ]

Ok many thanks 

[MBrockway]

1st Division's HQ war diary has some excellent situation maps at various stages ~04:00hrs through the day showing how the battle unfolded - worth a look.

[TRICKY DICKY RGJ]

On 31/10/2017 at 03:25, MBrockway said:

Re the original question [Edit: this post was originally in a separate Topic that the Mods very wisely merged into the earlier thread] about deciphering the wording, inverting the image sometimes makes it easier to make out ...

 

 

 

For what it's worth I think it says ...

 

The Officer Commanding London Rectg Area

having notified the final approval for the King's Royal Rifle Corps

Regiment of No. 7381 Pte Walter Richard Bedingham

of the Regiment, or Battalion, under my command, I have the honor to inform you that

I have no objection to his enlistment etc. etc.

 

A. Wynn Captn¹

 

for offr Commanding 7th. Bn. KING'S ROYAL RIFLES  Regt.

 

 

London Rectg Area being the London Recruiting Area, one of the sections in London District Command, known then as Home District Command.

 

¹Unsure about the signature, but Capt. Alfred Wynn was the Quartermaster of 7/KRRC at this time and this is the best match I can get from the officers of 7/KRRC listed in the Army List.

 

HTH

Mark

 

Hi have you any information  regarding 7381 walter Richard Bedingham. Is this my great  grandfather  with the wrong number or someone  completely different.  And are they related. Seems strange to have 2 people  the same name  in the same regiment but with different  numbers . 

[Michelle Young]

1 hour ago, TRICKY DICKY RGJ said:

Hi have you any information  regarding 7381 walter Richard Bedingham. Is this my great  grandfather  with the wrong number or someone  completely different.  And are they related. Seems strange to have 2 people  the same name  in the same regiment but with different  numbers . 

Question answered here

 

[Alfie Sharp]

Amazing reading all these stories, History is such a great read, 

we should never forget our history,

Tricky Dicky RGJ : Death Pennies I also have a couple, these were given to my Great Great Grandma, Do yours have the Surname spelt correctly, one of mine they have put an E on the end, so annoying.