Soldiers Records after 1918?

[nedsir]

I am sorry if this is not in the correct section, but I was wondering if it is possible to get a soldiers record of service for after the First World War? In particular if you only have his name

and address at that time. I assume it is a long shot but the reason I ask is that to be honest that is all the information that at present I have.

 

Has anyone ever used the M.O.D section that holds such records, and do they need his unit? I can only assume he was in the Royal Engineer's Water and Railways section and that he was serving near his home City of Belfast. Any help with this would be of great assistance to me.

 

Regards

 

Ned.

[ss002d6252]

19 minutes ago, nedsir said:

I am sorry if this is not in the correct section, but I was wondering if it is possible to get a soldiers record of service for after the First World War? In particular if you only have his name

and address at that time. I assume it is a long shot but the reason I ask is that to be honest that is all the information that at present I have.

 

Has anyone ever used the M.O.D section that holds such records, and do they need his unit? I can only assume he was in the Royal Engineer's Water and Railways section and that he was serving near his home City of Belfast. Any help with this would be of great assistance to me.

 

Regards

 

Ned.

What was his name & address and do you have idea of a possible date of birth ?

Craig

Edited 19 November , 2017 by ss002d6252

[TGM]

Also worth referring to:

     3. Apply for the records of someone who's deceased

http://www.army.mod.uk/welfare-support/23212.aspx

 

Armed forces records held by other archives

 

Not used MoD service myself but seen the result of one left in a digitised file

[nedsir]

4 hours ago, ss002d6252 said:

What was his name & address and do you have idea of a possible date of birth ?

Craig

Thanks for your reply Craig his name and address were as follows.

 

Francis McCann McDonnell St Belfast

[nedsir]

3 hours ago, TGM said:

Many thanks TGM I've looked at some of these sites. I really just wanted to know what info they needed as in unit etc. That I'm not in sure of.

 

Also worth referring to:

     3. Apply for the records of someone who's deceased

http://www.army.mod.uk/welfare-support/23212.aspx

 

Armed forces records held by other archives

 

Not used MoD service myself but seen the result of one left in a digitised file

 

[ss002d6252]

4 minutes ago, nedsir said:

Thanks for your reply Craig his name and address were as follows.

 

Francis McCann McDonnell St Belfast

 

There are several records for McCann, F in the post 1920 record list from the MOD. A DoB would really be needed to tie it down to a particular man.

Craig

[nedsir]

Just now, ss002d6252 said:

 

There are several records for McCann, F in the post 1920 record list from the MOD. A DoB would really be needed to tie it down to a particular man.

Craig

Sorry he was born 11 May 1877 as far as I know in Belfast. Mothers name Teresa.

[ss002d6252]

I can't see an entry on the list the MOD released however that  list isn't 100% - problem you have is that it's one of the lists they use to find their filed records...

Craig

[Dragoon]

Hello, 

Don't know if this helps, my Great Grandfather wasn't on the list, so I assumed his record was burnt.

I just phoned the MOD historical disclosure department in Glasgow on the off chance!, and they were incredibly helpful.

I gave them as much detail as I had, and they found his record.

Worth a try

 

Good luck

 

Chris

Edited 20 November , 2017 by Dragoon

[nedsir]

5 hours ago, ss002d6252 said:

I can't see an entry on the list the MOD released however that  list isn't 100% - problem you have is that it's one of the lists they use to find their filed records...

Craig

Craig thank you for your efforts. My problem is exasperated by the fact that within a few streets of his address were he lived at that time there were no less than four men with the same name and amazingly they were not related. As I don't know his regiment for sure I can only go on his address around that time added to this is the fact that at that time people moved addresses almost monthly. But he lived at the address I posted for quite some time. So all I can hope for is that the records office can go on the address alone. Regards ned

5 hours ago, Dragoon said:

Hello, 

Don't know if this helps, my Great Grandfather wasn't on the list, so I assumed his record was burnt.

I just phoned the MOD historical disclosure department in Glasgow on the off chance!, and they were incredibly helpful.

I gave them as much detail as I had, and they found his record.

Worth a try

 

Good luck

 

Chris

Thank you Chris for this information do you think an address only is of use to them? I can't be fully sure of his regiment.

 

[kenf48]

There is in the Medal Rolls a Francis E McCann served in 6th Connaught Rangers, Royal Irish Fusiliers and finally Railways Royal Engineers WR/204882.  His medals were returned which suggests (a) he had moved address since demobilisation and (b) was no longer serving 16/4/24 which was the date of the CRV.

 

Unfortunately the 6th Connaught Rangers were raised in County Cork which is about as far as you can get from Belfast.

 

Ken

 

 

 

[Dragoon]

2 hours ago, nedsir said:

 

 

I think a name and DOB might be enough, it may be a long shot, but you never know! Worth a try, it worked for me.

Phone number is 0141 224 2670

Chris

 

Edited 20 November , 2017 by Dragoon

[nedsir]

1 hour ago, Dragoon said:

I think a name and DOB might be enough, it may be a long shot, but you never know! Worth a try, it worked for me.

Phone number is 0141 224 2670

Chris

Thanks again Chris I will certainly give it a try.

 

[nedsir]

2 hours ago, kenf48 said:

There is in the Medal Rolls a Francis E McCann served in 6th Connaught Rangers, Royal Irish Fusiliers and finally Railways Royal Engineers WR/204882.  His medals were returned which suggests (a) he had moved address since demobilisation and (b) was no longer serving 16/4/24 which was the date of the CRV.

 

Unfortunately the 6th Connaught Rangers were raised in County Cork which is about as far as you can get from Belfast.

 

Ken

Hi Ken sadly for me this is not him although I thought it might be him for some time as he lived very close to the Francis I'm looking for.

 

As for the 6th Connaughts on a point of information, they in fact were made up in large part from men that came from West Belfast who were in the Irish National Volunteers who joined up by way of the Nationalist Home Rule party of John Redmond and the Belfast Nationalist M.P. Joe Devlin hundreds joined the 6th Connaughts as well as many other British Regiments.

Quote

 

 

 

 

Edited 20 November , 2017 by nedsir

[nedsir]

On 20/11/2017 at 17:27, nedsir said:

Hi Ken sadly for me this is not him although I thought it might be him for some time as he lived very close to the Francis I'm looking for.

 

As for the 6th Connaughts on a point of information, they in fact were made up in large part from men that came from West Belfast who were in the Irish National Volunteers who joined up by way of the Nationalist Home Rule party of John Redmond and the Belfast Nationalist M.P. Joe Devlin hundreds joined the 6th Connaughts as well as many other British Regiments.

It's been a while but I been a bit more clear as to finding out an update on my grandfathers life. Firstly he was in fact born in Tradeston Glasgow on the 10th of August 1875. My next piece of information is that on his daughters Birth record in January 4th 1916 it states he is with the British Expeditionary Forces. This seems to suggest he is already overseas.

 

Now can anyone confirm that if he was in the British Expeditionary Forces this would mean he was in action in 1915? I have seen information to the effect that this title was given to units who were in the regular army already. But to be honest I don't know if this was indeed the case. If so it would possibly help me to narrow down his unit, while at the same time rule out any New Army connection at that time. Appreciate any expert knowledge on this request.

nedsir

[ss002d6252]

In 1916 mention of the BEF was synonymous with service in France and Belgium rather than being part of any specific unit.

 

Craig

[nedsir]

21 minutes ago, ss002d6252 said:

In 1916 mention of the BEF was synonymous with service in France and Belgium rather than being part of any specific unit.

 

Craig

Hi Craig as his daughter was born in January 4th 1916 it suggested he was already in action, as it were in 1915 if you see what I mean. I think? I do take your point that about a specific unit.

Edited 12 November , 2018 by nedsir

[ss002d6252]

23 minutes ago, nedsir said:

Hi Craig as his daughter was born in January 4th 1916 it suggested he was already in action, as it were in 1915 if you see what I mean. I think? I do take your point that about a specific unit.

I get you now. It would suggest that he was in Belgium or France in 1915, that may or may not mean he was anywhere near the front but sounds like he was out there somewhere. In principal it could be any unit out there though.

Any idea if he was wounded or injured ?

 

Craig

[ss002d6252]

There's a possible pre-WW1 record for a man who may be him that's worth a look - https://search.findmypast.co.uk/record?id=GBM/WO96/1136/325/001&parentid=GBM/WO96/1136/1561413

 

Craig

[Dai Bach y Sowldiwr]

If he was already in the BEF on January 4th 1916, then he probably was in a theatre of war on 31/12/1915.

So he would qualify for the 1914-15 Star.

Might help to narrow him down in the medal rolls?

Edited 12 November , 2018 by Dai Bach y Sowldiwr

[nedsir]

20 hours ago, ss002d6252 said:

There's a possible pre-WW1 record for a man who may be him that's worth a look - https://search.findmypast.co.uk/record?id=GBM/WO96/1136/325/001&parentid=GBM/WO96/1136/1561413

 

Craig

Thanks Craig for this reply sadly I cannot access the link to this site. Does the link give details of his home address by any chance or any family connections? This is by far the only real hope I have of confirming his identity. Believe it or not there where 2 other men with the same name within 3 streets of where he lived then and they were not related in any way who where in the Army at about the same time. Which has made this research even harder. Regards Ed

[nedsir]

20 hours ago, Dai Bach y Sowldiwr said:

If he was already in the BEF on January 4th 1916, then he probably was in a theatre of war on 31/12/1915.

So he would qualify for the 1914-15 Star.

Might help to narrow him down in the medal rolls?

Thank you for your reply Dai I will try this on the medal rolls site.

Diolch  Ed.

[ss002d6252]

4 minutes ago, nedsir said:

Thanks Craig for this reply sadly I cannot access the link to this site. Does the link give details of his home address by any chance or any family connections? This is by far the only real hope I have of confirming his identity. Believe it or not there where 2 other men with the same name within 3 streets of where he lived then and they were not related in any way who where in the Army at about the same time. Which has made this research even harder. Regards Ed

He was from Glasgow and living at what appears to read as 3 Crozier Row, off Dover Street, in Belfast.

No family details although the man did have a tattoo on his left forearm which may help - 'B.M.G and F.M.C '.

 

Craig

[nedsir]

55 minutes ago, ss002d6252 said:

He was from Glasgow and living at what appears to read as 3 Crozier Row, off Dover Street, in Belfast.

No family details although the man did have a tattoo on his left forearm which may help - 'B.M.G and F.M.C '.

 

Craig

Craig that is him. you say 3 Croziers Row? That was his parents address in Belfast could I ask you to to P.M. me the full details like service numbers if on form.

 

I cannot believe this finally is him. Thank you.

Edited 13 November , 2018 by nedsir

[Dai Bach y Sowldiwr]

I can't find him among the 8 Francis McCanns on Ancestry.

Is there a service number?