Arthur Loveday. 1st Battn Wiltshire Regiment.

[Applesandpears]

I have found the war record of my husbands cousin Arthur Loveday. 1st Battalion Wiltshire Regiment. Reg. No 6975 The CWGC show details of his reburial at Gouzeaucourt. I would be grateful for any help with details for Arthur. I have all I can find on Ancestry. and CWGC plus details from an internet search https://bristol-cathedral.co.uk/we-have-our-lives/person/arthur-loveday.

 

Regards

 

Maggie

[Mark1959]

Forces war records have on one of his woudins a record from 31st Ambulance Train. 

Info: Entrained Gezaincourt detrained Camiers. Sgt. Gunshot wound, shoulder right p. Admitted 27/8/16, discharged 28/8/16. 1st Wilts

 

London Gazette entry for DCM

https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/29447/supplement/959

and next page

Bar to DCM

https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/29765/supplement/9447

 

Edited 9 February , 2018 by Mark1959

[BridgetM]

I am currently trying to sort out his Life story on Lives of the First World War. I went to look at it when I saw your post, finding that a previous contributor had got a bit confused, entering a string of 'Facts' all citing the MIC (Medal Index Card) as the source, which cannot be right. The Facts are probably genuine, but you cannot be sure without the correct source. His Life Story is here: https://livesofthefirstworldwar.org/lifestory/2706710

[ss002d6252]

#6975 dates from mid/late 1904 so he would have finished his 3 years with the colours and was in his 9 year reserve period when he was recalled in Aug 1914.
 

#6938 joined on 12th July 1904
#7205 joined on 31st January 1905
http://armyservicenumbers.blogspot.co.uk/2009/12/wiltshire-regiment-1st-2nd-battalions.html

Craig

[clk]

Hi Maggie,

 

The concentration report in his CWGC records says that Arthur was originally buried at map reference 57c.X.19.b.1.0. There is help on how to read map references on the LLT here. You can put the reference into this website to see where it is in the modern landscape. This link will hopefully open up on a trench map from September 1918 with square X.19 in the centre. If you use the transparency slider you can blend the map with a modern view.

 

If you don't have a picture of his headstone, you should be able to get a good resolution image, on a free of charge basis from the good folk here.

 

Arthur has a surviving will. It costs £10, and may well only consist of a very few words. It comes as a low resolution black and white scan of the original, as a pdf file.

 

There is a (very) potted history of the battalion on the LLT here. The war diaries for the Battalion, Brigade HQ, and Division HQ (General Staff) will be available on Ancestry (search page here) or from the National Archives (search page here). The latter two will probably contain a lot more contextual information to augment the former.

 

The Bar to his DCM award appears to be for his actions on 24th August 1916.

 

Image source: The National Archives - file WO 391/4

 

Regards

Chris

 

Edit:

I think that the information on the Bristol Cathedral website is incorrect. Where they say "In December 1916, he wrote to his wife to tell her about his first DCM. "I'm going to tell you what occurred last Sunday morning, December 19th, ..." ". I think that they've got the wrong year, and it should be 1915 as per the dates in the citation linked by Mark in post #2.

Edited 9 February , 2018 by clk

[BridgetM]

I have sorted out a bit and added to his Life Story (link below) on Lives of the First World War, including the two citations. I agree with clk, the first DCM was for "For conspicuous gallantry north-east of Ploegsteert wood on the night of 18th/19th December 1915."

 

https://livesofthefirstworldwar.org/lifestory/2706710

[Applesandpears]

Thank you to everyone who has posted replies. Lots to follow up on . X xx