C. Durham Posted 12 February , 2018 Share Posted 12 February , 2018 I was wondering if anybody could point me in the right direction for tracing WW1 medals of my Great Grandfather. Unfortunately, all living relatives died a very long time ago, so could have been sold on. His name was Hugh Shaw Watson, regimental number 5925 1st Btn. Scots Guards. Thank you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ForeignGong Posted 12 February , 2018 Share Posted 12 February , 2018 Hi Medal Index card states 1914 Star & Clasp, British War Medal and Victory Medal Killed in Action Wednesday 17 Nov 1915 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sotonmate Posted 12 February , 2018 Share Posted 12 February , 2018 (edited) CD Medal Rolls show date of first landing in a war zone (France) as 15 Sep 1914, around a month after the main Battalion landing. Soldiers Died in the Great War show born and resident in Motherwell, and enlisted in Hamilton and KIA on 17 Nov 1915. War Diary for 1 Scots Guards (WO95/1219/3 on National Archives site) shows unit on 16th November 1915 relieving 2 Scots Guards in the trenches at LAVENTIE. Duties taken over were continued trench construction and repair. Unit under occasional sniping, but only casualties shown on the 17th were two Other Ranks, one wounded accidentally (no further details) and one wounded by self-inflicted injury, so one of these died and is buried as above. This is the only entry in the cemetery register for that date. http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C7351843 Edited 12 February , 2018 by sotonmate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C. Durham Posted 12 February , 2018 Author Share Posted 12 February , 2018 Thank you so much for that information, much appreciated, and can't believe how quickly you found that out. Cathy. 16 minutes ago, sotonmate said: CD Medal Rolls show date of first landing in a war zone (France) as 15 Sep 1914, around a month after the main Battalion landing. Soldiers Died in the Great War show born and resident in Motherwell, and enlisted in Hamilton and KIA on 17 Nov 1915. War Diary for 1 Scots Guards (WO95/1219/3 on National Archives site) shows unit on 16th November 1915 relieving 2 Scots Guards in the trenches at LAVENTIE. Duties taken over were continued trench construction and repair. Unit under occasional sniping, but only casualties shown on the 17th were two Other Ranks, one wounded accidentally (no further details) and one wounded by self-inflicted injury, so one of these died and is buried as above. This is the only entry in the cemetery register for that date. http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C7351843 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sotonmate Posted 12 February , 2018 Share Posted 12 February , 2018 You are welcome. You might be able to consider a visit to another place if you have the time. Battle of Loos September 1915, where your GGF left a lot of buddies as the 1 Scots Guards were decimated by the loss of 474 men (around a half of their complement) at that horrendous time. He had the good fortune to survive that period, at least. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaz Posted 12 February , 2018 Share Posted 12 February , 2018 (edited) so, now you know what you are looking for, set up a search on ebay and sit on google or search one of the many on line shops. or post a request on the BritishMedalForum. http://www.britishmedalforum.com/viewforum.php?f=416 of course, by now the trio could be singles or pairs so happy hunting Edited 12 February , 2018 by chaz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sotonmate Posted 12 February , 2018 Share Posted 12 February , 2018 chaz reminds me that we also had a topic here where people listed the medals they held. It was quite a list and I had forgotten all about it. Maybe someone here can put the finger on it and resurrect it if that is needed ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coldstreamer Posted 12 February , 2018 Share Posted 12 February , 2018 (edited) I thought as this list would constantly be changing the idea was dropped . My own collection has changed 6 times this week alone Edited 12 February , 2018 by Coldstreamer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GWF1967 Posted 12 February , 2018 Share Posted 12 February , 2018 (edited) 1 hour ago, sotonmate said: chaz reminds me that we also had a topic here where people listed the medals they held. It was quite a list and I had forgotten all about it. Maybe someone here can put the finger on it and resurrect it if that is needed ! "Here's a list of names on my" in the Other G.W chat section. Edited 12 February , 2018 by GWF1967 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C. Durham Posted 12 February , 2018 Author Share Posted 12 February , 2018 Thank you everyone for your advice, a lot of food for thought and I will certainly follow up each one in turn. Cathy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaz Posted 13 February , 2018 Share Posted 13 February , 2018 Trouble with lists is keeping up together. I didn't mention the forum one as the bmf is a specialised one we are casual.as coldstreamer says we can change theme often, as I police the death plaque listing, I've had requests to add then after a few months request to delete as they have sold the rest, only to get another request from another member a month or so later requesting same plaque. It got to the stage where I had 3 people after the same and had to email two to see if they still wanted. ive won another single victory today, still not a reunite but another potential. cathy, one thing to remember is that when silver prices were good, many silver BWM's were sold to jewellers and silver dealers for the content . Some have reappeared lately in old stock as dealers never melted down, thankfully although, there are a lot without suspension. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C. Durham Posted 13 February , 2018 Author Share Posted 13 February , 2018 Dear Chaz, I can see what a mammoth undertaking listing all of the medals and plaques is. I appreciate your reply, and it didn't occur to me that people would have sold them on for scrap. I will keep looking, maybe I'll get lucky, who knows? Thanks again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phsvm Posted 13 February , 2018 Share Posted 13 February , 2018 If you contact Mick at http://www.britishwargraves.co.uk/index.htm he should be able to supply you with a photo of Hugh's grave. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C. Durham Posted 15 February , 2018 Author Share Posted 15 February , 2018 On 13/02/2018 at 00:14, chaz said: Trouble with lists is keeping up together. I didn't mention the forum one as the bmf is a specialised one we are casual.as coldstreamer says we can change theme often, as I police the death plaque listing, I've had requests to add then after a few months request to delete as they have sold the rest, only to get another request from another member a month or so later requesting same plaque. It got to the stage where I had 3 people after the same and had to email two to see if they still wanted. ive won another single victory today, still not a reunite but another potential. cathy, one thing to remember is that when silver prices were good, many silver BWM's were sold to jewellers and silver dealers for the content . Some have reappeared lately in old stock as dealers never melted down, thankfully although, there are a lot without suspension. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Fisher Posted 16 February , 2018 Share Posted 16 February , 2018 Whilst at the library the other day I noted an article in a paper from 1922 that stated that circa 13 million medals were issued following WW1:- 1914 Stars 363,825 1914-15 Star 2,057,913 British War Medals 5,465,442 Victory Medal 5,050,367 Distinguished Conduct Medal 33,070 Meritorious Service Medal 29,223 Military Medal 129,828 Territorial War Medal 29,296 The article remarked on the administrative effort involved and how many medals were being returned through lack of contact information. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trajan Posted 17 February , 2018 Share Posted 17 February , 2018 21 hours ago, Gary Fisher said: Whilst at the library the other day I noted an article in a paper from 1922 that stated that circa 13 million medals were issued following WW1:- 1914 Stars 363,825 1914-15 Star 2,057,913 British War Medals 5,465,442 Victory Medal 5,050,367 Distinguished Conduct Medal 33,070 Meritorious Service Medal 29,223 Military Medal 129,828 Territorial War Medal 29,296 The article remarked on the administrative effort involved and how many medals were being returned through lack of contact information. Now that's useful to know! Can / would you give a more precise reference to the paper and its date and page number please? I think quite a lot of GWF members and others would like to be able to cite these figures with a degree of authority! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ss002d6252 Posted 17 February , 2018 Share Posted 17 February , 2018 (edited) In March 1922 they were predicting the following for British troops - http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1922/mar/21/war-medals#S5CV0152P0_19220321_HOC_46 If the difference between this and the above figure is in the Indian and Dominion medals it gives a nice insight in to the numbers issued. Craig Edited 17 February , 2018 by ss002d6252 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trajan Posted 17 February , 2018 Share Posted 17 February , 2018 Great, thanks! So, those who could get a 1914 Star did so promptly! Evidently realising the kudos attached to that one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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