Where's Drago? Posted 18 February , 2018 Share Posted 18 February , 2018 Hello everybody, There's a new Twitter account set up (sorry!) in order to remember each of the 305 Board of Trade members of staff who served and died during the Great War. It's here, and you don't have to have an account on Twitter to view it: https://twitter.com/TradeMemorial The Twitter account supports the main website which is: https://boardoftradewarmemorial.wordpress.com/ We're hoping to build on the work completed some time back by staff at the Department of International Trade, on the now archived pages, here: http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20070603203205/http://www.dti.gov.uk/about/aboutus/warmemorial/ww1/page29355.html Thanks everybody. Regards, Jason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SiegeGunner Posted 18 February , 2018 Share Posted 18 February , 2018 Thanks for posting these links, Jason. As a member of the original War Memorial Group, I am delighted to see the work begun all those years ago being carried on by a new generation of volunteers and now making use of new media to reach an even wider audience. Jill would be so pleased. Best wishes Mick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Where's Drago? Posted 18 February , 2018 Author Share Posted 18 February , 2018 (edited) Hi Mick, Lovely to hear from you - and thank you for the all the hard work you and your colleagues have put into this previously. I wonder if you could help me out at all? During some research, I discovered a Sergeant W.J.C. Evans who died in hospital in Egypt on 15 November 1918, while serving with the Royal Engineers. A local newspaper article at the time describes him as being 'appointed under the Board of Trade at the office of the Official Receiver in Bankruptcy, Carmarthen. At the time war was declared he held a position responsible under the Official Receiver at Wolverhampton' I'm curious to find why he never made the Board of Trade's list of 305 men. There's an obvious answer here that I'm not aware of. Any clue why W.J.C. Evans would have been left off the Board of Trade Roll of Honour? Thanks, Jason Edited 18 February , 2018 by Where's Drago? missing word added Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SiegeGunner Posted 18 February , 2018 Share Posted 18 February , 2018 Hi Jason, A very long time ago (perhaps 1999), when such things were still possible, I re-called from the then-PRO all the files relating to the design and construction of the original BOT Memorial and to the names to be included on it. I remember that a committee discussed an appeal from a bereaved mother for the name of her son to go on the Memorial, which was turned down, but I'm afraid I can't remember who he was or why he wasn't eligible, or what the qualifying criteria were. If I copied the relevant papers, the copies are probably with Jill's files on the War Memorial Project, which I believe are now in Westminster Archives. Your man died 4 days after the Armistice, but I'm sure the qualifying dates were not that tightly drawn, and the local paper description of his occupation certainly seems to put him in the Board of Trade. Maybe there is a demarcation issue ... have you looked for him on other Civil Service memorials? Do you know what he died of ... although I suspect that dying in service would have been sufficient? It seems very unlikely that he would have 'slipped through the net' unnoticed, as I recall that the records of all BoT men were marked with a note saying that the Secretary to the Board (or some other BoT official) was to be informed if the man was wounded, hospitalised or died or was killed. Sorry I can't be more helpful, but good luck with your research. Mick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted 18 February , 2018 Share Posted 18 February , 2018 Is there a straight listing of the names available easily anywhere? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Where's Drago? Posted 19 February , 2018 Author Share Posted 19 February , 2018 Is there a straight listing of the names available easily anywhere? Yep, here you go: https://boardoftradewarmemorial.wordpress.com/about/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Where's Drago? Posted 19 February , 2018 Author Share Posted 19 February , 2018 13 hours ago, SiegeGunner said: Hi Jason, A very long time ago (perhaps 1999), when such things were still possible, I re-called from the then-PRO all the files relating to the design and construction of the original BOT Memorial and to the names to be included on it. I remember that a committee discussed an appeal from a bereaved mother for the name of her son to go on the Memorial, which was turned down, but I'm afraid I can't remember who he was or why he wasn't eligible, or what the qualifying criteria were. If I copied the relevant papers, the copies are probably with Jill's files on the War Memorial Project, which I believe are now in Westminster Archives. Your man died 4 days after the Armistice, but I'm sure the qualifying dates were not that tightly drawn, and the local paper description of his occupation certainly seems to put him in the Board of Trade. Maybe there is a demarcation issue ... have you looked for him on other Civil Service memorials? Do you know what he died of ... although I suspect that dying in service would have been sufficient? It seems very unlikely that he would have 'slipped through the net' unnoticed, as I recall that the records of all BoT men were marked with a note saying that the Secretary to the Board (or some other BoT official) was to be informed if the man was wounded, hospitalised or died or was killed. Sorry I can't be more helpful, but good luck with your research. Mick Thanks Mick, Yes, it's an odd one. There a few lads who died in 1919, and another who died in 1923, and these were put down to illnesses brought on by either injuries sustained in the war, or due to complications afterwards. So, dying just a few days after Armistice I guess counts that out. I think the chap who was denied for a long time had committed suicide. I apologise if I've got this incorrect to anyone else who's reading this, but I'm sure I read on these pages here that he was eventually added to the list after his condition was confirmed as a case of 'shell shock'. Here's the piece on W.J.C. Evans: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanh Posted 19 February , 2018 Share Posted 19 February , 2018 The 'Suicide' was one I research < Lawson Akehurst Smith' who was not listed by CWGC and had no headstone, but after a lot of research he was given both and turned out he was buried in my local churchyard. A thought occurs to me, is your man listed in the list of Board of Trade personnel serving reports, that I transcribed to site some years back when I was responsible for site. Alan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Where's Drago? Posted 19 February , 2018 Author Share Posted 19 February , 2018 Hi Alan, Great to be in touch with you. I've just checked the service records for 1918, and see no reference to him serving: http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20070603172705/http://www.dti.gov.uk/about/aboutus/warmemorial/ww1/Lists/page36814.html Jason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SiegeGunner Posted 19 February , 2018 Share Posted 19 February , 2018 Evans is not on the list of Official Receiver's personnel who were mobilised or permitted to enlist in 1914. If he's not listed as serving in 1918 either, it begins to look as if, for some reason, he was not regarded as a member of BoT staff. His personnel record would perhaps clarify the situation, but I don't suppose it will have survived. Mick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Where's Drago? Posted 19 February , 2018 Author Share Posted 19 February , 2018 Thanks for the info, Mick. The newspaper seems pretty detailed to be erroneous, but there is the question of him being employed at the Board of Trade in Wolverhampton, but then enlisting at his home-town of Carmarthen. I guess there could be a gap between him working at the BoT, and then being employed in some other way in Carmarthen, prior to enlisting with the R.E. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SiegeGunner Posted 19 February , 2018 Share Posted 19 February , 2018 A gap seems likely, Jason. There are probably quite a few men who left the BoT some time before joining the forces, as well as some who transferred to other departments after service with the BoT and subsequently joined up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanh Posted 19 February , 2018 Share Posted 19 February , 2018 The lists were pretty clear about who was on Board of Trade books when either enlisting or being conscripted, although could he have been on Labour exchange staff, who were hived off the Department in 1915. Alan Sorry saw he was in Insolvency doh. Alan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Where's Drago? Posted 19 February , 2018 Author Share Posted 19 February , 2018 Mick, Alan - thank you both. Excellent job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanh Posted 19 February , 2018 Share Posted 19 February , 2018 Mick, Had every file I could find back from Archives and Personnel files are almost non existent, struck lucky a few times with documents misfiled, but generally they were weeded out some time ago. Alan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Where's Drago? Posted 19 February , 2018 Author Share Posted 19 February , 2018 Actually, seeing as this being discussed now. Mick - in the BoT personnel records, a few men are listed as being in the BoT 'Companies' department. Would this be Companies House? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SiegeGunner Posted 19 February , 2018 Share Posted 19 February , 2018 The history of the BoT itself is not my forte, Jason, but I would think that the 'Companies' department was indeed a precursor of CH. I must say that I'm amazed any personnel records have survived. Re the Labour Exchanges, Edgar Donovan, who I researched and wrote an article on for 'DTI News', was employed in the Labour Exchange department prior to enlisting in the RNVR and serving in the RND. On his recovery from the usual affliction acquired at Gallipoli, he was recalled to assist with the setting-up of the Ministry of Munitions, before being commissioned Temporary Sub-Lieutenant RNVR for service with the RN Siege Guns on the Belgian Coast, where he was killed in April 1917. And he's on the BoT Memorial and, if I remember rightly, also the memorial in Caxton Street. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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