88th Field Company Royal Engineers?

[Stephen Shakeshaft]

Hello, I have just found here what appears to be THE place for this kind of topic. I hope someone would be kind enough to point me in the general direction of where to possibly find out more of Sapper William Shakeshaft who served with the 88th Field Company Royal Engineers in Gallipoli. We know he rests eternally in Hill 10 cemetery over in Turkey. I am his great grandson and I am visiting Hill Ten cemetery next May, 2019. Sapper Shakeshaft was service number 45469 and died of wounds on Tuesday 16th November 1915. Nothing much seems available about what his company of engineers were doing at this time nor where he might actually have died or any hints as to what he would have been doing. If possible, I'd like to find out a bit more information about the Royal Engineers at that time and possibly where Sapper Shakeshaft would have been deployed. All we have in the family is his medal and his letter notifying the family of his sacrifice. Nothing more is known.

 

If anyone could help with any pointers for me to research over the next few months, it would be hugely appreciated.

 

Thank you.

 

Stephen Shakeshaft.

Edited 5 August , 2018 by Stephen Shakeshaft

[DavidOwen]

Hello Stephen and welcome to the forum

The relevant War Diary can be downloaded from The National Archives for a modest fee here http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/7b896f708d7148ff83b3983332c7de37 or if you have Ancestry should be free on there.

The Long Long Trail link above has a wealth of tips on how to research a soldier.

Good luck with your search

David

T

[Stephen Shakeshaft]

Thank you for the welcome David. That link is a bullseye, for sure. I will download and inwardly digest its contents. Thank you again.

 

S.

[clk]

Hi Stephen,

 

Unfortunately, the Gallipoli diaries aren't available to download from the National Archives. If you have access to Ancestry they are there. The links are:

 

88 FC RE

Commander Royal Engineers, 13 Division

13 Division HQ (General Staff)

 

Findmypast have a couple of records for William which augment his medal roll records on Ancestry. There is a basic potted history of 13 Division on the LLT here.

 

Regards

Chris

[Stephen Shakeshaft]

Unfortunately, the diary at the National Atrchive is for Mesopotamia, from 1916. Interstuing, but a few months too late. I'll look at the links Chris posted thanks. Regards. S.

[DavidOwen]

7 hours ago, Stephen Shakeshaft said:

Unfortunately, the diary at the National Atrchive is for Mesopotamia, from 1916. Interstuing, but a few months too late. I'll look at the links Chris posted thanks. Regards. S.

My apologies Stephen I had misread the dates.

[Stephen Shakeshaft]

58 minutes ago, DavidOwen said:

My apologies Stephen I had misread the dates.

 

Totally no need for apologies, all help gratefully received and it'll be interesting learning about the Mesopotamia actions anyway.

 

Thanks.

 

S.

[Stephen Shakeshaft]

1 hour ago, Stephen Shakeshaft said:

 

Totally no need for apologies, all help gratefully received and it'll be interesting learning about the Mesopotamia actions anyway.

 

Thanks.

 

S.

OK, I now have the stuff from Ancestor, thank you very much. Now I need to read and inwardly digest.

 

Regards.

 

S.

[clk]

Hi Stephen,

 

If you haven't seen them, the FMP records indicate that, suffering from dysentery, he was admitted to 19 General Hospital (Alexandria) on 28.08.1915 before being transferred to a convalescence home (Shebin-el-Kom) on 13.09.1915.

 

Regards

Chris

 

 

[Stephen Shakeshaft]

2 minutes ago, clk said:

Hi Stephen,

 

If you haven't seen them, the FMP records indicate that, suffering from dysentery, he was admitted to 19 General Hospital (Alexandria) on 28.08.1915 before being transferred to a convalescence home (Shebin-el-Kom) on 13.09.1915.

 

Regards

Chris

 

 

My word, really? I tried to get the "free trial" to work at FMP but failed. I don't like putting my credit card details into a website I don't really intend to use in the future. This is very much a one off exercise prior to the visit to Gallipoli next May. That's quite incredible to know thanks so much. So, after his convalescence about two months later he was dead. And if he'd lived a few more weeks he could in fact have been demobilised back to Egypt when they pulled the forces out of Suvla and Helles, I think. A tragedy among tragedies.

 

Thanks.

 

S.

[Stephen Shakeshaft]

Incredibly, shown on this page, nobody knew that William had spent time in Canada. We know almost nothing about his wife who we do now know originated in Belfast. We are now wondering if they met in Canada perhaps. And we never knew there was a picture of him, presuming it is correct, that is. My grandfather apparently never knew his father, he was brought up in The Gullet in Nantwich by his grandparents. Good to be putting the pieces of the jigsaw together. Apparently Sapper William S was mobilised to Egypt on 12th July 1915. So it wasn't long before he ended up back the in hospital,it seems.

 

Cheers.

 

S.

Edited 6 August , 2018 by Stephen Shakeshaft

[Loader]

You say the family has his MEDAL, is that all you have? He earned 3 medals, 1914-15 Star, British War Medal & Victory Medal. You should look at his Medal Index Card (MIC) & see that they were issued. They will all ne named to him as RE. Good luck in your research.

[Stephen Shakeshaft]

Thanks, I'll have to check with my father. As I recall, there is a bronze coloured star and a large coin like thing. So perhaps we have two of the three. Where the third one is, I have no idea. My father remembers his father giving away the RE cap badges etc.. to the son of a neighbour many years ago. Thanks again.

Edited 7 August , 2018 by Stephen Shakeshaft

[MaxD]

The "large coin like thing" sounds very much like the Great War Memorial Plaque often called the Dead Man's Penny, description here:  http://www.greatwar.co.uk/memorials/memorial-plaque.htm

 

The trio of medals Loader cites look like this:

 

http://www.greatwar.co.uk/medals/ww1-campaign-medals.htm

 

Max

.  

Edited 7 August , 2018 by MaxD
addition of pip squeak and wilfred

[Stephen Shakeshaft]

19 hours ago, MaxD said:

The "large coin like thing" sounds very much like the Great War Memorial Plaque often called the Dead Man's Penny, description here:  http://www.greatwar.co.uk/memorials/memorial-plaque.htm

 

The trio of medals Loader cites look like this:

 

http://www.greatwar.co.uk/medals/ww1-campaign-medals.htm

 

Max

.  

Thank you, yes, you are right. But we definitely only have the 1914/15 star. We don't know what happened to the other two then, as clearly all three would have been awarded to Sapper William S, it seems. Anything could have happened during the last hundred years, I guess. Thank you.

 

S.