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Research Project - Need help with information on several soldiers


mslack1306

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Hi there,

 

As part of commemorations surrounding the centenary of the Armistice, my school is hosting an evening to commemorate all ex-pupils who died during the war listed on the memorial. For this event we are trying to collect as much information on the soldiers as possible. 

 

Whilst this has proved quite possible with most of the men, there are a few where we could only find little information and was wondering if anyone would be able to help, notably surrounding service records, circumstances of death, where the battalion/regiment was at the time etc.?

 

Here is a list of the men we could use a bit more information on - they all attended The King's School, Grantham at some point:

  • Thomas Head Shaw, 86615 (76th Field Coy., Royal Engineers) - We know he died of enteric on 13th July 1916, was buried at sea and is commemorated on the Basra Memorial
  • William Ewart Cook, T4/249171 (3rd Coy., 48th Div. Train, Army Service Corps) - He was a driver who died of wounds on 14th August 1917 and was buried in Duhallow ADS Cemetery
  • Henry Guy Hanning Thorpe/Thorp (3rd Bn, King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry) - Died of wounds on 13th March 1915 and was buried at Bailleul Communal Cemetery, Nord
  • Ernest George Appleby - Killed in 1915 (bit of a long shot with only that information to go on, but hopefully someone can guide us on getting a bit more information)

 

Any more detail would be much appreciated, thank you in advance!

Edited by mslack1306
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Hi are you sure Appleby died in 1915 as there is this George Ernest in 1918?

https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/738789/appleby,-george-ernest/

 

And only 2 G Applebys died in 1915 one who was 37 served in Kong's Own Scottish Borderers the other in West Yorkshire, Prince of Wales Own.

 

If any of that helps.

 

Edited by DavidOwen
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2 minutes ago, DavidOwen said:

Hi are you sure Appleby died in 1915 as there is this George Ernest in 1918?

https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/738789/appleby,-george-ernest/

Hi there,

 

I've just looked and his name is actually Ernest George Appleby (I got the first and middle names muddled up!) - apologies for the typo I'll correct it on the post straight away!

 

Thank you for the reply

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2 minutes ago, mslack1306 said:

Hi there,

 

I've just looked and his name is actually Ernest George Appleby (I got the first and middle names muddled up!) - apologies for the typo I'll correct it on the post straight away!

 

Thank you for the reply

No worries, except no Ernest George Appleby recorded on CWGC as having died in ww1 and none with the initial  E in 1915. 

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3 minutes ago, DavidOwen said:

No worries, except no Ernest George Appleby recorded on CWGC as having died in ww1 and none with the initial  E in 1915. 

 

Just now, DavidOwen said:

It would probably help those following on if you could let us know the school / location please?

Quite the mystery isn't it? It may be a mistake as there is another man on the memorial who is believed to not have actually died during the war.

 

And yes that would be a good idea! It's The King's School, Grantham, Lincolnshire - I will add this to the original post.

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10 minutes ago, mslack1306 said:

Hi there,

 

I've just looked and his name is actually Ernest George Appleby (I got the first and middle names muddled up!) - apologies for the typo I'll correct it on the post straight away!

  

Thank you for the reply 

 

 

5 minutes ago, DavidOwen said:

No worries, except no Ernest George Appleby recorded on CWGC as having died in ww1 and none with the initial  E in 1915. 


I too can only see an Ernest George Appleby for 1918 in the effects register. If he died in 1915 then he didn't served as Ernest George Appleby.

Craig

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1 minute ago, mslack1306 said:

 

Quite the mystery isn't it? It may be a mistake as there is another man on the memorial who is believed to not have actually died during the war.

 

And yes that would be a good idea! It's The King's School, Grantham, Lincolnshire - I will add this to the original post.

 

The 1918 Appleby was an Iron Fitter from Leicester so I doubt he's your man.

 

Craig

1 minute ago, mslack1306 said:

Thanks for this, will have a go and see what happens!

 

Any issues give me a shout (it is my calculator).

 

I would also suggest looking at 'Soldiers Died in the Great War' on Ancestry as it will often (in the comments) tell you of any service for the man prior to the unit he died with.

 

Craig

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Hi

You may already have this, apologies if you have.

Henry Guy Hanning Thorp, 2nd.Lt. Kings Yorks. L.I. born 23.3.1895. MIC - Entered theatre 1 on 28.2.15. Father Henry Bell Thorp, Warmsworth House, Doncaster. Brit/Vic/ 15 Star.

Regards Barry

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Hello, there is an Ernest George Appleby died of typhoid 2nd May 1915 in Toronto mentioned in the Grantham Journal of the 8th of May 1915. He seems to have been a banker so perhaps not one of yours.

Buster

 

pow.JPG

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2 hours ago, busterfield said:

Hello, there is an Ernest George Appleby died of typhoid 2nd May 1915 in Toronto mentioned in the Grantham Journal of the 8th of May 1915. He seems to have been a banker so perhaps not one of yours.

Buster

 

pow.JPG

Thanks for this! It could actually be him as there are a few others from the school who moved to Canada, obviously with such little information it is difficult to draw conclusions though!

12 hours ago, The Inspector said:

Hi

You may already have this, apologies if you have.

Henry Guy Hanning Thorp, 2nd.Lt. Kings Yorks. L.I. born 23.3.1895. MIC - Entered theatre 1 on 28.2.15. Father Henry Bell Thorp, Warmsworth House, Doncaster. Brit/Vic/ 15 Star.

Regards Barry

Thanks for the information! No need to apologise as we didn't know this, so I'll add it to what we have.

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Thomas Head Shaw

Ancestry has got him indexed as Thomas Head Than for the Effects register. This give his place of death as Hospital Ship Takada (taken on as a HS in Aug 1915).

https://search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/sse.dll?_phsrc=nCP2058&_phstart=successSource&usePUBJs=true&indiv=1&qh=8RlzxIhgfjPgF82LU5bjeQ%3D%3D&db=UKArmyRegistersEffects&gss=angs-d&new=1&rank=1&msddy=1916&msddy_x=1&msypn__ftp=melton mowbray, leicestershire, england, united kingdom&msypn=85127&_F8007A65=86615&_F00061C3=royal engineers&_F00061C3_x=1&MSAV=1&uidh=aoc&pcat=39&fh=4&h=775733&recoff=66 67&ml_rpos=5

£5 10s gratuity - which I believe means 17 months service but put into the calculator. So enlisted I think about Feb 1915. 

edit  - Gratuity etc to his widow, 

Found a Probate record (1933!) that shows an address in Hammersmith - says he died in "Indian Ocean".

born Melton Mowbray; regustered 1Q/1883. Baptised there July 1883. 1891 family in Clawson, Leics. 

Marries Evelyn Rose Percy Stanley in Hammersmith on 9/8/1906

1911 census has him in Melton Mowbray as a "Drapers Manager" with wife and daughter.

 

Edited by Mark1959
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My PC lost an edit

Do not think he was still with the 76th Field Company on his death. The unit was on the Western Front at the time. According to the CWGC it lost a Lieutenant Robert McLean in Belgium on 11/7/16. Shaw, 2 days later, dies on a ship somewhere in the Middle East. I cannot find any evidence unit went to the Middle East at that time. 

Found a ref for the Takada "Her service included the Persian Gulf and East Coast of Africa." P&O say she was "mainly used in the Mesopotamia Campaign". 

Edited by Mark1959
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1 hour ago, Mark1959 said:

Do not think he was still with the 76th Field Company on his death.

Thomas Head Shaw.

 

The 71st and 72nd Field Cos RE were in Mespot 1916. Could there be an error in '76'?

 

edit   72 Field Co War Diary is here but don't hold your breath for it is a small file.

 

PS Well done Mark for finding 'Mr Than' and defeating Ancestry's attempts to hide him.

 

Charlie

Edited by charlie962
war diary link
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1 hour ago, Mark1959 said:

place of death as Hospital Ship Takada

Unfortunately War Diary For HS Takada only seems to survive for Jan 1917 onwards.

Charlie

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It will be a difficult/impossible one to sort out. 71 and 72 were in 13th Division that went to Gallipolli in 1915 and later to Mesopotamia. No sign they went to France from what I can see so far. Shaw's MIC says to France 14/11/15 so not with either of those at that time it seems. So all up in the air!!

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19 minutes ago, Mark1959 said:

So all up in the air!

Indeed. 

 

Looking at the 14/15 Roll his posting overseas is much later than the others with similar service numbers. I wonder why?

 

The Theatre could of course be an error.

 

He may have gone to France but almost immediately have been posted to Mespot.

 

I couldn't see another RE with similar number going overseas on same date (I looked at a number of pages on either side on the 14/15 Roll).

 

Charlie

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Thank you for all the help so far everyone! All the information is much appreciated!! Certainly bringing up quite a few mysteries here!

 

Edited by mslack1306
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