684181 John Harold Lane 1/22nd Battn, London Regiment

[SMM]

My 8 year old needs to research a family member who fought in WW1. His Great Grandfather, John Harold Lane (known as Jack), we know was wounded badly (and eventually blinded).  My Mother tells me he was in the 1/22nd  Battn, London Regiment, but we know little more. How can I help my son do further research to help us all learn more?

 

Regards

[ss002d6252]

6 minutes ago, SMM said:

My 8 year old needs to research a family member who fought in WW1. His Great Grandfather, John Harold Lane (known as Jack), we know was wounded badly (and eventually blinded).  My Mother tells me he was in the 1/22nd  Battn, London Regiment, but we know little more. How can I help my son do further research to help us all learn more?

 

Regards

Have you got his medals ?
 

I can't see a medal roll entry for him, that would have been the most obvious place to start a search - https://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/db.aspx?dbid=5119

 

Craig

Edited 22 October , 2018 by ss002d6252

[Jrmh]

John H Lane 22 London Regiment regimental number 684181 on medal index card.

 

The Long Long trail:

1/22nd (County of London) Battalion (The Queen’s)

16 March 1915 : landed at Le Havre.
11 May 1915 : formation became 142nd Brigade in 47th (2nd London) Division.

Edited 22 October , 2018 by Jrmh

[ss002d6252]

He shows in the Medal Roll if you use that number, otherwise he's a victim of Ancestry's search engine - https://www.ancestry.co.uk/search/collections/iwoservicemedalawardrolls/?f-F8007A65=684181

 

Craig

[Jrmh]

War diaries for the Battalion available here:

 

http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/results/r?_ser=WO+95&id=C14303&_q=1%2F22+london

 

But it may be cheaper to get a subscription to Ancestry.co.uk

 

 

Edited 22 October , 2018 by Jrmh

[SMM]

Wow thank you for such quick responses. I'll just getting the 14 day free trial at Ancestry

[clk]

Hi SMM,

 

Welcome to the forum.

 

Unfortunately, it seems that the service record for John was one of those lost as a result of a fire in WW2. His medal roll record does. though tell you that he served overseas (in France/Flanders) with the battalion from 7th December 1917 to 27th August 1918.

 

In 1917 the Territorial Force was renumbered, and the number block 680001 - 7000000 was allocated to the (1st line, 2nd line and 3rd line) units of the 22nd Battalion, London Regiment. By looking at some of the papers for men in the London Regiment who do have surviving records, who had numbers near his:

 

684177 Keefe - called up and posted to the 22nd (Reserve) Battalion, London Regiment (i.e. 3/22nd) on 12.7.1917

684180 Winterflood - called up and posted to the 22nd (Reserve) Battalion, London Regiment on 13.7.1917

684181

684201 Partridge - called up and posted to the 22nd (Reserve) Battalion, London Regiment on 16.7.1917

 

I would guess that leaving theatre on 27th August 1918 related to leaving France and returning to the UK as a result of a wounding. Depending on how quickly he passed down the evacuation chain he may have been wounded a short time before that date. What happened to John after he left France is unclear. He doesn't appear to have been discharged as a result of sickness or wounds as he doesn't appear to have been awarded the Silver War Badge (Ancestry search page).

 

On Ancestry, the war diary for the 1/22 is here. Having arrived in theatre on 7th December 1917, I think that it would be unlikely that he was part of the draft of reinforcements that arrived in the line on the 8th December. My guess would be that he was part of one of the drafts listed in the diary (who are seemingly being complained about due to youth or lack of training) that are noted in the entry for  31st December as having arrived at other times during the month. Allowing for a couple of weeks training at the Infantry Base Depot before being deployed to the field - possibly the draft received on 28th December. The 142 Infantry Brigade HQ diary is here. Neither is likely to mention John by name. 

 

The diaries are a bit of a pain to download from Ancestry as you have to do it a page at a time. From the National Archives (search page) you download a 'chunk' at a time, albeit at £3.50 a go.

 

There is good advice on how to research a soldier here.

 

Regards

Chris

 

 

[SMM]

Thanks so much for the above!

[SMM]

On 10/22/2018 at 12:03 PM, Jrmh said:

John H Lane 22 London Regiment regimental number 684181 on medal index card.

 

The Long Long trail:

1/22nd (County of London) Battalion (The Queen’s)

16 March 1915 : landed at Le Havre.
11 May 1915 : formation became 142nd Brigade in 47th (2nd London) Division.

 

How can I find out more about the 1/22nd becoming the 142nd brigade?

[Jrmh]

1/22nd was part of 6th London Brigade, 2nd London Division:

http://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/army/regiments-and-corps/the-british-infantry-regiments-of-1914-1918/london-regiment/

 

until 11 May 1915 when the Brigade it was in (the ‘formation’) became part of:

http://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/army/order-of-battle-of-divisions/47th-2nd-london-division/

 

 

Edited 1 November , 2018 by Jrmh