Where do I begin researching great grandfather

[Tj2419]

My great grandfather John Edward Moseley, born 1898, was in the Essex Regiment and his regimental number was 50145. My great grandfather didn't like to talk about the war so I don't really have much information to go on but would love to find out more about him.

 

Am I right in thinking that this "11/Essex", on the attachment, means 11th battalion of the Essex Regiment?

Where can I find what the battalion were involved in?

Where can I find anymore information out about what he did in the war?

Where can I find out when he enlisted and left?

Is there a way I can see if he served in WW2 also? Would he have the same regimental number?

 

Apologies for all the questions I just have little info and would like to find out more.

 

Many thanks for any tips and advice

 

 

[johnmelling1979]

Hello 

 

Fromwhat I can tell the battalion was in 18 Brigade

Look at the war diary  http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/browse/r/h/C7352352

and also do a search on this website 

 

 

Edited 8 November , 2018 by johnmelling1979

[ForeignGong]

Hi

Go to the top of this page under the word FORUM is "Long Long Trail" follow that & it will help with your search.

[Tj2419]

5 hours ago, ForeignGong said:

Hi

Go to the top of this page under the word FORUM is "Long Long Trail" follow that & it will help with your search.

Hi is there any chance you can link it here? When I look at the top this is all I see (see attachment)

Many thanks

[Tj2419]

7 hours ago, johnmelling1979 said:

Hello 

 

Fromwhat I can tell the battalion was in 18 Brigade

Look at the war diary  http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/browse/r/h/C7352352

and also do a search on this website 

 

 

Sorry to sound a little confused but I take it a brigade is made up of a number of regiments. Does that part I've circles on my image definitely mean he was in the 11th battalion? And as he survived the war does that mean he was pretty much everywhere the 11th battalion are mentioned? Many thanks again

[The Inspector]

Hi

Welcome to the Forum. If you post as much family history as you can then you may find others who have already searched for him. Eg. Where was he born, Chesterfield, Derbyshire?? Married 1924?

Regards Barry

[pierssc]

You are seeing a very abbreviated version of the web page.  Long Long Trail is here https://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/

hopefully you will be able to see enough of that to find your way round the many helpful background pages which will get you started.  It would be easier for you if you could look on a bigger screen than your phone - a computer monitor or even a decent sized tablet (it’s fine on a mini ipad).  Does it help if you turn your phone 90 degrees?

Edited 9 November , 2018 by pierssc

[sotonmate]

TJ

 

Welcome to the Forum !

I see from the original Medal Rolls that your soldier only served with 11 Battalion Essex. In the absence of his service record, of which many were lost in bombing of 1940,we might assume that he fought through the war with the one unit. He would have gone to war after Dec 1915 as he had no entitlement to 1914-15 Star.

11 Battalion were a part of 18 Infantry Brigade of 24 Division which landed in France on 30 Aug 1915. John would have been in a replacement draft at sometime after 1915.

You may want to see a War Diary for the unit:

http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C7352352

which costs £3.50 to download,or if you have access to Ancestry UK it will be there free for members.

You might be able to get some idea of when he enlisted from his number,or looking at some of the soldiers around his number on your list above, and then you might be able to tie down when he arrived at war and define where you can read about his experiences in the War Diary.

[clk]

Hi,

 

There are some near-ish number men that do have surviving papers to compare against. For example...

 

Image source: Findmypast

 

...who is noted as joining the battalion 'in the field' on 1st October 1918. The battalion war diary entry for 1st October records that a draft of 133 men arrived from the "North Staffords". A bit later in the number sequencing...

 

Image source: Findmypast

 

These men are being called up from the Army Reserve, initially training in the UK with their regimental reserve battalions, then being sent overseas. Having arrived at an Infantry Base Depot in France (Calais), on paper they are transferred to a front line unit of their regiment. However, whilst still at the IBD they were transferred to the 11/Essex, and then sent to join them in the field.

 

It seems likely then that as number 50145, John joined the 11/Essex in the field in October 1918.

 

Regards

Chris

[sotonmate]

Chris

 

I reckon that you are right. I  noted from the Medal Rolls that there were something like 70+ men in 11 Essex who look like they came from somewhere else ! Following pages also seem to be the same with a bunch allocated to 9 Essex.

[johnmelling1979]

10 hours ago, Tj2419 said:

Sorry to sound a little confused but I take it a brigade is made up of a number of regiments. Does that part I've circles on my image definitely mean he was in the 11th battalion? And as he survived the war does that mean he was pretty much everywhere the 11th battalion are mentioned? Many thanks again

 

You are correct, the link I provided should take you straight to the 11 Essex and access to a war diary with some helpful clues to your Great Grandfather

[Tj2419]

3 hours ago, clk said:

Hi,

 

There are some near-ish number men that do have surviving papers to compare against. For example...

 

Image source: Findmypast

 

...who is noted as joining the battalion 'in the field' on 1st October 1918. The battalion war diary entry for 1st October records that a draft of 133 men arrived from the "North Staffords". A bit later in the number sequencing...

 

Image source: Findmypast

 

These men are being called up from the Army Reserve, initially training in the UK with their regimental reserve battalions, then being sent overseas. Having arrived at an Infantry Base Depot in France (Calais), on paper they are transferred to a front line unit of their regiment. However, whilst still at the IBD they were transferred to the 11/Essex, and then sent to join them in the field.

 

It seems likely then that as number 50145, John joined the 11/Essex in the field in October 1918.

 

Regards

Chris

Hi Chris thank you so much, for such a detailed reply. 

[Ron Clifton]

10 hours ago, Tj2419 said:

Sorry to sound a little confused but I take it a brigade is made up of a number of regiments. Does that part I've circles on my image definitely mean he was in the 11th battalion?

Don't worry - it confuses most people at first!

 

British Infantry brigades consisted of four battalions (three from March 1918). In the British Army, the regiment was not a tactical unit. Although there are several instances where the battalions in a brigade were all from the same regiment, especially in the Territorial Force divisions, this was generally the exception rather than the rule. Your man was definitely in the 11th battalion of the Essex Regiment.

 

In the French, German and Austro-Hungarian Armies, and the American Army, there were normally three battalions to a regiment, and two regiments to a brigade.

 

Ron

Edited 9 November , 2018 by Ron Clifton