544th Siege Bty, Royal Garrison Artillery

[Guest]

I'm seeking any information regarding the 544th Siege Bty RAG. 

My great uncle, Frank Hubert Warr, was a gunner (#152936) who died aged 34 yo on 21/2/19 from the flu, & is buried in Dunkirk. I have no family from whom to source information; the only information I have is the 'certificate' from Commonwealth War Graves Commission. I'm very keen to find out about his unit's service history - book suggestions, articles ... anything.

With thanks

[Dai Bach y Sowldiwr]

Welcome.

You are in luck.

His service record has survived and can be viewed on Ancestry:

Link

 

Unfortunately, it looks badly water damaged and bits of it are faint  ant fuzzy, but I think if you were to sit down and study it, you will get a lot of information out of it.  For example his date of arrival in France in 544 SB in March 1918 is clear, as is his spectacle prescription!

 

Good luck with it.

[Ron Clifton]

Hello BGrey, and welcome to the Forum!

 

The battery was equipped with four six-inch guns. On arrival in France it was attached to First Army but by July 1918 it had been transferred to Fifth Army. Guns of this calibre were not part of a specified RGA Brigade and unfortunately there does not appear to be a surviving War Diary.

 

The following "Army Brigades RGA" were in Fifth Army by Nov 1918. These brigades were used to control batteries not forming part of a normal RGA Brigade, so it is just possible that you may find a reference in them to 544 Siege Battery:

WO 95/539 11 Brigade Royal Garrison Artillery 1915 Feb. - 1918 Nov.  
WO 95/545 55 Brigade Royal Garrison Artillery 1916 July - 1919 July  

They can be downloaded from the Kew website, www.nationalarchives.gov.uk for about £3.50 each. You may need to add a suffix such as /1, /2 etc as there are two or more diaries in each file.  I don't think they are available on Ancestry.

 

Good luck!

 

Ron

[kevinrowlinson]

544th (Household) Siege Battery was predominately made up by Troopers from the Household Cavalry, mainly 2nd Life Guards. On arrival in France they were attached to other batteries as reinforcement gunners until receiving their guns May/June 1918. 

 

From June 1918 I would look at 11th Brigade - http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/26d54076f5b841e0b318c580b9208c77 . The diary may, or may not, indicate when they received their guns, and the time they joined the brigade.

 

Kevin

[KONDOA]

Some officers of the former Hull Heavy Battery were transferred from Lydd or Hilsea to join 544th SB. Without checking I think Lt/Capt Galloway, former adjutant of HHB was one such. He was a stockbroker but was also HAC member prewar. 11 Brigade were involved in the Lys salient until the German withdrawal after Amiens. Then moved south, same as 545th SB.

 

Roop