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20th Division

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Can anyone help please? I'm researching a man whose records haven't survived  ( I am hoping to show he was with the "Leinsters" during their time in the 20th div in Palestine in 1917). The medal roll gives him as 533933/4674 L.C. ex Leinster Reg't and he was awarded a SWB. I assume therefore he was transferred to labour Corps as a result of "sickness". The SWB list states he was discharged 23/5/19 ( sickness). Does this mean he was issued the SWB on this date therefore transferred at this time? Is there any way I can determine the date of transfer to the Labour Corps from any of this information? Hope you can help my dilemma. Thanks. Dave.

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He was discharged May 1919, the SWB being issued on discharge (the reason given will be the reason for discharge from the army in 1919), but the LC number of 533933 appears to date from around March 1918.

 

Craig

Edited by ss002d6252
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There is a pension card for him on Ancestry/Fold3

 

It gives the type of illness and possibly gives a clue to service other than in France. Some of the (quite a number) may give clues to other service but I am not sure how to interpret them, even if it's possible to do so?

 

Mike

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Most of the 'codes' are administrative in nature and lost to time, I've managed to decipher some but others... Unfortunately they don't help with his service.

 

One of his issues was malaria so he had to have been somewhere where he could have caught that - not sure if that helps with the Leinsters or not.

 

Craig

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59 minutes ago, ss002d6252 said:

One of his issues was malaria so he had to have been somewhere where he could have caught that - not sure if that helps with the Leinsters or not.

 

Craig is right to suggest this - which I would have tended to agree with.... however having immersed myself in these records for some time, the occurrence of 'Malaria' is more frequent than I would have thought and sometimes seems to crop up for men who seemed ONLY to have served on the Western Front. I can offer no explanation for this other than perhaps the cases I found previously were for men who (despite appearances) had indeed served in a theatre where malaria was rife. 

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2 hours ago, 20th Division said:

Can anyone help please? I'm researching a man whose records haven't survived  ( I am hoping to show he was with the "Leinsters" during their time in the 20th div in Palestine in 1917).

Dave

 

His 1914/1915 Star roll entry (NA ref. WO 329/2853) shows that he was with the 6th Leinsters on disembarkation (24/11/1915 Theatre (2a)) so presumably he was a reinforcement for that battalion when in Salonika (cause of the malaria issue?).  Rather than being with 20th Division in Palestine (I don't think that division went there?) I'd suggest that it's more than possible that he stayed with the 6th Leinsters in 10th (Irish) Division when they moved there from Salonika?

 

Steve

 

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Good morning Craig and Mike. Thank you for this information it is very useful. The fact that his L.C. number was probably issued around March 1918 means that he was almost certainly with the 10th div in the action at BEERSHEBA and SHERIA in October/ November 1917 ( the actions which I am researching). The fact that he developed malaria at some time doesn't surprise me as the regiment were in the swamplands  of Salonica for some time before being sent to the desert in mid 1917! (and there could well have been more casualties from this than enemy fire) and could therefore have been a re-occurrence of this that led to his discharge. Thanks too for the reference for the soldier's pension claims---I don't have "premium" cover on my Ancestry subs to cover access these documents I'm afraid---but thank you for your interpretation of some of the info' they contain. Can I ask further please?---are there any references to any period in or around Oct/November 1917?

     Again--"thank you" gentlemen. Dave.  

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Can I ask further please?---are there any references to any period in or around Oct/November 1917?

Not on the Pension Cards - they only deal with details from 1919 onwards.


Craig

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Hello David and Steve. Your later 2 posts crossed-in-the-ether. Firstly---apologies----in my opening post I meant "10th" div and not "20th" ( age is getting to me!--the wife is right!). Yes----the 6th Leinsters ( 10th div) were at Salonika and Palestine ( Beersheba and Sheria).  Thanks for all this information. Dave.

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Hello Craig. Appreciated. Regards. Dave.  

It must have been pretty tough on those that fought in the malarial swamps around Lake Doiran during the winter/spring of 1916/17 and then sent to the DESERT in the middle of the summer 1917.----From too much water to not enough. I bet they never complained about the weather in BLIGHTY when they were eventually discharged!". Regards and thanks again. Dave.

      

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40 minutes ago, David Tattersfield said:

 

Craig is right to suggest this - which I would have tended to agree with.... however having immersed myself in these records for some time, the occurrence of 'Malaria' is more frequent than I would have thought and sometimes seems to crop up for men who seemed ONLY to have served on the Western Front. I can offer no explanation for this other than perhaps the cases I found previously were for men who (despite appearances) had indeed served in a theatre where malaria was rife. 

Apparently malaria outbreaks were recorded in Belgium and France during the conflict.

https://www.westernfrontassociation.com/articles/malaria-in-the-great-war/

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59 minutes ago, DavidOwen said:

Apparently malaria outbreaks were recorded in Belgium and France during the conflict.

Thanks for this link. One sentence in the article has jumped out... This supports "more cases than I expected to see" remark. Viz:

 

After the end of the Great War, returning British soldiers who had served in malarious areas 'introduced' malaria, to Southern England and 500 cases of malaria occurred in the civilian population.

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How these men suffered! Who ever coined the phrase "sideshow"??????????????? Dave

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