John Joseph Whensley 37345

[Guest]

Any information regarding my grandfather's service records and any photographs of the KOYLI  8th he was born 1899 so he would have been 15 years old or thereabouts at the commencement of WW1 ?

[Acknown]

Lou,

Welcome to the Forum. No Service Record that I can find, but there is a Medal Index Card (MIC), which you can view on Ancestry: click here, and a Medal Roll entry: click here. I suspect you may have seen these. Otherwise, if you don't subscribe to Ancestry, you may be able to access it for free at your local library. 

For an outline of the WW1 service of 8th KOYLI, see here: http://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/army/regiments-and-corps/the-british-infantry-regiments-of-1914-1918/kings-own-yorkshire-light-infantry/.

The battalion War Diary for Aug 15 to Oct 17 is in the National Archives: http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C7353267. You have to pay a fee to download it. It is unlikely that your GF is mentioned by name. The battalion moved to Italy in Nov 17 and I can't find its WD thereafter. Perhaps someone else will comment.

Here's a thread from this Forum on the same subject. It's worth searching the Forum to see if there are any more threads.

 

And it's worth putting 8th KOYLI into G***le. I found this: http://www.doncaster1914-18.org.uk/story/private-james-dyson/.

Best of luck.

Acknown

Edited 10 February , 2019 by Acknown
Spelling!

[DavidOwen]

There is a Brigade War Diary including the 8th Bn KOYLI in Italy but sadly not yet digistised

http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C4557393

Good luck with your research

David

[clk]

Hi Lou12,

 

Whilst John doesn't appear to have surviving service papers, there are some for a couple of men who were given KOYLI service numbers, near to (and bracketing) his - 37342 Yeoman, and 37347 Wilkinson. Both those men were mobilised from the Army Reserve (albeit on different dates) in early 1917. Initially they served 'at home' under different numbers, but were both posted to the British Expeditionary Force from the 90th Training Reserve Battalion on 17th November 1917, from where they were transferred specifically to the 8/KOYLI on 29th November 1917. It would be good to have a larger sample size, but there might be a reasonable inference to be made.

 

It seems likely that his active overseas war service was spent with the Battalion in Italy.

 

Regards

Chris

[Guest]

Very grateful for the information received so far it's much appreciated