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NA (WO 339) officers papers look up request


jay dubaya

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I'm hoping a very kind soul out there in forum land who visits the National Archives regularly and has a little time to spare could please assist me with viewing several officer files held in WO 339. I seek just any information these papers may contain on the deaths and subsequent burials of the following men:

 

Lt. Alwyn Chadwyk Hobson, 2nd Life Guards - WO 339/9974

Lt. Hugh De Lacy Hulton-Harrop, 1st Life Guards - WO 339/8170

2/Lt. Frank D'Arcy Blofeld, 2nd Life Guards - WO 339/12153

2/Lt. Sidney John Townsend, 2nd Life Guards - WO 339/10662

 

Maj. Hugh Dawnay, 2nd Life Guards - at present I'm struggling to find a NA 339 reference for this man.

Capt. Arthur Edward Bruce O'Neill, 2nd Life Guards - WO 339/51392

2/Lt. William Sinclair Petersen, RHA - WO 339/13901

 

Capt. Alexander Moore Vandeleur, 2nd Life Guards - WO 339/10342

 

All help and assistance with this request will be greatly appreciated

 

cheers, Jon

Edited by jay dubaya
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Jon, the WO338 index to the WO339 records doesn't even list Hugh Dawnay let alone give any information about his file.

 

Hulton-Harrop has an old "long number" 8170.

 

Vandeleur has an old "long number" 10342.

 

In the creation of the index for "Discovery" I believe the long numbers appear in the "Former reference in its original department" but for some reason they did not make that a searchable field. You might ask TNA to see if they can search under those references but my guess is that these two records are not there.

 

Edited by Chris_Baker
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Hello again, Hugh De Lacy Hulton-Harrop's death,exhumation and reburial is mentioned in:

Menin Gate North: In Memory and In Mourning

By Paul Chapman

Buster

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2 hours ago, Chris_Baker said:

Jon, the WO338 index to the WO339 records doesn't even list Hugh Dawnay let alone give any information about his file.

 

Hulton-Harrop has an old "long number" 8170.

 

Vandeleur has an old "long number" 10342.

 

In the creation of the index for "Discovery" I believe the long numbers appear in the "Former reference in its original department" but for some reason they did not make that a searchable field. You might ask TNA to see if they can search under those references but my guess is that these two records are not there.

 

 

Many thanks for that Chris, I have little to no experience in searching for officer files so this helps a great deal. Are the officer files at the NA complete and like the Household Cavalry NCOs and ORs were they retained by the regiment? I'm at a loss as to why these papers have not yet been digitised and will follow your suggestion and contact the NA

 

J

 

Buster, thanks for the link, I had seen that already and likewise with the book which I managed to view online and does indeed mention several of those listed above. The book states that Blofeld, Hobson, Hulton-Harrop and Townsend all died together in the same explosion, unfortunately the relevant war diaries don't really support this. Hobson and 8 other 2nd Life Guards were buried by the 1st Royal Dragoons on the 14th May 1915, I have found 3 of those who were buried with Hobson and just need to check his papers as I suspect it will be annotated with the same burial details as the 3 others.

 

J

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Jon

Please don't ask the NA to copy these files for you, it will be expensive. If you do decide to have any copied, and it is worth noting they will have been heavily weeded, I would suggest you use an independent researcher. There are a number around all of whom will be much cheaper than the NA. The one I use is very reasonable (the last 2 files I had done were each in the region of 40 pages long and cost less than £5 each). https://www.arcre.com/

Regards

David

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Thanks for that David, perish the thought of asking the NA to copy anything let alone look something up. I don’t need the entire papers copying, only details of death and burial is what is of interest to me at present and so I’m hoping some kind soul will appear.......

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  • 2 weeks later...

And confirmation that Hobson too was buried at 28.I.5.a.9.1

 

j

Edited by jay dubaya
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  • 1 month later...

Jon,

Knew the name Dawnay and was kicking myself. I cannot find a file for him however he was a Rifle Brigade officer until 18/1/1911 when he was granted a majority in the Life Guards, being gazetted into The Rifle Brigade 2/10/1895.

His obituary is in the 1914 Chronicle and he wrote about all the doings of the 2nd RB during the siege of Ladysmith as their Adjutant. If these pieces are of use let me know. He also appears in  "A Rifle Brigade Who's Who 1905-1963" and "The Rifle Brigade Century from 1800-1905"

 

Andy.

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  • 3 years later...

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