Driver B S HEWSON RFA

[PanHandle]

I am new to the forum and new at tracing WW1 soldiers.  Can anyone help me pin down the unit my Grandfather may have served with?  He was born (1893) and brought up in Sheffield.  I have found his medal card online and he has two regimental Nos: 1212 and 7957272.  Would either of these indicate when he was likely to have enlisted and which unit/battery he may have served with?  He was awarded the 14-15 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal.  We have a postcard sent home by him which says "in action" Ypres Oct 1915. I have had no luck finding any attestation papers or other service records and think they were probably amongst the "burnt docs".  I have found a Medical Record for him dated 16 Sep 1916 and the unit info given was RFA 49 Div, 49 DAC?   I also know that towards the end of the war he was posted to the Peshawar region of India and was not demobbed till atleast 1920.  I have attached a group photo which includes my Grandfather and a pic of him in India which maybe of help/interest to others. Any help anyone can give me would be much appreciated.  Thanks.

[daggers]

Welcome to the forum.  The two numbers you gave indicate that your grandfather joined as a Territorial, as all TF soldiers were renumbered in 1917.

The second number will probably reveal his Brigade but I cannot access the details just now.  I suspect there will have been at least one Territorial Gunner unit based in Sheffield.  Are you sure about the second number?

49 DAC was the Ammunition Column serving the artillery of 49 Division, and lots of men were moved from brigades to DACs and vice versa, as needed.

A better-informed Pal should be able to add more.

D

[Mark1959]

Welcome

You seemed to have gained a digit. Its 795722 not 7957272

 

Edited 12 March , 2019 by Mark1959

[IPT]

Bertram Stanley Hewson

 

There's some sort of 1916 medical record on FMP.

[Mark1959]

This page

http://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/army/order-of-battle-of-divisions/49th-west-riding-division/

covers the 49th Division

We know from the medal roll for his 1914-15 Star that he went to France on or around 16/4/15. The link says 

"1915

On 31 March the Division was warned that it would go on overseas service and entrainment began on 12 April. Divisional infantry went via Folkestone-Boulogne while all other units went from Southampton to Le Havre. By 19 April the Division had concentrated in the area of Estaires – Merville – Neuf Berquin. The Division then remained in France and Flanders"

So his date to France is spot on for the Division moving to France. Given the absence of service paper for him we must make the reasonable assumption that he was in the 49th Division's artillery from April 1915 and was still in it when admitted to hospital for pyrexia (fever) of unknown origin on 16/9/16. So looks as though he was at the Somme.

 

16/9/16 is right in the middle of the The Battle of Flers-Courcelette - another awful slaughter in the Battle of Somme. So probably did well to be in a hospital bed. 

 

Clearly at some point he left the 49th Division as they did not proceed to India. 

 

Probably worth reading the 49th DAC's War Diary at least for the 1915-16 period. Available to download @ http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C7354638

Maybe on ancestry.

Edited 12 March , 2019 by Mark1959

[David Porter]

1 hour ago, PanHandle said:

I have found a Medical Record for him dated 16 Sep 1916 and the unit info given was RFA 49 Div, 49 DAC

 

Welcome to the Forum,

 

That would be 49th (West Riding) Divisional Ammunition Column and consistent with his six figure number, 795722, issued in January 1917.

He would have been with one of the Brigade Ammunition Columns of 49th Division before they were abolished in May 1916.

As he was from Sheffield, I would say that up until that point he was in 1/3rd West Riding Brigade RFA (1st Line).

The number 1212 looks to me like he joined before war broke out. 

 

EDIT: 1235 joined on February 11, 1914 so it was before this.

Edited 12 March , 2019 by David Porter

[PanHandle]

Thank you very much for your very fast response and for helping me out.   Although my grandfather survived the war he died in 1963 when I was very young so I have had to rely on family stories as far as his military service is concerned.  I seem to recall that he may have already been a member of a Territorial unit before the outbreak of war, in fact I was told by an elderly family member that Bert had fought at the Battle of Mons and that he was part of the original BEF but his Medal card suggests that he didn't arrive in France until 16 Apr 1915 so this family info is probably inaccurate.  He certainly had a "star" medal as I remember seeing it together with his other medals when I was little.  

[PanHandle]

Thank you all for your responses, much appreciated.  I maybe able to shed some light on how Bert came to be sent out to India.  He was seriously injured by a shell explosion and spent many months in hospital recovering.  I understand that it was after this event that he was posted to India.  I'm assuming that once he had recovered sufficiently he was attached to a different unit.  Again I havent been able to find any casualty reports or documentation to support this.