2nd Lieutenant G. K. Radcliffe - Mistaken CWGC unit assignation

[Malcolm12hl]

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission database gives the unit of 2nd Lieutenant G. K. Radcliffe, killed on 1 July 1916, as 14th Battalion, Royal Irish Fusiliers.  There was, in fact, no such battalion, and the officer in question fell with the 14th Battalion, Royal Irish Rifles during the the 36th (Ulster) Division on the Schwaben Redoubt on the first day of the Somme.  I have confirmed his unit with both the battalion war diary and his WO 339 file at the National Archives, which together provide considerable detail on his loss (he was seen lying wounded in No Mans Land, but a party of two officers (one, Reginald Lack, was his brother-in-law) and two stretcher-bearers were killed attempting to rescue him.  The CWGC entry is also incorrect in giving his name as George Kan Radcliffe, when his middle name was in fact Kam.  Lieutenant Radcliffe's name appears on the Thiepval Memorial, but I do not know if the inscription repeats the error in the printed registration sheet.  I would be interested to know if there is scope for correcting errors such as this, and if so, what the procedure is.

[mandy hall]

The CWGC are very helpful in amending records, if you can provide evidence.   I had the death date of my great uncle amended.

 

To find the below link, go to the bottom of the home page and click on frequently asked questions.

See below

https://www.cwgc.org/find/find-war-dead/amending-records

 

Mandy

[Malcolm12hl]

Thank you for the kind advice Mandy.  I should be able to provide the evidence to set the record straight here.

 

Malcolm

[Cheshire22]

Malcolm

 

officers died in the Great War, which was original published in October 1919

 

shows the middle name of Kan 

 

i would suggest you obtain a copy of the death certificate and also the birth certificate if you wish to change the name as they are strict  in this matter

[Malcolm12hl]

Thank you Cheshire 22.  His middle name appears as Kam in both his surviving officer records and the statutory register of births, so there has simply been a slip of a typewriter key somewhere along the line.  As it happens, my interest in this officer is due only to the fact that his brother-in-law, 2nd Lieutenant Reginald Lambert Lack, who was mortally wounded attempting to rescue him, came from my village of Thames Ditton, and was part of my research when I was writing my book on the local war dead.  I will try them with the evidence I have, but if that won't do, I will have to leave it, as I can't justify the cost of copies of birth and death certificates in this instance.

 

Malcolm