Sapper J.T Sheldon - 183rd Coy RE KIA 15/12/1915

[Guest]

Hi,

 

I'm looking for a bit of information for a relative of mine - Sapper J.T Sheldon of the 183rd Coy. Royal Engineers - who seems to be a total mystery.

 

It appears he was the only member of his unit killed on the 15th December 1915, and I was wondering if anyone knew what the 183rd were doing at the time and if there is any information on how he was killed?

 

According to Nuneaton War Memorial he also won the Military Medal - is there any way we could confirm this?

Thanks!

[Terry_Reeves]

Dom

 

Welcome to the forum.  Have you tried the war diaries for 183 Tunnelling Company which can be dowloaded from the National Archives web site?  The references are WO95/406/1 and WO 95/406/2.  With regard to his MM, your best bet are local Nuneaton newspapers. 

 

TR

 

[Mark1959]

His unit was actually the 183rd Tunnelling Company. He was formerly 9905 Royal Warwickshire Regiment. This is alluded to in the Grave Registration report on the CWGC entry

https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/546793/sheldon,-john-thomas/

The war gratuity of £3 indicates he had served for one year or less.

Born Tividale, Glos and enlisted Nuneaton according to Soldiers Died in Great War list

I have a copy of the War Diary and it is not very helpful. Merely in the period between 12-21 Dec 1915 the tunnels were unusable and the company was employed on repairing trenches in the Fricourt and Cornay area. Explaining his burial at Fricourt. The unit had suffered a number of casualties when the Germans blew a mine on 1/12/15.

His medal records show he was with 10th battalion Warwicks before the 183rd TC. He landed in France 15/7/15. This matches the day the 10 Warwicks landed. The 183rd was not formed until 9/10/15 at Rouen. The first page of the war diary indicates it was formed of men of mining experience from a variety of units. So a viable scenario is with 10 Warwicks until 9/10/15 and then may have become a founding member of 183 TC,

 

The war diaries can be downloaded:

https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C7353056

https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/3329db4fc301452bb2f0b58b15200cf3

 

No service papers appear to have survived. To date I have not traced the award of a Military Medal to him. 

Married and had children

 

Edited 4 April , 2019 by Mark1959

[roughdiamond]

CWGC lists his RE number as 146476, however his medal card shows it as 147476.

 

CWGC also shows him with only his 9905 Warwicks number and his headstone has him as 9905, Warwicks, no mention of RE, strange.

 

As for a MM, he has no medal card for that on the National Archives, nothing on his medal card on Ancestry and nothing on his CWGC entry, so seems unlikely.

 

Sam

[Guest]

This is amazing - thanks for all your help.

 

It's odd to think that he was presumably killed repairing trenches. Is it normal for something like that not to be noted down in the company records?

No idea how Nuneaton War Memorial have come up with a MM. I'll have to drop them an email and find out how they've come up with this information.

 

Thanks again

[Mark1959]

Other ranks are, more often than not, not mentioned in war diaries, Even when they have been killed - and usually then just as 1 OR killed. Rarely mentioned by name.