George Moss, 1st Worcestershire Regiment

[WeWillRememberThem]

Hi folks,

 

My great grandad served in the British Army between 5th November 1914 and 8th May 1919. He was George Moss, born 1895 in Oldbury, Worcestershire.

 

I have found his WW1 Medal Index Card which showed which regiments he served in.

 

1st Worcestershire Regiment, Service Number 8615

Labour Corps, Service Number 311775

Royal Defence Corps, Service Number 81793

 

I have been unable to find his service record or anything else about his time in the army during this time.

 

If anyone is able to find out anything else about him or point me in the right direction I would be most grateful.

 

Thank you 

 

 

 

 

[Mark1959]

His British War and Victory Medal Roll  shows service in France and Flanders as follows 

1st Battalion Worcesters 5/11/14 to 1/12/14 and 6/3/15 to 21/7/16

2nd Battalion  Worcesters 22/7/16 to 28/8/16.

So service with other 2 regiments in UK.

He appears on a War Office wounded List 13/10/16. Also a later pension ledger card that indicates he had lost his right index finger. The natural conclusion is that this injury led to his return to UK and a medical downgrading that led to his transfer to the Labour Corps and later the RDC. Without further evidence the reason for his return in 1914 is not clear - possible wounding or sickness.

Recommend read relevant war diaries to see what the Worcesters were up to. An alternative is Stacke’s excellent regimental history.

Edit

There is a 1939 list entry for a George Moss. Crane Driver Electric Fitting shop. Wife Rosannah. Plus a number of children. If that is he then his DoB is showing as 26/11/1894. Address in 1939 9 Lodge St. 

Edited 23 April , 2019 by Mark1959

[clk]

Hi,

 

On his MIC he first appears to be numbered 6/8615.

 

Image Source: Ancestry.co.uk

 

That may imply that he was originally in the 6th (Reserve) Battalion. There are some surviving service papers for a couple of 6th Battalion men with 6/86** numbers which may be relevant.

 

6/8603 Hubble - attested 29.3.1912. Posted from the 6th Battalion to the 1st on 14.10.1914. Posted to the BEF for overseas service 5.11.1914.

6/8615

6/8634 Timmins - attested 19.6.1912 to the Army Reserve (Special Reserve).

6/8647 Dabbs - attested 23.8.1912 to the Army Reserve (Special Reserve).  Posted from the 6th Battalion to the 1st on 14.10.1914. Posted to the BEF for overseas service 5.11.1914.

 

It seems possible that George attested to the Army Reserve in Spring 1912, served in the 6th Battalion as a Reservist, and was mobilized to bolster the numbers of the 1st Battalion a couple of days before they returned to the UK from Egypt.

 

The Battalion war diary (National Archives here, Ancestry here) says that they arrived at Liverpool on 16.10.1914; embarked at Southampton 5.11.1914; and disembarked at Le Havre 8.11.1914. 

 

Regards

Chris

 

Edit:

It looks like the gap/break in his 1st Battalion service may have been due to sickness, rather than wounds.

Image source: Findmypast

Edited 23 April , 2019 by clk

[Guest]

Hi there,

I hope this thread is still active.

I might have an interesting story regarding George Moss, and some information.

Allow me to introduce myself. 
My name is Ken Moss, a great grandchild of George, which apparently makes me a relative of you too.
I'm a Dutch-born Englishman, who's grandparents moved from England to The Netherlands after my granddad (Dave Moss, born in Oldbury) was enlisted as a soldier and Cold War-peacekeeper in The Netherlands. They stayed, had children (one of which is my mum), and so I was born. 

Coincidentally, a few days before this thread was made, my girlfriend and I went to Belgium, near Ypres, to go on a brief holiday. 
In Belgium, we went to see the 'In Flanders' Fields' museum in Ypres. It was a very interesting visit and I would recommend anyone who is interested in the Great War to visit the museum. It's very detailed with lots of interesting retrieved artifacts from the war in-and-around Ypres. 

The museum has several computers which stores the names of casualties in the region. Since I'm from British descend, I couldn't let myself from searching for any possible relatives who might have fought in that area. There, I came across 'George Moss' (12868), born in Oldbury. Being excited about my find, my girlfriend and I went and read deeper into George's page.
Unfortunately, there wasn't much information about him, aside from him being born in Oldbury, and that he fought in the 1st Battalion Worcestershire Regiment. 
We also read that he was killed on the 11th of May 1915, and that he was buried in the Ploegsteert Memorial cemetery (https://www.cwgc.org/find-a-cemetery/cemetery/88800/ploegsteert-memorial/), where he has his own grave and page (https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/1642746/moss,-george/).

As this was a very interesting find, we went and drove to Ploegsteert Memorial to find his grave and commemorate him. But after a 45-minute search on the cemetery, we couldn't find his grave. We then went and sought for his grave at every single cemetery/memorial centre in the region, but still weren't able to find his grave. Left disappointed, we went back to our hotel. 
We couldn't get it out of our heads, so I went and did some online research regarding his regiment (1st Battalion Worcestershire Regiment) and found this page: (http://www.worcestershireregiment.com/wr.php?main=inc/bat_1_1914), which is a very detailed page about the regiment and where they fought during the Great War. 

George has fought in Neuve-Chapelle, not too far from Ypres. According to my information, this is where he must have gotten killed-in-combat. 

The interesting thing about my findings, and yours together with the forum members' findings, is that most of the information is relatively similar, although the differences are that in my findings, George got killed on the 11th of May 1915, whilst in your information (which is more detailed as well), George went to different regiments before going Labour Corps. 

It's very interesting and enormously coincidental that the two of us have been looking for, apparently, the same George Moss. I started searching for him after coincidentally finding him in a museum, but I assume you must have been known with George for a longer period of time. It's interesting though that we started looking during the same couple of days.

I hope to get in contact with you, as I would be more than interesting to continue our search for George. 

With kind regards,

Ken Moss.

[Michelle Young]

Welcome to the forum Ken. George doesn't have a known grave, his name is carved on the Worcestershire Regiment panels at the Ploegsteert memorial, as per your CWGC link.

Michelle 

[Guest]

16 hours ago, Michelle Young said:

Welcome to the forum Ken. George doesn't have a known grave, his name is carved on the Worcestershire Regiment panels at the Ploegsteert memorial, as per your CWGC link.

Michelle 

Thank you so much Michelle.

 

That explains why we couldn't find a grave stone. I must have misinterpreted the meaning of 'panels' then, as in the books provided by the cemetery, the line of graves are also called 'panels'. 
 

Cheers,

Ken.

[Matlock1418]

On 26/02/2020 at 22:08, Ken Moss said:

There, I came across 'George Moss' (12868), born in Oldbury.

Ken,

Welcome to GWF.

Quickly looking at this thread I note that a) George Moss (12868) appears to be a different man from the originally posted suggestion b) George Moss (6/8615, 8615, 311775, 81793) = significant differences - both have their own MIC [with different units and nos.] and Pension records [for different reasons a) KiA/death - Father, William Moss, living in Hockley, Birmingham, b) 10% Wounding/disablement due to loss of index finger - George living in Oldbury, Birmingham].

So I suggest caution with identities and relationships - It is certainly not unknown for men to get mixed up by researchers if of same names (George Moss) and unit (1 Worcestershire Regiment) etc.

[many GWF members have probably from time to time had to sort out such situations in their own research having mistakenly having gone down such a route for a while :-/]

The GWF is however a great place for such issues to get a wide airing and re-evaluation by a large group of very informed and experienced members - and potentially a source of very interesting new discoveries for all.

Good luck with your enquiries.

Likewise for 'WeWillRememberThem'.

:-) M