Donald Henderson , B Squadron South Nottinghamshire Hussars

[Nigel M]

We have recently discovered that a relative, Donald Henderson, enlisted in the South Nottinghamshire Hussars, B Squadron in 1915 .It was reported in the Nottingham Evening Post on Saturday October 2nd 1915 and the front page article included his picture and also the pictures and names of 9 others who were Old Boys at Alexandra Park School. Despite many hours research on various sites and also searching the Medal Card details on Ancestry we cannot get any further. I have seen that  the SNH were posted to Palestine, Gallipoli , back to Palestine and then to France where they became the Machine Gun Corps but this is all that we can find. If anyone can recommend anything we would be most grateful. He survived the war . Many thanks in advance.          

[ForeignGong]

There appears to be only one Donald Henderson in the MGC and he served with 6 Cameron H/landers S/12014 & MGC 12334. First Theatre served in is France date 9 Jul 1915

 

Peter

[PRC]

3 hours ago, Nigel M said:

 He survived the war .  

 

If he survived then unless he was discharged he should turn up on the Absent Voters list for both 1918 and 1919. There is a bit more about finding men via this route on the parent site of this forum, The Long, Long Trail. https://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/soldiers/how-to-research-a-soldier/finding-soldiers-through-the-1918-absent-voters-lists/

 

If he still was ordinarily resident in the Nottingham area then he should turn up there on the AVL. If you have the parents names, (if he was living with them normally) or a wife* by that time it's always worth looking for them on the normal register to make sure you have the right address. It looks like the AVLs for eight of the electoral Divisions that covered Nottingham are on FindMyPast, but I only have access to that when I'm in a public library so can't check it out for you.

https://www.findmypast.co.uk/articles/britain-absent-voters-constituency-list

Doesn't look like there is anything for Nottinghamshire on Ancestry.

 

If he enlisted in October 1915 with the South Nottinghamshire Hussars and was identified by them to receive specialist traing as a machine gunner, then when the Machine Gun Corps was formed in early 1916 he may simply have been transferred along with the rest of the units Machine Gun section to the new Corps. I presume you have tried tracking down the other 9 men to see if any of them ended up with the MGC and when, in case there is a Henderson with a nearby service number.

 

It may also be worth expanding that search. By sheer co-incidence I have been looking at the October 1915 newspapers for another big Midlands city earlier today. It looks like during the first two weeks of October there was a big national recruitment drive on prior to the launch of the (Lord) Derby Scheme. The local newspapers for that city reverted to publishing the names, addresses and new units of the previous days enlistments - something they hadn't done since the early weeks of the war. If the Nottingham papers did something similar you may be able to identify additional South Nottinghamshire Hussars men which will give you a wider pool to look at.

 

Re-reading your post it looks like it's an assumption that he ended up with the MGC rather than a known fact. While the 1st/1st South Nottinghamshire Hussars would end up as an MGC Battalion, (in August 1918), at the time he enlisted that unit was in Gallipoli. He would therefore have gone to the 2nd/1st or the 3rd/1st for his training and then to be held as a replacement draft. Most likely by the time he completed his training the rules had changed after the introduction of conscription and he could now have been sent anywhere, so unless you know otherwise I wouldn't assume he went out to the Middle East or that even if he did he ended up with the 1st/1st South Nottinghamshire Hussars.

 

So probably time to track down those AVL's and looking to see if there is any surviving paperwork for men who enlisted around about the same time.

 

Hope that helps,

Peter

 

*Only some women had the vote so not being to find her doesn't mean that they weren't living in Nottingham.

 

Edit - forgot to add this is all assuming Donald was his legal first name and there were no other forenames. Presumably this has been confirmed from the birth register, (and any baptismal records if they exist).

 

On that note if Donald married while he was in the forces, or he and his wife had children, then the relevant civil marriage \ birth certificate should show at a minimum his rank and Regiment \ Corps. Some show even more information such as battalion and company or service number.

 

Edited 16 June , 2019 by PRC
Back from domestic duties and remembered what I'd forgotten :-)

[Nigel M]

Hi Peter, many many thanks for your response. I will be getting in touch with the British News Archive as I have seen this edition online , your tips are invaluable and very much appreciated. Our search will take on a new direction. KR Nigel    

[PRC]

23 minutes ago, Nigel M said:

Hi Peter, many many thanks for your response. I will be getting in touch with the British News Archive as I have seen this edition online , your tips are invaluable and very much appreciated. Our search will take on a new direction. KR Nigel    

 

Nigel,

 

As you're UK resident you should be able to get unlimited access for free to the British Newspaper Archive at your local library. As the optical character recognition software used is, to put it mildly, "quirky", you might want to road test it there first before taking out a subscription.

http://virtual-library.culturalservices.net/webingres/bedfordshire/vlib/0.beds_libraries/online_resources_bna.htm

 

Time to dust off your library card :-)

 

Cheers,

Peter

 

 

[Nigel M]

Many thanks again for your help 

[DavidOwen]

My sub to Ancestry has expired but a search for Donald Henderson with the keyword Hussars has turned up a silver war badge record

https://www.ancestry.co.uk/search/categories/39/?name=Donald_Henderson&keyword=Hussars&keyword_x=1&location=3257.3250&name_x=_1&residence=_nottinghamshire-england-united+kingdom_5279&types=p

Probably a red herring.......

[Nigel M]

Hi David. Possibly not as it's the only reference we have come across. My father in law is in possession of a British War Medal that has Pte. W Henderson 1452 S Notts Hrs embossed on it. The news paper has him as Donald and his wife called him Jim. Your information is the only Henderson that refers to the South Notts Hussars so far. He may have had a few fore names . My g grandad was Charles Henry James and was referred to as Jack by all that knew him. Or our medal is same family name and regiment but another relative perhaps? Thanks for the information,  we will keep digging. 

[PRC]

2 minutes ago, Nigel M said:

Hi David. Possibly not as it's the only reference we have come across. My father in law is in possession of a British War Medal that has Pte. W Henderson 1452 S Notts Hrs embossed on it. The news paper has him as Donald and his wife called him Jim. Your information is the only Henderson that refers to the South Notts Hussars so far. He may have had a few fore names . My g grandad was Charles Henry James and was referred to as Jack by all that knew him. Or our medal is same family name and regiment but another relative perhaps? Thanks for the information,  we will keep digging. 

 

The Medal Index Card for Private 1452 South Nottinghamshire Hussars shows him as William H M Henderson. He qualified for the 1915 Star. having first landed in Egypt on the 26th April 1915. He would be renumbered into the Corps of Hussars as 280463.

https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D2823761

 

As he landed in Egypt before Donald appeared in the newspaper in October 1915, it would seem they are different people.

 

Unless of course the newspaper article doesn't refer to a recent enlistment, although even then unlikely that even if he enlisted at the very start of 1915 he would have gone out with his unit in April. William H M Henderson was discharged on the 8th May 1917 and received the Silver War Badge as well as the British War Medal and Victory Medal. I don't think there are any service \ discharge \ pension papers or a pension ledger card for him on Ancestry, but I only have a free account and so can't see the actual documents.

 

What else do you know about Donald ("Jim") - have you been able to confirm first names from the birth register and locate any baptismal details. Presumably you have also checked marriage and death details to see what legal names were used.

 

Intriguingly the only likely match for a birth in the Nottingham District of William is a Willam Hector M Henderson whose birth was registed in the April to June quarter, (Q2), of 1900, which makes it very unlikely he went overseas in 1915.

 

Cheers,

Peter

[Nigel M]

Hi Peter, many thanks for the additional details. Very intriguing that Donald/Jim enlisted in the same regiment as William. Maybe a brother or cousin? The medal we have(now known as William's) and the press cutting (stating Donald) were in his  wife's belongings when she passed away so nothing was known about them. He had moved to Ireland just before WW2 we believe so we are going to be requesting his death certificate through relatives we have living there. I am also intrigued that we cannot find any details on Donald/Jim. Many thanks for all your help  much appreciated and I will post on this as we get more information on our mystery man in the Sourh Notts Hussars. KR Nigel 

[PRC]

On 16/06/2019 at 15:11, Nigel M said:

We have recently discovered that a relative, Donald Henderson, enlisted in the South Nottinghamshire Hussars, B Squadron in 1915 .It was reported in the Nottingham Evening Post on Saturday October 2nd 1915 and the front page article included his picture and also the pictures and names of 9 others who were Old Boys at Alexandra Park School.

 

Attached is the “offending” picture. It’s captioned:-

 

             OLD BOYS OF ALEXANDRA PARK SCHOOL WITH THE COLOURS

 

             Top Row: Lawrence Bagshaw, O.T.C.; Arthur Weston, Motor Ambulance Convoy; Claude Goddard, Notts. R.H.A. 2nd Mounted Division.; Donald Henderson, B Squadron         S.N.H.; Richard Earp, 2nd Lieut. Sherwood Foresters.

 

             Bottom Row: Harry Weston, Motor Ambulance Convoy; John Hall, Motor Ambulance Convoy; Reginald Wright, R.A.M.C.; C.C. Tooley, 2nd Lieut. 5th Prince Albert’s Somerset L.I.; Fred Hall, 2nd Lieut. Northumbrian Divisional Cyclist Company.

 

I couldn’t find anything else in that newspaper edition that relates. So actually there is nothing to say that Donald had only just enlisted – he could even have been a pre-war Territorial.

 

I then took a quick look at the other names to see if I could see if there is a pattern to when they joined up.

 

Claude Goddard has surviving Service Papers. He was embodied on the 29th December 1914 as Gunner 653 Notts (Reserve) R.H.A.

 

Richard Simpson Alfred Earp was commissioned as Second Lieutenant in the 13th Battalion, Sherwood Foresters from the 7th August 1915.

London Gazette: https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/29263/supplement/8112/data.pdf

 

Harry Weston also has surviving Service Papers, serving from the 2nd December 1914 as Private M2/021231 in the Mechanised Transport arm of the Army Service Corps. He was attached initially to No.6 Motor Ambulance Convoy.

 

C.C. Tooley appears in the April 1915 Monthly Army List as commissioned in the 5th Battalion Shropshire Light Infantry from the 13th March 1915.

 

So actually that looks like it throws everything back in the mix – sorry,

 

Peter

 

[Nigel M]

Good morning Peter, we are truly grateful for your assistance in our search.We are off to Ireland in 5 weeks and will be able to get some accurate dates which we will share when we return. KR Nigel