Corporal Richard Gaskell & Private Vernon Gaskell

[fsands]

Hi,

 

just starting out trying to find some information about the two brothers above.

 

They are from Lancashire and both survived the war. The only other information I have is that Richard worked with horses during the war. This leads me to think that he served in the Royal Horse Artillery. Both soldiers were given compassionate leave to meet up during the war and I have a picture of this meeting.

 

Not really sure how to proceed as this is the first set of soldiers I have researched who survived the war.

 

Thank you in advance for all your help and advice.

 

Fraser

[jay dubaya]

Nothing obvious to be seen on the medal rolls Fraser so we will need a little more detail, where in Lancashire the brothers came from, DoB other family members, etc  and it may be that the picture you have of the brothers meeting will hold some clues as to the service in which they served. Being good with horses doesn't necessarily mean that someone would serve with the RHA all arms and units had some element of horse transport.

 

J

[George Rayner]

Could this be Vernon?

Name:	Edward Vernon Gaskell
Military Year:	1914-1920
Rank:	Gunner
Medal Awarded:	British War Medal and Victory Medal
Regiment or Corps:	Royal Garrison Artillery
Regimental Number:	179481
Previous Units:	Base Dtls. R.G.A. 179481 Gnr

https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=5119&h=3804174&tid=&pid=&usePUB=true&_phsrc=Yiy21184&_phstart=successSource

on Ancestry

George

[George Rayner]

His NoK address is Maudesley

 

Does that help?

 

George

[PRC]

Is this the Richard Gaskell and his younger brother Edward Vernon Gaskell who were recorded on the 1911 census of England and Wales living at Rufford Road, Bispham, near Ormskirk, Lancashire. This was the household of parents Edward and Lydia. The couple have been married 32 years and have had 6 children, of which 4 were still alive.

 

Richard, aged 22 and single, was a Grocers Assistant, born Whelley, Lancashire.

Edward Vernon, aged 13, was still at school. He was born Bispham.

The address was in the Ormskirk Civil Registration District.

 

Assuming they served overseas – although, compassionate leave is no guarantee that they did, as that was probably easier for men serving in the UK than it was for men overseas – then I checked the Discovery catalogue at the National Archive.

 

There are no Medal Index Cards for a Vernon Gaskell. There is only one Edward V. Gaskell – the RGA man already identified above. There are however 10 Edward Gaskells with no middle initial \ name shown that could also potentially be candidates.

https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D2304056

 

Similarly there are 10 candidates for a Richard Gaskell, but only two are shown as Corporal.

 

Richard Gaskell, 41856 Cheshire Regiment and 35622 Labour Corps. He qualified for the Victory Medal and the British War Medal, both issued by the Labour Corps.

https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D2304350

 

Richard Gaskell 31250 East Lancashire Regiment. He qualified for the Victory Medal and the British War Medal.

https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D2304351

 

However Corporal was an appointment, so the MiCs for Privates can’t be ruled out and include men from the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment, Liverpool Regiment and the Lancashire Fusiliers along with other regiments and corps with no local affiliation.

 

All three individuals identified above appear to have survived the war.

 

The East Lancashire Regiment man can be ruled out – he was taken Prisoner of War on the 27th May 1918. His date of birth is given as the 11.11.94 at Ashton under Lyne. His next of kin, his mother, lived at Newman Street, Ashton under Lyne.

https://grandeguerre.icrc.org/en/List/3201057/698/37003/

 

Edward Vernon doesn’t appear to have married until 1931, so you can rule out a marriage or childs birth certificate as a potential way to identify \ confirm unit.

 

Welley, where Richard was born, was in the Wigan Civil Registration District. The birth records for that District in the 1888 /89 period show two Richard Gaskells, neither with a middle name. It should be possible to tie down which one, but for now the purpose was to try and identify any possible marriage. There are many possible marriages for Richard Gaskell, quite a lot of which are in Lancashire, but all the possible matches in the Ormskirk District, where he was living in 1911, have a middle initial.

 

So other than using marriage and childrens birth certificates to track down confirmation of units served, (and assuming no service \ discharge \ pension records survive), then options include pension ledger cards, (summary details on Ancestry, visible in full on Fold3), local papers and tracking them down via the Absent Voters list.

 

Cheers,

Peter

Edited 18 July , 2019 by PRC
Typo

[charlie962]

1 hour ago, PRC said:

Edward Vernon, aged 13, was still at school.

That would give him birth 1898 which ties up with the medical record on FindmyPast for the man found by George- Signaller EV Gaskell 179481 of 332 Siege Bty RGA who was gassed Sept 1918. At that point he had 13 mths service and 8 with the field force.

 

Charlie

[George Rayner]

The census EV is the family I had settled on until proven otherwise Vernon being a relatively uncommon name

 

George