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Remembered Today:

Meaning of Acronyms in 1916-04-12 Commonwealth War Graves Registers for David MURISON


Gary_G

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I have front and back images from the Commonwealth War Graves Registers for David MURISON who died on 12 April 1916.

I need some help in deciphering the handwritten acronyms on the pages and then with understanding the purpose/meanings of the related documents.

That information would help me construct a timeline for the events and tie them to his father (David) and his brother (Thomas Baird).

 

Here is the reference to the pages I downloaded from the Library and Archives Canada and which I've attached to this message:

 

"Commonwealth War Graves Registers, First World War," browsable images, Library and Archives Canada (LAC) (http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/mass-digitized-archives/commonwealth-war-graves-registers: downloaded 20 July 2019) > vol. 31830_B016621 (Muirhead to Myson), image


397 & 398, burial registration, Private David Murison (Service Number 434298), died 12 April 1916, No. 10. C.C.S. [Casualty Clearing Station]; citing LAC ref. RG150, 1992-93/314, 98.

1916-04-12 Burial, Commonwealth War Graves Registers (p. 397) - MURISON, David.jpg

1916-04-12 Burial, Commonwealth War Graves Registers (p. 398) - MURISON, David.jpg

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Almost without exception, the hand written hieroglyphics are reference to administrative documents of the time that have long since disappeared.

 

GSW is gun shot wound

 

Underneath Poperinghe is the map reference of the cemetery (starts Sh (sheet) 27...)

 

P 6 etc is the grave location Plot VI, Row B Grave 10

 

There are two references that begin IWGC which is Imperial War Graves Commission, the early name for the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.  The 1921 detail would refer to the forms sent to the family on 25 May 1921 and returned (perhaps) 23 July 1921 relating to the headstone.

 

Not sure how you are relating this to his relatives?

 

Max

 

 

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"MaxD": I'm writing a detailed family history for my grandfathers family, because my brother and I want to know more about them. I have the military and non-military records for David Murison's brothers (who were all in the service) and for his parents and sister Mary Gary Murison. On the sheet back, you'll see that a document was sent to David Murison (father) and returned. It was then sent to his brother Thomas Baird and, presumably, delivered. Knowing more about the document(s) helps me understand their importance and possibly find them in my grandfathers (David's brothers) effects. The address and dates help me resolve timeline disconnects/questions. (Actually; I'd love to discover how they even got the revised address, because someone had to have provided it.)

 

For instance; with regards to the timeline...

  • David Murison, the father, died in February 1919 and the family home was sold, so the document being returned from the Torwood House address is not surprising. Thomas Baird Murison, the brother, was married in 1921 and moved to Canada with my grandmother. He could only have received a document addressed to him in Scotland, if a relative forwarded it. So, I need to find out who lived at the noted address, because by that time most close relatives in Scotland had died or emigrated.

Can you tell me the plaintext name of the form (following the Imperial War Graves Commission abbrev.) that was sent and returned as well as what the notation at the top of the page back  means? The abbreviation after I.W.G.C. looks like, "H.I. & C.R." [Forms]. The one at the top of that page looks like, "I.W.G.C. H.I. & C.R. dep 23-7-21". If they refer to the same forms, the dates don't match. Maybe the page top is the date the original mailing was returned?

 

If there is somewhere to read about those documents, that would help too.

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Understood

 

The CWGC glossary has the answer to the form  https://www.cwgc.org/find/find-war-dead-and-cemeteries/glossary - right at the bottom.

 

My suggestion would be that in order to be sure about what each of the dates represents, you should consider asking the CWGC themselves.

 

My interpretation is that on 23 May 1921 form HGL Cemetery Register was sent to the Saltcoats address and returned on 23 July 1921 (speculation - with an advice of the other address or "gone away") and then on Feb 4 1925 sent to the Monteith address. 

 

Max

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"MaxD": Thank you! I'll contact them with specific questions, but the Glossary explained several of the abbreviations, like:

 

"D.G.R.E.- Directorate of Graves Registration and Enquiries, a British Army department under Fabian Ware, responsible for preserving records of burials and providing the means for graves to be marked and identified. Much of the DGRE's work and records formed the basis for the CWGC's efforts to record and maintain war graves in perpetuity."

"C.R.- Comprehensive Report, another name for a Graves Registration Report."

 

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Just realized that there was one thing that I should have asked about in addition to the acronyms...

 

In the images previously uploaded, the "DATE OF DEATH" is given as "12.4.16."
However; the "DATE OF BURIAL" is not given, but has a pencilled "X" beside it.
Does this mean that he was buried the same day or does it have another meaning?

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Flicking though the documents before and after the one of interest, unless it is a form for an unconfirmed burial report, that heading always has an X and you have to go forward to to 531 and back to 459 before there is  a date of burial - and those both have an x.  

 

It may be that it has no more significance than the tick against the cemetery name, in any event,  I would suggest your guess is as good as mine or anyone else's.  

 

Max

 

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Thanks, Max. I'm still unfamiliar with interpreting some of the Service Records, so I thought I'd best ask.

It seems odd that a grave register wouldn't have an explicit burial date, but it is what it is.

 

Gary

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Gary

 

I think you have to go to the beginning of the process and consider whether there was a specific requirement placed on units to record the date of burial.  The designer of the Canadian forms would have thought it a good idea to include the date of burial but if there was no requirement for the unit carrying out the burial to record it then it wouldn't appear on the CWGC forms and indeed those forms don't include a section for it anyway.https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/432706/murison,-/#&gid=null&pid=1 - example for your man.

 

This may be of interest:.

https://www.greatwarforum.org/topic/269284-burial-instructions/  You'll note that, in this case,  the officer in charge of the burial part does date the report but as it passes up the chain who knows what happens to all the detail.

 

 

Max

 

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Gary

 

Just to close a possibility down - the 10 CCS War Diary (WO95/342) did not record names of casualties/burials. A few did but most didn't. They did after all have to complete an Admissions and Discharge Register, most of which haven't survived, 10 CCSs didn't.

 

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Thanks, Max. If the officer in charge of the burial party had to date the forms. The only way to get an answer to the burial date would be to see the forms or be lucky enough to have it mentioned in the governing War Diary. I somehow doubt I'll find that. As "sotonmate" mentions, the C.C.S. War Diary didn't record the names, so if the officer was attached to the C.C.S., it's a non-starter.

 

Thanks "sotonmate". It's good to know that I shouldn't bother looking through the War Diary noted.

 

It would have been nice to check off all the blanks about his death and burial. But; I'm actually pretty happy at having found all that I have so far. I even found mention of David being shot in the War Diaries (I understand rare for enlisted men), so I know when and where he sustained the fatal injury, plus (from his service records) I have where and when he died (right down to it being 8:20 am on 12 April 1916 at C.C.S. 10).

(Just a bit of a side-note. Oral history says that his brother Thomas Baird Murison was called back from the front to see him before he died. I believe he was in the general area. However; It's a nice story, but I've never seen anything that supports it.)

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I have where and when he died (right down to it being 8:20 am on 12 April 1916 at C.C.S. 10).

 

As he died at a medical post in the morning ,I would suggest that he was buried same day.  Space at the unit would probably have been at a premium. if hehad died after dark then bodies were probably buried next day.

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  • 2 years later...

Hi. I know it's a bit random and a bit behind this thread but for Gary's info I have lived for the last 27 years at Torwood, 18 Sorbie Road, Saltcoats, (now Ardrossan as town boundaries were re-aligned). Had known of the Murison connection from the old house title deeds and had worked out that he lived in Canada and had almost certainly been in hospital at some point during WW1. 

Just  about to sell the house and had always meant to research the connection  but didn't have the 'tech' back then.

Short history -  house was built for Thomas Baird Murison's maternal grandfather Thomas Baird who was a 'Shipping butcher' in Ardrossan  about 1898 (I reckon). It was occupied by his parents David Murison  & Jessie Cousland Baird or Murison and then was transferred to TBM in 1911 when he was then with the CPR Construction Dept. at Macklin , Saskatchewan.

Anyway that's the info out there in the ether now. If you want any other info about the property let me know 

Best regards

 

David

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