James Sydney PAUL

[Perth Digger]

I'm seeking help in trying to make sense of details in the Service Record of Private James Stanley Paul. He was reported missing on 21 March 1918 but subsequently 3rd Echelon reported him as KIA on 29 May 1918. I presume that he was a straggler on 21 March who returned to his unit after the casualty returns had been sent to Base and was subsequently killed on 29 May. I have access to the British newspaper collection but have been unable to find him in the WO Casualty Lists either as missing in March or KIA in May. I am interested in Paul because as late as 1926 his mother believed he was still alive, but if the details in his SR are correct, the family must have been told that he was definitely dead (even though he is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial).

 

Thanks

 

Mike

[helpjpl]

1 hour ago, Perth Digger said:

 I am interested in Paul because as late as 1926 his mother believed he was still alive, but if the details in his SR are correct, the family must have been told that he was definitely dead (even though he is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial).

 

 

James Sydney Paul's mother - Margaret Paul of 12 Shepherd Street - knew that he was dead in 1918. See her response to letters and photos sent to her on 13 September 1918 (ancestry):

JP

 

[Perth Digger]

Thanks, JP. Yes, I'd seen that, but there is a difference between acknowledging and accepting her son's death. I wonder whether her note written on the side might suggest that she still thought he was around somewhere, still with his cigarette case and his good leather belt. She also unsuccessfully applied for a pension. In 1926 Mrs Paul went to Rotterdam hoping to find her son. There's quite a lot in the local newspapers of 1926. If he was reported in the casualty lists in 1918, however, I can't find him.

 

Mike

Edited 1 August , 2019 by Perth Digger
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