David Earley Posted 15 November , 2019 Share Posted 15 November , 2019 (edited) I am currently researching Captain Gillies MacKirdy of the Bedfordshire Regiment who was killed in the Battle of the Ancre on 11 February 1917. He enlisted as a private in the West Kent Yeomanry in August 1914 and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Bedfordshire Regiment in August 1915. On 20 October 1915, he was attached to the West African Frontier Force. See Gazette: The MIC shows that he went to Nigeria on 6 November 1915. From his file at TNA ( WO 339/37562) the next event that I can trace is a medical report dated 20 June 1916 from Zungeru hospital in Nigeria, when he was presenting with symptoms of malaria, having previously been under treatment at Kaduna hospital "for some considerable time". He was then invalided out of Nigeria to England and after recovering joined his regiment in France in December 1916, and was killed three months later. An obituary in his local paper refers to him as having "served in the Cameroons". Is there any source that can indicate what action, if any, he saw in Nigeria. Did the West African Frontier Force maintain a War Diary or similar? Is there any online source that can give me an idea of the role of the West African Frontier Force and its engagements. As always, I am extremely grateful for the vast amounts of time that members of the forum are prepared to give up, and the tremendous knowledge that they have. David Edited 15 November , 2019 by David Earley typo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sotonmate Posted 15 November , 2019 Share Posted 15 November , 2019 David There are eight digital War Diaries covering 4 Battalions of the Nigeria Regiment in Cameroons at Kew in the Discovery database. The ref is WO95/5387/1 through to /8. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaureenE Posted 16 November , 2019 Share Posted 16 November , 2019 You could look at the online The History of the Royal West African Frontier Force by Colonel A. Haywood and Brigadier F.A.S.Clarke. 1964. https://web.archive.org/web/20181011062612/http://lib.militaryarchive.co.uk/library/Miscellaneous-Volumes/library/The-History-of-the-Royal-West-African-Frontier-Force/ or if that link won't work try http://lib.militaryarchive.co.uk/library/Miscellaneous-Volumes/library/The-History-of-the-Royal-West-African-Frontier-Force/files/assets/basic-html/toc.html transcribed version Cheers Maureen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Earley Posted 16 November , 2019 Author Share Posted 16 November , 2019 Thanks to you both for your input. I have downloaded the only one of the files from WO 95/5387 that may have been relevant, WO 95/5387/4 for the 1st Nigeria Regt, which covers the period that MacKirdy was in Nigeria, but he is not mentioned. It regularly mentions other officers coming on strength and has a full roll-call in February 1916, in neither of which he is mentioned. Pity, but thanks anyhow. The History of the Royal West African Frontier Force helps me understand what was going on out there. As the "invasion" of Cameroon was over by February 1916, it is unlikely that MacKirdy saw much fighting before he was taken ill. Cheers David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Earley Posted 16 November , 2019 Author Share Posted 16 November , 2019 (edited) Incidentally, what does the entry on the MIC in the box for "Theatre of War First Served In" indicate. This appears to say 4c. Edited 16 November , 2019 by David Earley add image Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corisande Posted 16 November , 2019 Share Posted 16 November , 2019 21 minutes ago, David Earley said: Incidentally, what does the entry on the MIC in the box for "Theatre of War First Served In" indicate. This appears to say 4c. See LLT 4c = Cameroon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corisande Posted 16 November , 2019 Share Posted 16 November , 2019 (edited) Have a look at http://www.kaiserscross.com/188001/300143.html Written by Bushfighter who is a member of the forum Edited 16 November , 2019 by corisande Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Earley Posted 16 November , 2019 Author Share Posted 16 November , 2019 Thanks again Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sadbrewer Posted 16 November , 2019 Share Posted 16 November , 2019 From The Broad Arrow, March 14th 1917...courtesy of the British Newspaper Archive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Earley Posted 16 November , 2019 Author Share Posted 16 November , 2019 Thanks for that. I have scoured the BNA but didn't find that one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sadbrewer Posted 16 November , 2019 Share Posted 16 November , 2019 30 minutes ago, David Earley said: Thanks for that. I have scoured the BNA but didn't find that one. It's strange but I'm convinced there is a lot more in the BNA to be found...I've no idea how algorithms and optical character recognition work but I've noticed I've occasionally found records on my phone that the identical search on PC hasn't thrown up...also I've done searches for the next soldier in the list and for some reason... although he's there in the newspaper the search doesn't find him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Earley Posted 18 November , 2019 Author Share Posted 18 November , 2019 I have now posted a biography of Gilles MacKirdy to my website at http://www.sussexpeople.co.uk/captain-gillies-mackirdy/. Thanks to everyone for their input. David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now