Missing Medal Index Card?

[verdun]

 

I cannot find the MIC belonging to this soldier on 'Ancestry', who is clearly entitled to at least the BWM & VM. I am not asking to have his card downloaded, but if anyone is able to locate it and can tell me how to search for it, that would be most appreciated. Many thanks if you can help!

[DavidOwen]

If I recall there are issues with the Bs in MICs on Ancestry...

 

It is available on FMP and at TNA.

[helpjpl]

Medal and Award Roll for Maurice John Barrett can be viewed on ancestry and also shows theatre of war and date:

https://www.ancestry.co.uk/interactive/5119/41629_636897_11189-00131?pid=786338&backurl=https://search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/sse.dll?dbid%3D5119%26h%3D786338%26indiv%3Dtry%26o_vc%3DRecord:OtherRecord%26rhSource%3D1543&treeid=&personid=&hintid=&usePUB=true&usePUBJs=true&_ga=2.128363084.112421134.1573917620-25128224.1573917620

 

JP

[verdun]

1 minute ago, helpjpl said:

Medal and Award Roll for Maurice John Barrett can be viewed on ancestry and also shows theatre of war and date:

https://www.ancestry.co.uk/interactive/5119/41629_636897_11189-00131?pid=786338&backurl=https://search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/sse.dll?dbid%3D5119%26h%3D786338%26indiv%3Dtry%26o_vc%3DRecord:OtherRecord%26rhSource%3D1543&treeid=&personid=&hintid=&usePUB=true&usePUBJs=true&_ga=2.128363084.112421134.1573917620-25128224.1573917620

 

JP

Many thanks for the helpful replies (I have already looked at the medal rolls, but also wanted to see his MIC)  - I'll now go to TNA

[verdun]

Have just checked the Red Cross POW site https://grandeguerre.icrc.org/en/File/Search#/3/2/224/0/British and Commonwealth/Military/barrett maurice

 

They definitely have him as a POW. The CWGC have his date of death as 19th August 1917, but the medal rolls and the register of soldiers effects both state 16th August. I'm guessing the three-day interlude is the period between 'presumed dead' and death later confirmed on by the Red Cross, by which time he had been taken prisoner, presumably fatally wounded?

[sadbrewer]

5 minutes ago, verdun said:

Have just checked the Red Cross POW site https://grandeguerre.icrc.org/en/File/Search#/3/2/224/0/British and Commonwealth/Military/barrett maurice

 

They definitely have him as a POW. The CWGC have his date of death as 19th August 1917, but the medal rolls and the register of soldiers effects both state 16th August. I'm guessing the three-day interlude is the period between 'presumed dead' and death later confirmed on by the Red Cross, by which time he had been taken prisoner, presumably fatally wounded?

 

He was in the casualty list of the 9th of October 1917, as missing.

 

 

[verdun]

This is very helpful - if poss, can you tell me where the list was published?

[PRC]

1 hour ago, verdun said:

I am not asking to have his card downloaded, but if anyone is able to locate it and can tell me how to search for it, that would be most appreciated.

 

As a general method, if I can't find it on a straight Military Records search on Ancestry, I first check how it is indexed on the National Archive site and also use the preview to see if there is any potential for a different indexing on Ancestry - did the soldier have a 1914 Star or 1914/15 that led to the card being created with initials only, was the surname corrected, (Barratt to Barrett) or any quirk of handwriting that in this instance might make the first name look like Mowrice.

 

Having satisfied myself that he is on the Card as Maurice J Barrett, London (Regiment) with service numbers 5147 and 592587 I'll go back to Ancestry and put in a straight search in the Military records query but then filter it down through "Awards and Decorations of Honor" and then "British Army WW1 Medal Rolls Index Cards, 1914-1920".

 

This will give you a very different looking screen and you'll start to see why your searches fail to readily bring up the MIC's you are looking for. As well as using the literal spellings on the card ("R Fus" "Ldn" "Conn. Rang") that have been corrected on the National Archive, there are mispellings and the most common - artificial gaps in the service number, usually before the last digit, and missed letters from the start of words. ("ondon" "rmy").

 

However with the results laid out like this it's possible to scan down the list quite quickly to spot the likely candidate - except in this case there doesn't appear to be one.

 

As a secondary check while in the same search, I remove the regiment and service number, and then use the view to bring up a card for any Maurice Barrett. Using the onscreen arrows you can then scroll back and forth - but while there are several M Barretts filed out of order, (mainly Ma* Barretts), none is a match for the card you are after.

 

So it may be there but it seems to be well and truely misfiled and mis-transcribed.

 

If not now then I hope that helps on another occasion.

 

Cheers,

Peter

 

Peter

[verdun]

Many thanks, indeed!

[rolt968]

I have checked thegenealogist.co.uk which has copies of the MIC as they appear on The National Archives microfilm. Th MIC is there under Maurice J Barrett (surname in block caps.), 18 Lond. R. Pte. 5147, 592587.

 

I have tried combinations of that in the ancestry search engine - nothing. It seems to be one of the MICs missing from the ancestry set.

 

There is nothing on the card except the references to the Medal Roll for the Victory and British War Medals.

 

RM

[verdun]

Many thanks indeed for this helpful information!

[Retlaw]

17 hours ago, rolt968 said:

I have checked thegenealogist.co.uk which has copies of the MIC as they appear on The National Archives microfilm. Th MIC is there under Maurice J Barrett (surname in block caps.), 18 Lond. R. Pte. 5147, 592587.

 

I have tried combinations of that in the ancestry search engine - nothing. It seems to be one of the MICs missing from the ancestry set.

 

There is nothing on the card except the references to the Medal Roll for the Victory and British War Medals.

 

RM

There ar hundreds of cards missed by Ancestry, which are shown in the National Archives. there were also many stolen when the cards were in those filing cabinets at Kew.