2nd Welsh -When and where?

[paul.pengelly]

Looking for some help with a Great uncle Frank Pengelly 34117 2nd Welsh,the bits of his service file that remain are badly faded or hard to read.,what does that say his Unit was on the Certificate of Identity 28 day furlough ( date stamp faded away)

 

 

 

 

[jay dubaya]

Could be A & B (IBD) Infantry Base Depot Company - can’t quite make out what follows that though

[jay dubaya]

Looks like a Fovant stamp and looking at the rest of the file I note he was home between 6th April 1919 and 5th May 1919

[kenf48]

I agree, the answer lies in the Medal Rolls which show that at various time he was attached to the 1st Division Laundry at the IBD (remarks column).

 

I think the last word is 'Depot' (cf capital D with entry in Pay Office).  It is an "or" 2nd Welsh Regt.  

 

So when discharged he was attached to the laundry at the IBD, not stated but probably Etaples.

 

 

Ken

[paul.pengelly]

That’s great thank you both ,couldn’t make head nor tales of that ,and would have had no idea what it meant either.

Would this form have been issued if he was returning to the UK to be demobbed (rather than on leave) which he was 5th May 1919

 

On one of the few pages of his record that survive it says “reported injured 13/10 /...(year is missing )France”

Is there anything that points to what year he was injured,he was posted 2/10/15 so he would have arrived in time to take part in  Battle of Loos .

 

Family legend has it that he suffered an head injury and had amnesia ,not regaining his memory until he was recognised in hospital in London by somebody from the same village who then was able to jog his memories to the point he remembered it.

Wonderful story but who knows how much if any of it is true,he was also supposed to have been a dispatch rider, a bit different to him working in the laundry, but who knows?

[kenf48]

If you magnify the Dispersal Stamp you can make out  ‘6’ (or ‘8’) April 1919, you will also note he is granted 28 days furlough from the date stamped.  There is another stamp dated 16 April,but it is definitely April on the posted Protection Certificate.

 

I can’t read the date definitively either though I ‘d guess 1916, it sometimes works if you reverse the image in a photo editing app.  The war diary is not much help, in 1915 they were on the move, in each of the following years they were training, however in 1916 on the 10th there was an accident at the Bombing School where one man was killed.

 

Ken

[paul.pengelly]

Thanks for that Ken.

Is it possible that he was injured let’s say October 13 1915/16/17 in some capacity and is then medically downgraded from front line service into Base Depot Laundry/Baths section where he is in 1918/19.

He was 19 year old Coal Miner when he joined up so I would have thought he would have been fitter than a lot of the other recruits.

 

 

Funny that there is no mention of any hospitalisation,or transfer to the Base Depot on his service record ,possibly it was on there but got  washed / faded away .

 

[kenf48]

The Medical Category shown on the Army Form. E.11 above was A1 so his fitness does not appear to be an issue, however elsewhere on the records they show he received a pension for ‘cardiac enlargement’.  The Medal Rolls indicate two attachments to the laundry, all the men around him appear to be on ‘Base Details ‘.  Unfortunately his record is by no means complete and some significant documents are missing.

 

 

 

Ken

[paul.pengelly]

Thanks again Ken  for finding all this out for me.

Certainly puts a new complexion of what we know about him,his step daughter said he was “a wonderful man ,big hearted...” turns out to truer than she knew !

Looks like that is as much as we are going to find out about him,unless he turns up on a casualty list,or somebody returns the favour and finds a wrongly filed service record sheet ,like I did amongst his records,part of medical record of  11607 John Connors  also 2nd Welsh.