Record of hospital ships that sailed directly to Ireland

[witherbeaten]

anyone in the Forum who can help me trace Tomas Lynch,Royal Munster Fusiliers, No 6619, 2nd. Brigade,C Company, wounded about the 8th. September. 1916 at the Somme in the vicinity of Bazentin- le-grand. I believe that C Company were attached to the 1ST. South Wales Borderers. On the 5th. Sept. 1916 the 2nd. Battalion moved to relieve 2 other Battailons to hold the line. There was an attack due on High Wood on the 9th. Sept..The 1ST. South Wales Borderers sustained heavy casualties from shellfire. I believe Thomas was part of "C" company,R.M.F. attached to the Welsh Brigade. It is feasible that he was moved back to Flat Iron Copse but I would love to know the route he took to the coast and if possible what port he sailed from and to where? Was it directly from Etaples or Boulogne. Does anyone know what hospital ships sailed from that area in Sept. '16.Some ships did sail,I believe directly to Ireland when British hospitals were overloaded. I do know he had his leg amputated. Don't know where. Probably in Dublin. He got Gangrene and was fitted with an artificial leg, most likely in The Princess Patricia Hospital in Bray,Co. Wicklow. I know it is a shot in the dark but I only have the above info. thanks to Chris Baker. Would appreciate any leads as to the Casualty Clearing Station he went through and where he embarked from for home.

Many thanks.

[helpjpl]

 

1.  6619 T Lynch, Royal Munster Fusiliers, County Limerick Hospital:

https://search.findmypast.co.uk/search/irish-newspapers?date=1916-10-09&date_offsetdate=1916-10-09&lastname=6619&exactnames=true&exactkeywords=false

 

2.  3/6619 Thomas Lynch, Royal Munster Fusiliers, awarded Silver War Badge No. 141,034 on 24 February 1917. Discharged (Wounds) 13 March 1917.

 

JP

Edited 4 March , 2020 by helpjpl

[PRC]

52 minutes ago, witherbeaten said:

Tomas Lynch,Royal Munster Fusiliers, No 6619, 2nd. Brigade,C Company, wounded about the 8th. September. 1916

 Just to clarify - you are enquiring about Private 6619 Thomas Lynch who served with the 2nd Battalion Royal Munster Fusiliers?

 

If so the 1st Battalion South Wales Borders and the 2nd Battalion Royal Munster Fusiliers were part of the 3rd Brigade, 1st Division and were involved in trying to clear the western half of High Wood in the period 8th & 9th September 1916. The 1st Gloucesters and the 2nd Welsh from the same Brigade took the lead on the 8th. It would be worthwhile checking out the War Diary for either unit or that of the Brigade to see if the appendices include details of the medical facilities to be used.

 

Field Ambulances attached to the Division at that point were the 1st, 2nd and 142nd. The latter is the one most likely to be loosely affilated with the 3rd Brigade, but the needs of war makes the arrangement flexible.

 

See the Long, Long Trail for the make-up of the 1st Division. http://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/army/order-of-battle-of-divisions/1st-division/

Brief details of the involvement of the 1st Division on the 8th & 9th September 1916 here:

https://forum.irishmilitaryonline.com/showthread.php?9058-The-Somme-Day-by-Day/page4

If you subscribe to Ancestry then you should be able to see all the relevant war diaries for all the units mentioned - although note those for Field Ambulances don't usually include names of patients treated. However they may well indicate the next step in the medical evacuation route. A selection of admissions and discharge books for medical facilities in France, Flanders & the UK have been preserved at the National Archive, but those are only viewable on FindMyPast.

 

If you don't subscribe to Ancestry then individual unit war diaries can be downloaded from the (UK) National Archive at £3.50 a pop. The periods covered varied - those for the Brigade (which includes a copy of the War Diary for all the sub-units that made up the Brigade), tend to be a much shorter period, but have the bonus of normally being typed up and retaining all the appendices and maps that may have gone missing from the Battalion War Diary. I believe the relevant part of the 3rd Brigade War Diary would be this one if you need to download it:-

https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C14052728

It covers from the 1st July 1916 to the 30th September 1916.

 

Hope that helps,

Peter