Charles George White, S/6712: suggestions for lateral thinking, please.

[rolt968]

Charles George White, S/6712 (then Pte.) went to France to join 11 A & SH on 4 October 1915.

He was killed in action on 19 September 1918 on Sugar Loaf Hill, Salonika (Third Battle of Doiran?) as a corporal serving with 12 A & SH.

 

He had been wounded and presumably was posted to 12 A & SH when he had recovered.

 

Unfortunately from the researcher's point of view he was wounded twice:

On 4 September 1916 (in the thigh) - admitted to 34 CCS and evacuated on 19 Ambulance Train the following day. Reported in the Daily Casualty list on 5 October 1916.

He was wounded again possibly in December 1916/January 1917 as it was reported in the Daily Casualty List of 12 February 1917.

 

I can't think of any way of discovering in which battalion he was serving when he was wounded at the end of 1916. Only 11 and 12 battalions are mentioned in the Medal Roll so it must be one of them. I have looked at 11 battalion's war diary - no names of OR casualties. 12 battalion's war diary is only available at TNA, so that's out. Nothing in the local newspapers - not even his death. He made a soldier's will on 16 October 1916, but it says neither where he was nor in which battalion he was serving.

 

This is where the lateral thinking comes in. Can anyone suggest where I look next?

RM

[PPCLI]

Hi,

 

Re lateral thinking - many years spent analysing these wounded lists have thrown up lots of patterns. Of course, not all these observations are watertight but, in general, they can be quite useful in cases such as this where you have little else to work with.

 

Quite often, when it is only a small number of men from a regiment on the list, they often have been sent in as a group from one battalion. In your case, Charles White was one of only three men listed from the Argylls:

 

M'Pherson, 4569, D. (Cardross)

Steele, 4577, J. (Perth)

White, 6712, C. (Kirriemuir)

 

Of course, you know that Charles served with the 11th then 12th Bns, so medal roll shows:

 

S/6712 Cpl White, Charles S/6712 11/A&SHrs 12/A&SHrs

 

The other two men's entries are below:

 

S/4569 Pte McPherson, Duncan S/4569 12/A&SHrs

S/4577 Pte Steele, James S/4577 12/A&SHrs 10/A&SHrs

 

The common theme is service with the 12th Bn, so although not concrete evidence, it tends towards Charles being with the 12th A&SH when wounded abt January 1917. Perhaps the 12th Bn war diary will show some activity at that time (once you can get access to it). Perhaps a Salonika aficionado will already have a copy that they can look up for you.

 

Cheers,

Stuart

[TEW]

The record that shows admitted 34 CCS, Evacuated 19 Ambulance Train sounds like it has come from an A/D Book in MH106? The originals I've seen give a battalion, perhaps Forces War Records version does not.

Originals available on find my past.

 

NB. Had to check and FMP have the 34 CCS record, should have his battalion.

 

TEW

[TEW]

And the other clue is that 12/A&S were not in France at the time which is why the diary is not a download.

TEW

[Skipman]

Is this not him? Click

 

Mike

[SteveE]

10 minutes ago, TEW said:

NB. Had to check and FMP have the 34 CCS record, should have his battalion.

Both 1916 and 1917 entries are available on FMP.... 1916 shows wounded whilst with 11th A&S Highlanders and 1917 whilst with 12th A&S Highlanders.

 

Steve

[PPCLI]

Hi Mike,

 

It's been a long time! You are correct, his file is online. It gives all dates - postings and woundings. At least it shows my lateral thinking was on the mark.

 

Cheers,

Stuart

[rolt968]

Thank you all very much.

 

I can't think how I missed the soldier's record. (Slight excuse; I am writing up research which was done a while ago - but still does not explain missing things in FMP which I did check.)

 

RM

[Skipman]

55 minutes ago, PPCLI said:

Hi Mike,

 

It's been a long time! You are correct, his file is online. It gives all dates - postings and woundings. At least it shows my lateral thinking was on the mark.

 

Cheers,

Stuart

 

Good to see you on the Forum Stuart. Occasionally my haphazard hits the bullseye.

 

Mike

[Skipman]

1 minute ago, rolt968 said:

Thank you all very much.

 

I can't think how I missed the soldier's record. (Slight excuse; I am writing up research which was done a while ago - but still does not explain missing things in FMP which I did check.)

 

RM

 

I find Ancestry pretty useful now they have added a "Exact" box to tick. I usually omit the "S/" and add the 4 digit number, which is exactly what I did in this case and there it was.

 

Mike