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KRRC


Paul Heath

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Hi,  Could someone please advise where I could find information on my Grandfather Rfn Heath A J KRRC 1914-18.

 

Paul Heath

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Welcome to the Forum ,Paul.

 

The 'where' is here !

 

A Heath is not an uncommon name so can you give as a bit more info such as when and where he was born ? Do you have anything about his Army time ?

 

Charlie

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hi Charlie, the info i have is as follows

 

enlisted  29/8/14

 

discharged 17/10/18

 

Regt No 3437  Rank Rfn

 

Many thanks

Paul

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Hi Paul and welcome to the Forum

 

You may not be aware but a good 60% of the army service records were destroyed in the bliz and much of what is left is fire damaged. I've tried looking therefore at the KRRC Service Medal Records and there is a Private Alfred J. Heath, regimental number A3437, who first landed in France in May 1915 and who looks to have been medically discharged at some point. That A prefix would normally indicate an Army Reservist or a Time-expired man.

https://armyservicenumbers.blogspot.com/2009/06/kings-royal-rifle-corps-regular.html

 

It may be your grandfather but we'd need a bit more information from the family side - there are many other A and J. Heaths' serving with that regiment and not all those who enlisted used all their forenames or even used them in the right order :)

 

Cheers,

Peter

 

Edit - cross posted :-)

Edited by PRC
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Paul,

As a starter try the 'long long trail'  linked above. Its a wealth of information for both researching individuals and the units they were part of. Good luck with your research

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Paul, I see you have provided details from the Silver War Badge Roll for Alfred J Heath.  Just to avoid us going off on a wrong road, are you quite sure this is your grandfather A Heath ? Where did you get the service number from, eg medals ?

 

Charlie

 

PS I see that 3437 Alfred Heath of the D Company 13th Bn KRRC was admitted to the 19th Casualty Clearing Station on 26/8/18 with a 'slight' headwound. Even classed as 'slight' it is probably what precipitated his early discharge.

 

Just as an example of what we might stumble upon, but we do need to be sure we have the correct A Heath !

 

When and where was your grandfather born ?

Edited by charlie962
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Hi, I carried out some research a few years ago where I must have found his army number. At the moment I am trying to trace his medals through the family.

Paul

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3437 Rifleman Heath was 39  years old when he was admitted to hospital with a gun shot wound in August 1918. Does this conform with your Grandfather's DOB? 

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8 minutes ago, ajsmith said:

3437 Rifleman Heath was 39  years old when he was admitted to hospital with a gun shot wound in August 1918. Does this conform with your Grandfather's DOB? 

The problem with that is it is an incorrect age!

This 3437 Alfred was born 1881/2 per the Census 1911 and the Pension Card . (1880 per tree below ?)

 

We need you, Paul, to give us some family info please.

 

Charlie

 

There's a good tree here on Ancestry. Perhaps Paul recognises it ?

Edited by charlie962
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Hi Charlie,

Yes this is my tree on Ancestry. Alfred John Heath born February 1880 in Aston Birmingham.  Father Alfred Heath and mother Ellen (Hills).

 

Paul

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4 hours ago, Paul Heath said:

Yes this is my tree on Ancestry.

Excellent. There are several A Heaths in the KRRC but there is a Pension Card which shows that A/3437 Alfred John Heath KRRC has as his address the same that appears on 1911 Census and matches that family tree.

 

There is no obvious surviving service record for him but there are some other documents that can help fill in some gaps. If you don't have subscriptions to Ancestry or FindmyPast your local library may help (if they are open)? Otherwise you can take a free trial to either of them, I think.

 

You have seen the Silver War Badge Record so you already know he

      enlisted  29/8/14

 was  discharged 17/10/18

 

The Medal Roll for the 14/15 Star on Ancestry here tells us he first entered France 18/5/15. That date coincides with the arrival of the 7th Battalion KRRC.

There is a brief summary here on the Long Long Trail.

 

The Medal Roll for the British War Medal And Victory Medal here on Ancestry shows that he served overseas first with the 7th KRRC then the 10th KRRC. The resaon for him changing battalion could be a long absence for injury, sickness or just a simple transfer as the Battalions needed.

 

The LongLongTrail (link as above) tells us the 7th Bn was reduced to Cadre strength 25/4/18 and that the 10th bn was disbanded 5/2/18 so that needs to be taken into account when looking at potential transfer dates.

 

As already mentioned above, there is a Hospital Admissions record here on FindmyPast (and probably ForcesWarRecords) that tells us:

3437 Alfred Heath of the D Company 13th Bn KRRC was admitted to the 19th Casualty Clearing Station on 26/8/18 with a 'slight' headwound.  It also tells us he was transferred to 4th General Hospital 27/8 and then Hospital ship for England on 30/8/18.

So it would seem that after 10th Bn he finished in France with 13th Bn, D Company until he was wounded near the end of the war.

 

Because of his injuries he was discharged early and was also entitled for a while to a pension. There is a Pension Card here on Ancestry's Fold3 (sourced from documents saved by the WesternFrontAssociation) that confirms his address in Saltley, Birmingham but also says the reason he received a pension was because he was 'gassed'.

 

So, quite a few useful points of detail.

 

Peter mentioned above that Heath's service number might suggest he was an Army Reservist or time expired soldier. That needs exploring and maybe a KRRC expert can help ?

 

What all this should enable you to do is look for the War Diaries for those Battalions -which at the moment are free to download from National Archives if you register, but are also on Ancestry. I'll look up some links if another forum member hasn't already got them to hand ? You might find clues as to when he was transferred but you should certainly gain a good understanding of the environment he fought in. Note that other ranks are not usually mentioned by name in a War Diary.

 

Another source of general Battalion action is the KRRC Chronicles which have been scannned by FindmyPast.

 

I note also there are some other members of D company 13th KRRC on the same Hospital Admissions ledger as Heath. Perhaps one of them has a service record that has survived and may just give clues.

 

So there is plenty for you to be going on with. There are some particular experts on KRRC on this forum and they should be able to help you with more detail and interpretation.

 

Charlie

 

 

Edited by charlie962
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Good Afternoon Charlie,

Thank you very much for all your efforts and information. As you say plenty for me to be going on with. Very much appreciated.

Paul

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paul,

A couple of additional notes.

The 10th Bn, disbanded in Feb 1918 (along with many others in a general Army restructuring of unit composition, sent its men to the 11th and 12th Bns KRRC. I suggest this is when he moved to 11th Bn. From the note in the War Diary that would imply that during his time in the 10th Bn he was in either A or B Company.

 

Knowing which company is rare and is very useful when following actions in War Diaries.

 

War Diaries

For 10th and 11th Bns (both in same 59th Brigade, 20th Light Division, are on Ancestry here

At the end of the 11th Bn diary there are a lot of detailed casualty lists although they may just be for 1917. Anyway worth trawling through all the pages, you never know.

 

Charlie

 

 

Edited by charlie962
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The Birmingham papers of 18/10/1916 report AJ Heath 3437 of the KRRC was wounded. Actual wounding would be perhaps a month earlier. If the wounding was serious enough for him to be evacuated to UK, struck off strength of 7th Bn and posted to Depot then when he recovered he could well have been posted to a different Battalion- eg the 10th Bn.  Have a look at 7th Bn War Diary for mid Sept 1916. For the 2 days 15th/16th Sept it looks like 7th Bn suffered 181 wounded.

 

War Diary 7th Bn here on Ancestry

 

Do please keep us posted on what you find out.

 

Charlie

Edited by charlie962
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Dare I ask   -   how come you were Paul Heath 24 hours ago, and you are now Sandra :rolleyes:

 

BillyH.

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4 hours ago, Sandramheath said:

Hello Charlie, thank you for all the information. I will certainly update you on my findings. 

 

Paul

Must be hard to have a wife named Paul as well!

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