John Hopwood

[jf21dm]

I have been told my grandfather John Hopwood was at Galipoli, but have no details.  I think he was invalided out to Egypt, with sandfly fever, but don't know if he took part in any action.  Any infrmation would be good.

[BillyH]

23 minutes ago, jf21dm said:

I have been told my grandfather John Hopwood was at Galipoli, but have no details. 

 

You could tell us where he lived and when he was born, that would be a good start.

 

BillyH.

[PRC]

51 minutes ago, jf21dm said:

I have been told my grandfather John Hopwood was at Galipoli, but have no details.  I think he was invalided out to Egypt, with sandfly fever, but don't know if he took part in any action.  Any infrmation would be good.

 

Hi and welcome to the forum.

 

Unfortunately according to the National Archive there are 45 matches for a John Hopwood who may have received medals for serving in a Theatre of War - men who were UK only would be additional to that. You may also not be aware but over 60% of other ranks records were destroyed during the blitz and much of what remains is singed and smoke or water damaged. To help us help you could you please share what you already believe you know about him, whether medals survive, (they will have a unit and service number on them) or if a picture of him in uniform survives as that can give clues as to which unit he was serving with.

 

Hope we can help,

Peter

 

[jf21dm]

Thank you for replying so promptly.  John Hopwood was born in Laindon,Essex in 1878, and enlisted in 1893 as a drummerboy, I was told.  He was discharged from the Welch Regiment after serving 21 years in Feb 1914, but signed up again later that year, this time in the Leicestershire Regiment. He was discharged as medically unfit in 1917.  He was an RSM, and musician for much of his time so I don't know how much he would have been in the thick of things.  His medals were just "Pip, Squeak and Wilfred".  I also found recently that he had been part of a military Masonic lodge.

                                                   Anything you find would be appreciated by my siblings and I.  Thank you, J 

[BillyH]

So, you could save us all a lot of trouble if you gave us the service number on the rim (or reverse) of his medals.

edit : according to the Long Long Trail no Battalions of the Leicestershire Regiment were ever involved at Gallipoli.

 

BillyH.

Edited 26 July , 2020 by BillyH

[sadbrewer]

He joined The Middlesex Regiment ( Duke of Cambridge's Own) in 1914.

Service record is on Ancestry.

 

https://search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=1114&h=465162&tid=&pid=&queryId=607589f3ea89d20f5fbc05cfa1f28e17&usePUB=true&_phsrc=ubi13581&_phstart=successSource

 

 

 

Edited 26 July , 2020 by sadbrewer

[Jrmh]

His MIC shows service with 2/3 Middx R first serving in Egyptian Theatre from 1-9-15.

[headgardener]

8 minutes ago, Jrmh said:

His MIC shows service with 2/3 Middx R first serving in Egyptian Theatre from 1-9-15.

 

2/8th surely? Gibraltar from Feb to Aug 15 then MEF (Egypt?) 

[Jrmh]

Ancestry says 2/3 but it looks like 2/8 on the card.

[PRC]

1 hour ago, sadbrewer said:

He joined The Middlesex Regiment ( Duke of Cambridge's Own) in 1914.

Service record is on Ancestry.

 

FindMyPast have split his records into the 1914 Attestation and a 1917 Discharge. I don't know if both are together on Ancestry.

 

2 hours ago, jf21dm said:

John Hopwood was born in Laindon,Essex in 1878, and enlisted in 1893 as a drummerboy, I was told.  He was discharged from the Welch Regiment after serving 21 years in Feb 1914, but signed up again later that year, this time in the Leicestershire Regiment.

 

His discharge record on FindMyPast includes a summary of his military service. He started as a Drummerboy with the Leicestershire Regiment on the 4th February 1893. He was transferred to the 1st Welsh Regiment on the 23rd July 1906. Most of his service was in the UK apart from two stints in Egypt - 7th February 1900 to 14th December 1902, (so he will be missing from the 1901 Census of England & Wales) and 11th December 1909 to 20th January 1912.

 

The latter set of dates would have included the taking of the 1911 Census of England & Wales on the 2nd April 1911 - the scope of which now included British Army garrisons around the world. Thus the 32 year old Sergeant Drummer John Hopwood, unmarried and born Langdon Hill, Essex, is recorded at the Main Barracks, Abbassia, Cairo, Egypt with the 1st Battalion Welsh Regiment.

 

Hope that helps,

Peter

 

[jf21dm]

Thank you all, so much for this information.  My grandfather died when I was only 3 years old so I have very little memory of him (except his prickly military mustache), and I don't think he talked much about his service to my father.  I do know that he helped with man-lifting kite experiments at Aldershot in 1904, though, but maybe he was never actually at Galipoli - another family story debunked.   Best wishes, J

[Jrmh]

https://www.steppingforwardlondon.org/8th-battalion-the-duke-of-cambridges-own-middlesex-regiment.html

 

1915

2^nd / 8^th Battalion

Egypt
Gebel Howilmil
Matruh
Sollum

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Frontier_Force

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_of_Agagia

 

https://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/battles/western-frontier-force-and-the-campaign-in-the-western-desert-1915-1916/

 

 

 

 

 

Edited 26 July , 2020 by Jrmh

[PRC]

2 hours ago, jf21dm said:

but maybe he was never actually at Galipoli - another family story debunked. 

 

Not entirely debunked - which makes a nice change

 

Page 193 of The Die-Hards in the Great War, Volume 1, by Everard Wyrall, a post-war official history of the Middlesex Regiment actually covers the formation of the 2/7th Battalion, Middlesex Regiment, their move to Gibraltar, and then in these final two paragraphs :-

 

 

So he might not have seen Gallipoli, but he might have head and smelt it, plus seen the activity to and from Mudros.

 

Its a bit clunky but Volume 1 can be read online here:-

https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.$b742713&view=1up&seq=14

 

Probably the easiest way to find the bits you might be interested in is to do a search for the actions listed by @Jrmh above - Gebel for instance crops up on page 196 and 331.

 

Hope that helps,

Peter