Edward Mustoe DCM

[Mad Manc]

Looking for info on Edward Mustoe DCM for a Remembrance design I am doing for his Great Nephew.

[Steven Broomfield]

Is his name all the information you have?

[Mad Manc]

6530 Sgt Edward Mustoe DCM 1st Gloucesters

[Acknown]

Welcome to the Forum. I'm sure our members can help you, but it would help if you list all the information you have on him so far: date of birth/marriage/death, addresses, parents, siblings and any military information.

Also, you might read this guide: http://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/soldiers/how-to-research-a-soldier/. It will help you conduct your own research.

Acknown

[BarbaraG]

The Gloucesters at the Battle of Alexandria (??? early 1800's) were attacked from front and rear therefore some men in the ranks turned around to fight those attacking from the rear. As a result they were allowed the honour of wearing a cap badge from and rear of headdress. (Hubby's a mine of information - 1801 ).

Design based on either or both....

https://www.northeastmedals.co.uk/british_regiment/gloucestershire_regiment.htm

 

Edward died of wounds 24 October 1918. Buried Vadencourt British Cemetery, Maissemy...

 

Details (lots) available on Ancestry - free access at the moment

 

 

Edited 12 November , 2020 by BarbaraG

[PRC]

1 hour ago, Mad Manc said:

Looking for info on Edward Mustoe DCM for a Remembrance design I am doing for his Great Nephew.

 

Hi and welcome to the forum.

 

The Regular Army Battalions of the Gloucestershire Regiment issued service number 6530 at some point between the 23rd April 1902 (6415) and the 9th February 1903 (6737).

https://armyservicenumbers.blogspot.com/2009/03/gloucestershire-regiment-1st-and-2nd.html

 

The standard enlistment then was 12 years, which at that time was usually split 7 years in the colours and 5 in the reserves, although other splits were available and the time in the colours could be increased at any point with less then in reserves, and longer engagments were available.

 

On the 1911 Census of England & Wales the 26 year old Private Edward Mustoe, unmarried and born Cirencester, was recorded in barracks with the 2nd Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment at Verdala Barracks, Malta. (With the exception of Ireland & Scotland, overseas armed forces units were included in the scope of this census).

 

Unfortunately as with the vast majority of other ranks, his papers appear to have been lost when German incendiaries hit the warehouse where there were being stored in WW2.

 

His Medal Index Card, (literally that, an index card raised late 1918\early 1919 to track the issue of medals), shows that he first landed in France on the 12th September 1914 as a Lance Corporal in the Gloucestershire Regiment.

 

Our parent site, the Long Long Trail, shows that the 1st Battalion landed at Le Havre on the 13th August 1914, while the 2nd Battalion of the Gloucestershire Regiment was out in China at the start of the war and didn't make it to France until December 1914. So looks like he was one of the early replacement drafts for the 1st Battalion and therefore most likely a mobilised reservist rather than someone who was in the colours at the outbreak of war. Of course he could potentially have been time expired but just turned up at the barrack anyway, even though he was under no legal obligation to do so.

 

Battalion War Diaries can currently be downloaded for free from the National Archive - you just need to register for an account, but even that you can do as part of placing your first order. They are very unlikely to mention him by name, but will give a feel for what the battalion was up to and where.

 

The 1st Battalion War Diaries that are available are:-

August 1914 to December 1914:https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C14052736

1915:https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C14052737

1916: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C14052738

1917: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C14052739

January 1918 to April 1919: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C14052740

 

The Medal Index Card shows he qualified for the 1914 Star & Roses, (so he came under fire during the qualifying period in the summer and early autumn of 1914), the British War Medal and the Victory Medal. For more on these medals and their qualifying conditions see https://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/soldiers/how-to-research-a-soldier/campaign-medal-records/

 

There is a separate Medal Index Card for his DCM which shows it, (as Sergeant E.Mustoe, Gloucestershire Regiment), as Gazetted on the 28th March 1918.

 

It actually appears on page 3868 of the Second Supplement to the edition of the 26th March 1918, which was issued on the 28th March 1918. The citation reads:-

 

6530 Sjt E. Mustoe, Glouc. R. (S. Cerney).

For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty when in command of his company under most trying conditions and heavy fire, after all the officers had become casualties. The company was about one and a half miles from battalion headquarters. He eventually brought it out of the line intact two nights after.

https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/30601/supplement/1

 

Soldiers Died in the Great War, an HMSO publication from the 1920's shows that Sergeant 6530 Edward Mustoe, D.C.M. died of wounds on the 24th October 1918 while serving in France & Flanders with the 1st Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment. He was born Cirencester, resident Newport, Monmouthshire, and enlisted Cirencester.

 

His webpage on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website adds that he was 34 years old when he died, and was the son of John Mustoe. He is buried at Vadencourt British Cemetery, Maissemy in grave Plot II B.16.

https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2939519/E MUSTOE/

The CWGC webpage for the Cemetery adds that Maissemy is a village about 5 kilometres north-west of St. Quentin and about two kilometres north of the small town of Vermand.

 

Maissemy passed into British hands in 1917. It was captured by the enemy on the 21st March 1918, in spite of a strong resistance by the 24th Division and the 2/4th Royal Berks, and retaken by the 1st Division on the following 15th September. At the beginning of October, the IX Corps Main Dressing Station was at Vadencourt (now Vadancourt).

 

Vadencourt British Cemetery (called at first Vadencourt New British Cemetery) was begun in August 1917, by fighting units, and used until March 1918. In October and November 1918, it was used by the 5th, 47th and 61st Casualty Clearing Stations (at Bihecourt, on the road to Vermand) as well as by Field Ambulances. These original graves are in Plots I-III.

https://www.cwgc.org/visit-us/find-cemeteries-memorials/cemetery-details/2102101/VADENCOURT BRITISH CEMETERY, MAISSEMY/

 

No obvious soldiers will or civil probate. (They might have given you a sample of his handwriting).

 

Other documents that might help.

The related Service Medal Roll for his Victory Medal and British War Medal, (Ancestry) if completed by the clerks correctly, should show all the units he served with in a Theatre of War. While not impossible, four years with one Battalion is unusual. Men who were wounded \ accidentally injured or fell sick and needed hospital treatment back on the coast or in the UK were not routinely returned to the same unit and as the war went on, not even the same Regiment.

 

The Army Register of Soldiers Effects, (Ancestry). This was a financial ledger rather than an inventory, but sometimes gives a little more detail about where he died. It will also show who the balance of his pay went to and who received his War Gratuity. It will also sometimes reveal if a Dependants Pension was paid - this was a financial dependancy, so if some of his pay was being deducted and sent to anyone, (usually mother or father), then they had grounds for a claim for a pension.

 

Pension Cards and Ledgers, (Ancestry for transcriptions \ Fold3 for scanned copies). Again may reveal more about circumstances of death.

 

Unfortunately I don't have anything more than the most basic free account with Ancestry so can't check those out.

 

Hope that gets you started,

Peter

Edited 12 November , 2020 by PRC
Typo

[Mark1959]

As the following image indicates his DCM was for his actions at Passchendaele on 10/11/1917.

 

 

10/11/17 was officially the last day of the Third Battle of Ypres - aka Passchendaele.

Image is from the annotated version of the London Gazette available to download from the National Archives

The war diary - see Peter's link - gives a brief but decent report of the battalion's actions on the day.

Edited 12 November , 2020 by Mark1959

[Matlock1418]

1 hour ago, PRC said:

Pension Cards and Ledgers, (Ancestry for transcriptions \ Fold3 for scanned copies). Again may reveal more about circumstances of death.

A Pension Ledger card is available but doesn't report on circumstances of death 

MUSTOE, E.  6530

Claimant was R. Winstone (mother) at 5 St Paul's St, South Cheltenham - It appears she was Refused Class 1, possibly on the ground of non-dependence [Mothers tended to claim first - but if she had a husband supporting her and son hadn't made payments she may have been unsuccessful] - though from brief annotations it appears there was a couple of years worth of MoP internal correspondence!

:-) M

[Mad Manc]

13 hours ago, PRC said:

 

Hi and welcome to the forum.

 

The Regular Army Battalions of the Gloucestershire Regiment issued service number 6530 at some point between the 23rd April 1902 (6415) and the 9th February 1903 (6737).

https://armyservicenumbers.blogspot.com/2009/03/gloucestershire-regiment-1st-and-2nd.html

 

The standard enlistment then was 12 years, which at that time was usually split 7 years in the colours and 5 in the reserves, although other splits were available and the time in the colours could be increased at any point with less then in reserves, and longer engagments were available.

 

On the 1911 Census of England & Wales the 26 year old Private Edward Mustoe, unmarried and born Cirencester, was recorded in barracks with the 2nd Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment at Verdala Barracks, Malta. (With the exception of Ireland & Scotland, overseas armed forces units were included in the scope of this census).

 

Unfortunately as with the vast majority of other ranks, his papers appear to have been lost when German incendiaries hit the warehouse where there were being stored in WW2.

 

His Medal Index Card, (literally that, an index card raised late 1918\early 1919 to track the issue of medals), shows that he first landed in France on the 12th September 1914 as a Lance Corporal in the Gloucestershire Regiment.

 

Our parent site, the Long Long Trail, shows that the 1st Battalion landed at Le Havre on the 13th August 1914, while the 2nd Battalion of the Gloucestershire Regiment was out in China at the start of the war and didn't make it to France until December 1914. So looks like he was one of the early replacement drafts for the 1st Battalion and therefore most likely a mobilised reservist rather than someone who was in the colours at the outbreak of war. Of course he could potentially have been time expired but just turned up at the barrack anyway, even though he was under no legal obligation to do so.

 

Battalion War Diaries can currently be downloaded for free from the National Archive - you just need to register for an account, but even that you can do as part of placing your first order. They are very unlikely to mention him by name, but will give a feel for what the battalion was up to and where.

 

The 1st Battalion War Diaries that are available are:-

August 1914 to December 1914:https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C14052736

1915:https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C14052737

1916: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C14052738

1917: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C14052739

January 1918 to April 1919: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C14052740

 

The Medal Index Card shows he qualified for the 1914 Star & Roses, (so he came under fire during the qualifying period in the summer and early autumn of 1914), the British War Medal and the Victory Medal. For more on these medals and their qualifying conditions see https://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/soldiers/how-to-research-a-soldier/campaign-medal-records/

 

There is a separate Medal Index Card for his DCM which shows it, (as Sergeant E.Mustoe, Gloucestershire Regiment), as Gazetted on the 28th March 1918.

 

It actually appears on page 3868 of the Second Supplement to the edition of the 26th March 1918, which was issued on the 28th March 1918. The citation reads:-

 

6530 Sjt E. Mustoe, Glouc. R. (S. Cerney).

For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty when in command of his company under most trying conditions and heavy fire, after all the officers had become casualties. The company was about one and a half miles from battalion headquarters. He eventually brought it out of the line intact two nights after.

https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/30601/supplement/1

 

Soldiers Died in the Great War, an HMSO publication from the 1920's shows that Sergeant 6530 Edward Mustoe, D.C.M. died of wounds on the 24th October 1918 while serving in France & Flanders with the 1st Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment. He was born Cirencester, resident Newport, Monmouthshire, and enlisted Cirencester.

 

His webpage on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website adds that he was 34 years old when he died, and was the son of John Mustoe. He is buried at Vadencourt British Cemetery, Maissemy in grave Plot II B.16.

https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2939519/E MUSTOE/

The CWGC webpage for the Cemetery adds that Maissemy is a village about 5 kilometres north-west of St. Quentin and about two kilometres north of the small town of Vermand.

 

Maissemy passed into British hands in 1917. It was captured by the enemy on the 21st March 1918, in spite of a strong resistance by the 24th Division and the 2/4th Royal Berks, and retaken by the 1st Division on the following 15th September. At the beginning of October, the IX Corps Main Dressing Station was at Vadencourt (now Vadancourt).

 

Vadencourt British Cemetery (called at first Vadencourt New British Cemetery) was begun in August 1917, by fighting units, and used until March 1918. In October and November 1918, it was used by the 5th, 47th and 61st Casualty Clearing Stations (at Bihecourt, on the road to Vermand) as well as by Field Ambulances. These original graves are in Plots I-III.

https://www.cwgc.org/visit-us/find-cemeteries-memorials/cemetery-details/2102101/VADENCOURT BRITISH CEMETERY, MAISSEMY/

 

No obvious soldiers will or civil probate. (They might have given you a sample of his handwriting).

 

Other documents that might help.

The related Service Medal Roll for his Victory Medal and British War Medal, (Ancestry) if completed by the clerks correctly, should show all the units he served with in a Theatre of War. While not impossible, four years with one Battalion is unusual. Men who were wounded \ accidentally injured or fell sick and needed hospital treatment back on the coast or in the UK were not routinely returned to the same unit and as the war went on, not even the same Regiment.

 

The Army Register of Soldiers Effects, (Ancestry). This was a financial ledger rather than an inventory, but sometimes gives a little more detail about where he died. It will also show who the balance of his pay went to and who received his War Gratuity. It will also sometimes reveal if a Dependants Pension was paid - this was a financial dependancy, so if some of his pay was being deducted and sent to anyone, (usually mother or father), then they had grounds for a claim for a pension.

 

Pension Cards and Ledgers, (Ancestry for transcriptions \ Fold3 for scanned copies). Again may reveal more about circumstances of death.

 

Unfortunately I don't have anything more than the most basic free account with Ancestry so can't check those out.

 

Hope that gets you started,

Peter

Thank you very much Peter all the info I need, very much appreciated

 

[Mad Manc]

16 hours ago, PRC said:

 

Hi and welcome to the forum.

 

The Regular Army Battalions of the Gloucestershire Regiment issued service number 6530 at some point between the 23rd April 1902 (6415) and the 9th February 1903 (6737).

https://armyservicenumbers.blogspot.com/2009/03/gloucestershire-regiment-1st-and-2nd.html

 

The standard enlistment then was 12 years, which at that time was usually split 7 years in the colours and 5 in the reserves, although other splits were available and the time in the colours could be increased at any point with less then in reserves, and longer engagments were available.

 

On the 1911 Census of England & Wales the 26 year old Private Edward Mustoe, unmarried and born Cirencester, was recorded in barracks with the 2nd Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment at Verdala Barracks, Malta. (With the exception of Ireland & Scotland, overseas armed forces units were included in the scope of this census).

 

Unfortunately as with the vast majority of other ranks, his papers appear to have been lost when German incendiaries hit the warehouse where there were being stored in WW2.

 

His Medal Index Card, (literally that, an index card raised late 1918\early 1919 to track the issue of medals), shows that he first landed in France on the 12th September 1914 as a Lance Corporal in the Gloucestershire Regiment.

 

Our parent site, the Long Long Trail, shows that the 1st Battalion landed at Le Havre on the 13th August 1914, while the 2nd Battalion of the Gloucestershire Regiment was out in China at the start of the war and didn't make it to France until December 1914. So looks like he was one of the early replacement drafts for the 1st Battalion and therefore most likely a mobilised reservist rather than someone who was in the colours at the outbreak of war. Of course he could potentially have been time expired but just turned up at the barrack anyway, even though he was under no legal obligation to do so.

 

Battalion War Diaries can currently be downloaded for free from the National Archive - you just need to register for an account, but even that you can do as part of placing your first order. They are very unlikely to mention him by name, but will give a feel for what the battalion was up to and where.

 

The 1st Battalion War Diaries that are available are:-

August 1914 to December 1914:https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C14052736

1915:https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C14052737

1916: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C14052738

1917: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C14052739

January 1918 to April 1919: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C14052740

 

The Medal Index Card shows he qualified for the 1914 Star & Roses, (so he came under fire during the qualifying period in the summer and early autumn of 1914), the British War Medal and the Victory Medal. For more on these medals and their qualifying conditions see https://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/soldiers/how-to-research-a-soldier/campaign-medal-records/

 

There is a separate Medal Index Card for his DCM which shows it, (as Sergeant E.Mustoe, Gloucestershire Regiment), as Gazetted on the 28th March 1918.

 

It actually appears on page 3868 of the Second Supplement to the edition of the 26th March 1918, which was issued on the 28th March 1918. The citation reads:-

 

6530 Sjt E. Mustoe, Glouc. R. (S. Cerney).

For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty when in command of his company under most trying conditions and heavy fire, after all the officers had become casualties. The company was about one and a half miles from battalion headquarters. He eventually brought it out of the line intact two nights after.

https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/30601/supplement/1

 

Soldiers Died in the Great War, an HMSO publication from the 1920's shows that Sergeant 6530 Edward Mustoe, D.C.M. died of wounds on the 24th October 1918 while serving in France & Flanders with the 1st Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment. He was born Cirencester, resident Newport, Monmouthshire, and enlisted Cirencester.

 

His webpage on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website adds that he was 34 years old when he died, and was the son of John Mustoe. He is buried at Vadencourt British Cemetery, Maissemy in grave Plot II B.16.

https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2939519/E MUSTOE/

The CWGC webpage for the Cemetery adds that Maissemy is a village about 5 kilometres north-west of St. Quentin and about two kilometres north of the small town of Vermand.

 

Maissemy passed into British hands in 1917. It was captured by the enemy on the 21st March 1918, in spite of a strong resistance by the 24th Division and the 2/4th Royal Berks, and retaken by the 1st Division on the following 15th September. At the beginning of October, the IX Corps Main Dressing Station was at Vadencourt (now Vadancourt).

 

Vadencourt British Cemetery (called at first Vadencourt New British Cemetery) was begun in August 1917, by fighting units, and used until March 1918. In October and November 1918, it was used by the 5th, 47th and 61st Casualty Clearing Stations (at Bihecourt, on the road to Vermand) as well as by Field Ambulances. These original graves are in Plots I-III.

https://www.cwgc.org/visit-us/find-cemeteries-memorials/cemetery-details/2102101/VADENCOURT BRITISH CEMETERY, MAISSEMY/

 

No obvious soldiers will or civil probate. (They might have given you a sample of his handwriting).

 

Other documents that might help.

The related Service Medal Roll for his Victory Medal and British War Medal, (Ancestry) if completed by the clerks correctly, should show all the units he served with in a Theatre of War. While not impossible, four years with one Battalion is unusual. Men who were wounded \ accidentally injured or fell sick and needed hospital treatment back on the coast or in the UK were not routinely returned to the same unit and as the war went on, not even the same Regiment.

 

The Army Register of Soldiers Effects, (Ancestry). This was a financial ledger rather than an inventory, but sometimes gives a little more detail about where he died. It will also show who the balance of his pay went to and who received his War Gratuity. It will also sometimes reveal if a Dependants Pension was paid - this was a financial dependancy, so if some of his pay was being deducted and sent to anyone, (usually mother or father), then they had grounds for a claim for a pension.

 

Pension Cards and Ledgers, (Ancestry for transcriptions \ Fold3 for scanned copies). Again may reveal more about circumstances of death.

 

Unfortunately I don't have anything more than the most basic free account with Ancestry so can't check those out.

 

Hope that gets you started,

Peter

Thank you very much Peter all the info I need, very much appreciated.

 

 

[Mad Manc]

A Huge Thank you to everybody, your information has been greatly accepted and very helpful. As an added bonus we night have united two family members also. So a win win time spent. attached is what I have created for Edwards Great Nephew.