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The Great War (1914-1918) Forum

Remembered Today:

Bog Mine Platoon


M Shaw

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I am somewhat late to the party on this subject but stumbled across it whilst searching the thread when looking up family history. Edgar Charles Gray was my Grandfather. He was a proud Cornishman  who worked in tin and copper mining until the outbreak of WW1. From documents that my late father left,Edgar moved to Shropshire in 1916, we have a picture of him with the mine staff dated 1916. The attached photo shows him in uniform, sadly it is undated. There is an external shot of one of the buildings dated 1918, showing that it may have been where some of the POWs were housed. There is a book called “Never on a Sunday” published locally which captured stories from local people around the Stiperstones ,there is a chapter on the area during both wars. In conclusion  I can only narrow the date of the Platoon photo to between 1916 and 1918. We also have a copy of a reference for Edgar from  Shropshire Mines Ltd. dated June 1922 saying that EC Gray had been employed for 6 years.

We have sent copies of all of the above to the Bog Mines Visitors Centre over the years so they can be seen there.

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Mr Gray,

Thank you for the contact and the photo. I have seen and used your Grandfather fine photos deposited at the Bog Mine Visitor Centre. I wrote a short article on the Bog Mine Platoon photo for the Shropshire Caving and Mining Club's newsletter 'Below' 2021.2 which sets out the dating of that photo (or to be pedantic, of the label on the back) to between the Volunteer Force units being designated Volunteer Battalions in July 1918 and their disbandment in October 1919.

Mike Shaw

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Thank you for letting me know, we found a lot of the photos and letters after our parents died. Our father, Peter,Edgar’s eldest son, wrote up some of the history.When the Shropshire Mines Ltd dispensed with Edgar’s services he scraped a living in various minerals and quarrying activities between the wars. Peter was born at Oak House in 1921 and started school at the Bog School , so the mine is still very closely linked to us. I have attached an extract from Edgar’s CV which gives a bit more background to the WW1 activities .

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Thank you for sharing this document. Shropshire Caving and Mining Club would be interested in it and I would very much like to reproduce the original, and the photo you sent earlier in one of their publications if you have no objections. You would be duly credited and thanked.

On a slightly different note I suppose nothing in your family papers sheds any light on the fate or location of Shropshire Mines Ltd.'s papers?

Mike

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We would be pleased to allow you to reproduce the pictures and CV.  Sadly cannot help with where the paperwork for Shropshire Mines Ltd  ended up. Is there an e-mail for Shropshire Caving and Mining Club where we can send anything that may be relevant ?

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