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Medal help for PTE William Robertson 34023


Sophmaid

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Hi there 

just wondering how i can find out if my ancestor PTE William Robertson received his medals? 

Currently researching him as he is a complete mystery to my family. 

As far as i know he enlisted in 1914  for the Cameron Highlanders  reg no 15723 

then 3rd battalion Scotts Rifles Cameronians 1/7   in Hamilton ( not sure if that make sense) 

wounded  on 3rd oct 1918  Lothian Regiment. - reg no. 34023 

 

my family has zero record of his medals so wondering if he ever got them or perhaps they were taken? 

also not sure what type of medals he would of received. 

 

any help would be really grateful. 

 

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Hello Sophmaid......he did receive his medals.

 

Your ancestor has two medal Index Cards.    One shows his British War Medal and Victory Medal and reads 8124 Royal Scots and 34023 Cameronians and indicates they were stamped 8/24.  The other for his 14/15 Star reads 15723 Royal Scots and 34023 Cameronians.  There is nothing to indicate his medals were returned unissued suggesting he received and accepted them.  He arrived in France (and Belgium) 09/07/1915.  There is also nothing to indicate he served in the Cameron Highlanders although plenty to indicate he served in the Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) ..... it's a common misunderstanding.  Remember Lothian Regiment is another name for Royal Scots.

 

Bit more to go on? Good luck.

 

 

 

Edited by TullochArd
8124 not 8/24
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Hi there , 

Thank you so much both of you, yes it is quite confusing but i understand now (newbie here). 

 Is there anyway of tracking them down (the medals) as for some reason they are lost and my family never had them. 

cheers. 

 

 

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hi, its not that confusing really, there are many reasons the family dont have the medals.

  Among them being, he thought they were worthless compared to the loss of freinds, the family no longer wanted the memory so sold them. he was buried with them, no one  family member left to have them,  or they were split between family members, including the BWM that could have been sold/pawned for the silver value, they were put away safe and forgotten.

he might have feft an address they were sent to but the family moved, this I would expect there to be a note on his MIC., likewise any error with stamping and returning should be noted.

 

to add to this ,my grandfathers are missing but recently I picked up three groups to his brothers that had been kept together, yet my wifes grandfather and his  fathers earlier ones have been split 50/50 between his two daughters and despite our asking one sister wont give or sell us their half having now given them to her granddaughter who wont really have any interest in them.

 

finally, ways of tracking them, put an alert on ebay to let you know if they ever get listed, register with the saleroom online, for future auction listings,  https://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb  worked for my trio of trio's, then also, put an ask out on the British Medal Forum medals wanted https://britishmedalforum.com/viewforum.php?f=424&sid=986d8f6ca1b5b22755a063dde601f878  finally, you could contact the regimental museum, they might have or have in their stores.

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20 hours ago, TullochArd said:

Hello Sophmaid......he did receive his medals.

 

Your ancestor has two medal Index Cards.    One shows his British War Medal and Victory Medal and reads 8/24 Royal Scots and 34023 Cameronians and indicates they were stamped 8/24.  The other for his 14/15 Star reads 15723 Royal Scots and 34023 Cameronians.  There is nothing to indicate his medals were returned unissued suggesting he received and accepted them.  He arrived in France (and Belgium) 09/07/1915.  There is also nothing to indicate he served in the Cameron Highlanders although plenty to indicate he served in the Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) ..... it's a common misunderstanding.  Remember Lothian Regiment is another name for Royal Scots.

 

Bit more to go on? Good luck.

 

 

 

Actually according to his service records (available via FMP) he commenced his service in the 6th Bn. Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders.    

Then one month later transferred to the 13th Royal Scots. 

Later on he appears to have also served in the 14th Royal Scots and finally the 1/7th Scottish Rifles (and possibly the 3rd Scottish Rifles?)

 

Also appears to have had other service numbers including 4543, 81211 or 81811 and 11330. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Thank you so much for clearing that up for me, i will look into those other numbers. now i know where he is buried (new zealand) which is where im located i can work some more on his army career and go from there. I will contact the museums etc and try track down where his medals went. 

 

Thank you so much in advance for the help i deeply appreciate it. 

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4 hours ago, Ron Abbott said:

Actually according to his service records (available via FMP) he commenced his service in the 6th Bn. Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders.    

Then one month later transferred to the 13th Royal Scots. 

 

Thanks for that Ron. 

 

So both 6 Camerons and 13 Royal Scots were 45 Bde/15 (Scottish) Div units based in the Aldershot area around this time.  We know that 5 and 6 Camerons were quickly over recruited so an inter Bde unit transfer looks plausible here as numbers smoothed out during training.  45 Bde were at Bramshott Nov 14 - Feb 15, Basingstoke Feb 15, Chiseldon Mar 15 and on to France on 10th July 1915 which ties in with 14/15 Star MIC entitlement date and 15 (Scottish) Div arrival date. (and BWM and BVM as 8124 Royal Scots and 14/15 Star as 15723 Royal Scots) 

 

That's an amazing amount of regimental numbers he collected during his service,

 

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hi there , 

Checked his other numbers - but arent associated with him. william robertson is a very common name it seems.  I found out where he is buried just working backwards to try fill in his life now. 

157357905_6c46af10-65cb-46b4-a4c7-f0a2ebfc843b.jpeg

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19 hours ago, Sophmaid said:

hi there , 

Checked his other numbers - but arent associated with him. william robertson is a very common name it seems.  I found out where he is buried just working backwards to try fill in his life now. 

157357905_6c46af10-65cb-46b4-a4c7-f0a2ebfc843b.jpeg

 

 

If the other numbers didn't relate to him, I wonder why they were written on his attestation papers?

 

An error?

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