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Matt Lonsdale

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Hello, I was wondering if anyone could help me. I’m trying to find out as much information as possible about a relative who was killed in the First World War. His name was James Arthur Longworth 430274. 
 

He was in the Royal Engineers Transport 419th West Lancashire Field Company. He was killed July 23rd 1917 and is buried at the Hop Store cemetery.

Any advice or information would be appreciated. 
 

thanks 

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Hi Matt,

Welcome to GWF.

I'll start with a quickie:

Two Pension Index Cards at WFA/Fold3 [for a discretionary Dependant's pension under Article 21 of the Royal Warrant] show: Mrs. Elizabeth Longworth, Step-mother, 58 Elgin Street, Halliwell, Bolton got a Gratuity [unspecified amount - possibly it might have been about 5/- per week as a fairly typical amount for a dependant mother's pension - but as a gratuity it looks like she might perhaps have instead got a lump-sum instead - unfortunately the relevant main pension file is likely long lost/likely deliberately destroyed after its use was ended]

:-) M

Edited by Matlock1418
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His Register of Soldiers Effects [a ledger of monies due etc.] shows he was 419th (W. Lancs) Fld. Coy. RE.

Two payments of his effects to Bros. & Legatees: William Henry & Jonathan 17-10-17, 14s 8d and 1.8.18, £4 13s 3d.

His War Gratuity was: £8 10s - also paid to his brothers 13/12/19

[In association with his date of death, 23.7.17, In Action Belgium, his WG may be used by other members to estimate his date of enlistment - unfortunately I find it a real challenge to determine ;-( - here's hoping for you that others come along soon]

:-) M

Edited by Matlock1418
tweak
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Matt

He has papers in WO 363 (Service Record - Ancestry Filmstrip Lon 22290). He enlisted into the WLD RE on 26/08/1915 in Bolton. I am booked in at Bolton Library tomorrow morning so I will have a look in the Bolton Evening News "Rally to the Flag" to see if he is named as enlisting and also check the 1917 papers for a report of his death. 

Brian

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Hi Matt,

He has a fairly decent set of service papers on Findmypast (link) - they should also be available on Ancestry. It seems that James served in the UK from 26.8.1915, in France from 26.1.1917, and joined 419 Field Company RE on 25.2.1917.

After a straight forward registration, the relevant war diary is available as a free download from here. The diary entry for 23.7.1917 shows:

image.png.8cc5c5f583b5e34eef16c27029f12b76.png

Image sourced from The National Archives

There is help on reading map references here. If you would like more context surrounding his death, it might be worth downloading the diaries here and here.

It looks like the good folk at British War Graves (link) would be able yo send you a digital image of his grave stone, on a free of charge basis.

Regards
Chris

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1 hour ago, clk said:

Hi Matt,

He has a fairly decent set of service papers on Findmypast (link) - they should also be available on Ancestry. It seems that James served in the UK from 26.8.1915, in France from 26.1.1917, and joined 419 Field Company RE on 25.2.1917.

After a straight forward registration, the relevant war diary is available as a free download from here. The diary entry for 23.7.1917 shows:

image.png.8cc5c5f583b5e34eef16c27029f12b76.png

Image sourced from The National Archives

There is help on reading map references here. If you would like more context surrounding his death, it might be worth downloading the diaries here and here.

It looks like the good folk at British War Graves (link) would be able yo send you a digital image of his grave stone, on a free of charge basis.

Regards
Chris

Thats brilliant, I’ve visited his grave years ago, when I was about 15 with my sister on a leger tour. I’ll have a look at the war diaries tomorrow, very interesting to see he was killed by shell fire. 

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J A Longworth is named in the Bolton Evening News 28/08/1915 "Rally to the Flag" as enlisting into the West Lancs Div RE. Two other men J Ray and W H Shuttleworth are also named. It's possible that they knew each other or joined together. This image is from the weekly Bolton Journal 03/09/1915 showing the recruits to the WLD RE that week.

The Bolton Journal 17/08/1917 pictured him and reported that he had been killed in action. The photo shows Pte Longworth not Sapper but no other Longworths are in the paper that week. A brief biography was included in the report. 

Brian

 

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Yes that is him, I’ve got this photo also and another of him. I’ve learnt a lot from you guys thanks for all your responses! 5A3070FD-64BE-44AD-A246-0930A3279E50.jpeg.40be06b94289500e4c5ccf8bd4249af8.jpeg

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