Help please - individual in the Shropshire Yeomanry

[Martin A Jones]

I am currently helping my wife research her family.  The person we are working on is HERBERT GRAINGER born in Lawley, Shropshire to William and Elizabeth Grainger on the 10th July 1891.  We know about his work with the Great Western Railway, mainly in North Wales both before and after the Great War.  However I cannot find anything about his war service with the Shropshire Yeomanry. I have checked medal rolls, pension records, Ancestry, Findmypast and Fold3. I cannot even locate a service number.  What I do have is three images taken during his time with the yeomanry and some insignia.  See below.  I am guessing from these that he was with the 1st/1st Battalion.  He was a warrant officer.  He probably served in Egypt.

I have downloaded the 10th Kings Shropshire Light Infantry diary for May 1918 onwards as this was the battalion that the Yeomanry was amalgamated into. As yet I haven't found any reference to him.

I have three questions:

1. Where do I find diaries for the Yeomanry prior to amalgamation? I have tried the National Archives with no luck.

2. Can anyone shed any more light onto Herbert's service with Yeomanry?

3. Is there are book on the Shropshire Yeomanry during the Great War?

Thanks in advance

Martin

 

[AndrewSid]

Martin, no doubt you have seen this but for reference

https://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/army/regiments-and-corps/the-british-yeomanry-regiments-of-1914-1918/shropshire-yeomanry/

When searching the NA be aware the Egypt war diaries are not digitised  so make sure the “available online to download” box is removed 

War diaries will only exist for units from when they go overseas - you probably know that.

Egypt is tricky. I’m looking for yeomanry records prior to 1916 and can’t find them on the NA website.  the ones I have are well buried in div troops files.

NA are the best place to search for MICs i find - have you tried there?

Edited 26 October , 2021 by AndrewSid

[butler]

I would suggest that he never served overseas. I cannot find a medal index card for him, which there should be if he served overseas. 

The photo which shows him with others in tropical uniforms looks like a squad that he has been training for overseas deployment (They are all young and only 1 of them is an NCO) It looks like it was taken in the UK and that those including WO2 Grainger who are in the usual temperate uniforms where the training staff.

UK based units did not keep war diaries. There may be a regimental history written, perhaps by the Territorial Force Association for Shropshire. The best place to look would be in the historical section of a main library in Shropshire or at the Regimental Museum if there is one

[Martin A Jones]

Thanks to you both.  I have tried the MiCs at the NA to no avail.  I have also been through every reference to the Shropshire Yeomanry on the NA website - no luck.  Shropshire archives do seem to have quite a large Yeomanry collection but would need a trip to Shrewsbury to investigate - something I would have done without a thought twenty years ago but I think armchair research has made me lazy! Will need to schedule it in for the New Year.

[PRC]

1 hour ago, Martin A Jones said:

We know about his work with the Great Western Railway, mainly in North Wales both before and after the Great War.

His employer may be an angle worth working through. There was a publication printed in 1922 called "War Record of the Great Western Railway" by Edwin A. Pratt, which you may be able to get hold of via your local library. And there is always the chance that he may get a mention in the more recent "When the Office went to War. War letters from the men of the Great Western Railway" from 2015 https://blog.nationalarchives.gov.uk/office-went-war/

I see from the 1911 Census of England & Wales that he was recorded as a Railway Clerk, but unfortunately was only a boarder, so no real indicator of where he was normally living. Not seeing anything for him in the Union Membership records on FindMyPast - membership was quite often rolled over for those away serving their country.

The West Glamorgan Archive has inherited the paperwork of the Great Western Railway ; https://archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk/search/archives/b88cb395-c43a-3bfa-9577-c6da68506778

A different line of attack is did Herbert marry at all? If so, and it was during the likely period that he was serving, then the grooms occupational details should give you rank and regiment \ corps at a minimum - although sometimes it just says a soldier and other times can be much more detailed including service number.

Similarly if the marriage produced any children while he might have been serving then fathers occupation details on the birth certificate.

Such records would also be a help in identifying where he might appear in local newspapers and pinning him down for his whereabouts on the 1918 & 1919 Absents Voters lists. Even if he was stationed in the UK its unlikely he was living in his normal place of residence. There is more on how the AVL's can help here https://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/soldiers/how-to-research-a-soldier/finding-soldiers-through-the-1918-absent-voters-lists/

Hope some of that helps,
Peter

[Martin A Jones]

He did marry but not until 1925 and the marriage was childless. Hadn’t thought of the AVLs - good idea.  Thanks for all that.

[jay dubaya]

Perhaps he took a commission?  Lt Herbert Grainger

[PRC]

1 hour ago, jay dubaya said:

Perhaps he took a commission?  Lt Herbert Grainger

The National Archive have catalogued his papers as covering 1915 to 1921, but I suspect likely to be this Herbert Grainger who was commissioned from the ranks in the edition of the London Gazette dated 8 September 1914, (page 7093).

Sourced courtesy The London Gazette. https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/28894/page/7093/data.pdf

As he came from the the 2nd Life Guards and I believe they were in London at the time of the 1911 Census of England & Wales I did take a look and drew a blank. Of course he could have been a recalled reservist in 1914. The nearest I came was the 1901 Census of England & Wales when there was a 20 year old Trooper Herbert Grainger, born Leeds, Yorkshire, but he's on page 21 of an institutional return for a military establishment in the parish of St Pancras, the Parliamentary Borough of West St Pancras and the Ecclesiatical District of Christchurch, Albany Street - which seem to be the same enumerator details recorded for Hyde Park Barracks on the 1911 Census

And having done that, this time I did find him in 1911, although helpfully transcribed as "Herbert Hgrainger" and his birthplace as "Driglington, Yorks". He was then 30 years old, unmarried, a Squadron Corporal Major and a Fencing Instructor.

I can't see a MiC for him, but gut feel for me is that Lieutenant Herbert Grainger can be ruled out.

Cheers,

Peter

[Martin A Jones]

As far as family members recall Herbert only ever referred to service in the Shropshire Yeomanry.  In 1911 he was a railway clerk in Baschurch, Shropshire aged 19 (thanks for finding that, Peter).

I am intrigued as to how Herbert could attain the rank of WO2 in a relatively short period and with (apparently) no previous military experience.

[ss002d6252]

Just now, Martin A Jones said:

As far as family members recall Herbert only ever referred to service in the Shropshire Yeomanry.  In 1911 he was a railway clerk in Baschurch, Shropshire aged 19 (thanks for finding that, Peter).

I am intrigued as to how Herbert could attain the rank of WO2 in a relatively short period and with (apparently) no previous military experience.

An educated man, with administrative experience. For a home service role that would be ideal for a WO2.

Craig