Alfred Elijah Mason, 19859 Norfolk Regiment - choice of discharge conditions

[PRC]

Alfred Elijah Mason was a month short of his 39th birthday and a married Tailor living at No. 29, Row 99, King Street, Great Yarmouth when he enlisted in that town on the 26th July 1915. His medical which took place on the same day found him fit, but of poor development and in need of dental treatment, (he was 5 feet 3 inches tall and weighed 93lbs). A different hand has noted his medical report as “C” and subsequently his surviving discharge records show him as being deemed fit for home service only.  He joined the Norfolk Regiment, receiving service number 19859. He reached the depot at Norwich on the 3rd August 1915, moving on to Felixstowe on the 18th to join up with the 3rd Battalion.

A travelling medical board that examined him at Felixstowe on the 12th March 1917 put him in category C3.

On the 7th April 1917 he was admitted to hospital in Felixstowe. A sample of his sputum tested positive for tubercle bacilli shortly afterwards.

A medical board sitting on the 23rd April 1917 noted that the disease originated at Felixstowe, although the exact date was unknown as the man had had a cough for at least three months, it having worsened in the last two weeks. On admission to hospital he was noted as emaciated and looking very ill. On examination the upper lobe of the right lung was found to be heavily infected. Since admission to hospital his general health had improved but the board noted he still looked cyanosed. While the tuberculosis was not deemed to be caused by military service it was seen as aggravated by ordinary military service. The recommendation of the board is that he should be discharged as permanently unfit.

He was discharged at Warley on the 15th May 1917 as no longer physically fit for war service, (Kings Regs Para 392 (xvi)). He was then aged 40 years and 219 days, and intended to live at No.29. Row 99, King Street, Great Yarmouth. Nothing in the proceedings on discharge specifically says what condition it is that caused him discharge, but given the medical board report from three weeks earlier and the condition he was being treated for it would seem self-evident that it was tuberculosis.

But him entry on the Silver War Badge Roll says “V.D.H.”

Image courtesy Ancestry

That could well be an error but I suspect I'm never going to be able to prove it.

The death of a 46 year old Alfred E. Mason was registered in the Yarmouth District of Norfolk in the July to September quarter, (Q3), of 1920.

According to the transcription on FMP, the edition of the Yarmouth Independent dated 18 September 1920 records that an Alfred Elijah Mason aged 46 was buried at Yarmouth Cemetery on the 2nd September.

Image courtesy FindMyPast.

So first the perennial question  - is anyone is working on this.

Also has anyone had an experience of presenting a case like this to CWGC – potentially two different medical reasons for discharge but neither specifically mentioned in the discharge proceedings.

Doe his Pension Ledger Card have anything to say about his medical condition – I can see there is something indexed on Ancestry.

Is there more in the Pension record on Ancestry than on FindMyPast. FMP has 14 pages but not once is next of kin mentioned.

Yet according to the indexing on Ancestry:-

Image courtesy Ancestry

Or have I messed up when checking the records on FMP whilst in the library!

Cheers,
Peter

[RussT]

His PIC shows:

Regards

Russ

[PaulC78]

2 x pension cards on Fold3, neither of these mention his disability but they do give his cause of death as "phthisis" on 02/09/1920. The medical report in his service record indicates that he was discharged due to "tubercle of lung" which was "aggravated by ordinary military service". So on that basis he looks ok to me, I don't see the SWB roll necessarily being an issue. He hasn't been put forward by IFCP.

[PaulC78]

10 hours ago, PRC said:

Or have I messed up when checking the records on FMP whilst in the library!

It's on the last page. Married to Elvina Florence Childs at Great Yarmouth on 02/02/1903. There are also details of four children.

Ancestry have a transcribed burial record, section E grave number 81 at Yarmouth Old Cemetery.

[PRC]

1 hour ago, PaulC78 said:

It's on the last page. Married to Elvina Florence Childs at Great Yarmouth on 02/02/1903. There are also details of four children.

Last page I have from FMP is titled GBM_WO363-4_007301089_00870 and is the front page of his attestation - I remember thinking at the time that was a bit odd as you'd expect the rear to also be available. So trip 1 will be to the library to try and see where I went wrong

1 hour ago, PaulC78 said:

Ancestry have a transcribed burial record, section E grave number 81 at Yarmouth Old Cemetery.

I thought I'd done Section E to death, (no pun intended), so trip 2 is going to have be Great Yarmouth. May have to put off buying the death certificate for this man until next month!

Thanks for your help,
Peter

[PaulC78]

6 hours ago, PRC said:

Last page I have from FMP is titled GBM_WO363-4_007301089_00870 and is the front page of his attestation - I remember thinking at the time that was a bit odd as you'd expect the rear to also be available. So trip 1 will be to the library to try and see where I went wrong

There should be one more page - the other side of the attestation sheet.

6 hours ago, PRC said:

I thought I'd done Section E to death, (no pun intended), so trip 2 is going to have be Great Yarmouth.

Perhaps no military details on his headstone, or maybe no headstone at all? You may at least be able to identify the plot.

Edited 16 June , 2022 by PaulC78

[PRC]

Well the plan was for a quick trip out to Great Yarmouth to have a hunt for the grave and include a picture of the headstone with the submission. But for a variety of reasons it just wasn't happening, although in my defence unexploded WW2 German bomb on one day and exploding WW2 bomb when they tried to steam the fuse out a day of so later were not the common or garden reasons why you might have to call off a visit to an out of season seaside town

Fortunately forum member @suesalter1 has now taken a look for me and it would appear there is no headstone. So non-commemoration case submitted this lunchtime.

Fingers crossed it's successful and he ends up with a permanent memorial!

Cheers,
Peter

[PRC]

Just catching up with my emails and see this one was acknowledged on the 8th March 2023, so Day 10.

Case number is 11947, which is nearly 300 cases on from the last one I got to this stage at the end of May 2022. So still looks like there are plenty of cases going through.

Cheers,
Peter