identification of a military plate

[Augustin]

Hello everyone,

Several years ago I found this plaque at the bottom of my garden in Flanders. I would like to know more about it if possible and try to find the soldier to whom this plaque belonged. Thank you very much. Any help would be appreciated.

I think the beginning of the name is: D. J
The battalion: W
the beginning of the service number: 749
and perhaps the 57th Battalion 

[PRC]

10 minutes ago, Augustin said:

and perhaps the 57th Battalion 

Just a suggestion, but unless he was Australian, Canadian or in the Machine Gun Corps after February 1918, then more like to be "Brigade" or "Battery" so most likely serving with one of the arms of the Royal Artillery - Royal Field Artillery, Royal Horse Artillery or Royal Garrison Artillery.

If he served in Flanders he should have a Medal Index Card. And I agree his first two initials are D & J.

So looking for a Medal Index Card for someone with first forename "D", served in the artillery, and had a service number starting 749 brings up 7 matches - but only one has a second forename starting with a J.

That is Gunner 74962 David J. Edwards, Royal Field Artillery. He first landed in France on the 16th August 1914, then serving with what has been written as 43 RFA.
If that was the 43rd Howitzer Brigade it did indeed go to France in August 1914. May be a total co-incidence but it included a 57 Battery. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/43rd_(Howitzer)_Brigade_Royal_Field_Artillery

Looks like FindMyPast have discharge records for him as David John Edwards but couldn't readily spot them indexed on Ancestry. Unfortunately don't subscribe to either. so can't check it out any further. Hopefully a forum pal can check them out - if David transferred elsewhere he may well have received a new tag and so broke the old one up and threw it away.

Cheers,
Peter

[DavidOwen]

The man Pete highlights attested 12/11/1913 in RFA and was posted 9/3/1914 to "57" presumably Battery.

On 2/11/1917 he was posted to 113 Army Brigade Ammunition Column.

He suffered Trench Fever 9/3/1917 hospitalised in Rouen.

Discharged 1919.

He was previously in the South Wales Borderers Territorial Force.

[Augustin]

Thank you very much for the information and your work. 

[Augustin]

Would the "W" on the plaque indicate that he belongs to the Welch Regiment?

[Augustin]

I found this link to this soldier

https://hamerfamilytree.weebly.com/david-john-edwards.html

[PRC]

52 minutes ago, Augustin said:

Would the "W" on the plaque indicate that he belongs to the Welch Regiment?

I doubt it - infantry and artillery were two completely separate areas of the army. Some tags included the name of the faith followed by the man, so could be the start of Wesleyan.
 

54 minutes ago, Augustin said:

I found this link to this soldier

https://hamerfamilytree.weebly.com/david-john-edwards.html

I don't think it's the same man - as @DavidOwen has pointed out, the artilleryman 74962 David J Edwards would have enlisted in the Regular Army, (i.e. full time) in 1913. The man on the weblink would have been enlisting aged 32 and married if he joined up in 1913. Not impossible, but with just 4 months Army experience 14 years earlier, over age and with the additional cost of a wife and possibly children for the Army to have to consider, he would not have had much appeal as a recruit. As a miner he would also have been taking a paycut.

And if indeed the Artilleryman was a Wesleyan Methodist, then they practised teetotalism, (abstaining from alcohol), which does not sound like the man described on that webpage.

Cheers,
Peter

[Keith_history_buff]

1 hour ago, Augustin said:

Would the "W" on the plaque indicate that he belongs to the Welch Regiment?

Given that he is from South Wales, I think it more likely that "M" would indicate a religious denomination of being a Methodist, given the high amount of Methodists who lived in Wales. This does seem to run counter to their policy of Temperance, and this man's fondness for alcohol. Unless, of course, this is a different man. I can't find a matching service record from the search results within the WO 97 records.

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Méthodisme

I did a search on "british army dog tags ww1" and the following results were particularly interesting

https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/first-world-war-identity-tags

https://www.westernfrontassociation.com/world-war-i-articles/identifying-the-dead-a-short-study-of-the-identification-tags-of-1914-1918/




 

[Keith_history_buff]

I'd never really thought about the introduction of <<plaques d'identité>> and their associated markings before

[Augustin]

Interesting, does anyone have a link from the cwgc to the man who lost the plaque ?

 

[tullybrone]

34 minutes ago, Augustin said:

Interesting, does anyone have a link from the cwgc to the man who lost the plaque ?

 

As it appears from the above posts that he survived the war there will be no CWGC record for him.

Steve

[PRC]

37 minutes ago, Augustin said:

Interesting, does anyone have a link from the cwgc to the man who lost the plaque ?

The Artilleryman identified earlier, Gunner 74962 David J. Edwards, Royal Field Artillery, survived the war, so doesn't appear on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website.

L'artilleur identifié plus tôt, l'artilleur 74962 David J. Edwards, Royal Field Artillery, a survécu à la guerre et n'apparaît donc pas sur le site Web de la Commonwealth War Graves Commission. (Merci, Google translate!)

Cheers,
Peter

Edit - crossposted with @tullybrone

Edited 15 August , 2022 by PRC