Private James Harrison

[Guest fairytopia]

Could anyone tell me about my great grandfather, on his sons birth certificate it says Private no 12220 7th battalion K.O.Y.L.I .

What does this stand for and what did he do?

Thanks ever so,

Lisa.

[Bernard_Lewis]

KOYLI = King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry.

If a forum member has any info on this unit I'm sure s/he will post for you.

Bernard

[shaymen]

Lisa

Details of his MIC (Medal Index Card) can be found here

http://www.documentsonline.nationalarchive...1&resultcount=1

Glyn

[Stebie9173]

Lisa,

Here is James's Medal card

http://www.documentsonline.nationalarchive...1&resultcount=1

If you pay to download it it will tell you :

1. When he entered a Theatre of War (and which one)

2. Which campaign medals he would be entitled to.

3. Possibly what date he was demobilised. This is sometimes marked Z Box or ZAR (this means he was put on standby to return to war if needed)

and very little else.

It costs £3.50 to download or can be looked up for free at the National Archives at Kew.

The Main Site of this forum has a breakdown of the regiments that fought in the war.

In this case the 7th Battalion of the (King's Own) Yorkshire Light Infantry.

http://www.1914-1918.net/koyli.htm

The KOYLI was attached to the 61st Brigade, 20th Division up to when it was disbanded in February 1918 (troops would probably have been transferred to other units)

The Division fought at the Battle of Loos in late 1915, The Somme in 1916, 3rd Ypres in 1917 (also known as Passchendaele) and at the battle of Cambrai in late 1917.

You will need someone who knows a little more about the Regiment to tell you more!

Hope this helps for now, Steve.

Edit : Shaymen beat me to the punch on the MIC. Did it take me 15 minutes to write this!

[Guest fairytopia]

Thanks everyone, this really helps!