Herbert Frank Owen 44160 9th and 26th RWF

[DavidOwen]

My Grandfather (above) born 1898 was in the 9th RWF as per medal rolls but as a result of some postcards recently uncovered appears to have transferred into the 26th Battalion at some point. One postcard has him in France on 19/4/1919 which corresponds with the War Diary of the 26th and then we have a number of postcards from Egypt sadly with no postmarks or dates on them which we believe he collected whilst posted to Egypt in 1919 with that battalion. 

My question is does anyone know how long the 26th Bn RWF was in Egypt for? 

The reason for asking is to try and establish whether Grandfather's service record may still be with the MOD as so far we have no idea as to when he was demobilised, except that I do know that he had left the army by the time of the 1921 Census.

Thanks as always for reading.

(I hope to get around to posting some of the postcards on the postcard thread at some point in the future).

[Coldstreamer]

This link will help you learn which battalion was where

https://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/army/regiments-and-corps/the-british-infantry-regiments-of-1914-1918/royal-welsh-fusiliers/

[Allan1892]

1 hour ago, DavidOwen said:

so far we have no idea as to when he was demobilised, except that I do know that he had left the army by the time of the 1921 Census.

A search of the UK, Military Discharge Indexes, 1920-1971 as held by Ancestry has failed to find your man which suggests that he had left the army pre 1920.

[Coldstreamer]

Have you looked for his papers on ancestry find my past et cetera?

a Huge percentage of papers got lost in a fire during World War II So you might not find anything sorry

[Allan1892]

Just now, Coldstreamer said:

Have you looked for his papers on ancestry find my past et cetera?

I've looked an FMP and Ancestry - no service papers

[Dai Bach y Sowldiwr]

1 hour ago, DavidOwen said:

My Grandfather (above) born 1898

15 minutes ago, Allan1892 said:

I've looked an FMP and Ancestry - no service papers

There are 2 H F Owens in the post21 list, one born 19/06/1897  (ex RPC) and one on 23/07/1899.

Of course he could be one of the H Owens although there are none with an 1898 dob.

What was his dob, we can look for that, and where was he from?

[kenf48]

The latest death recorded on CWGC is 25th September 1919.

https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/477001/ernest-wilfred-ravenhill/

[clive_hughes]

I've recently been looking at someone similar, in the RWF, in that his Medal details only show service France 1915 (wounded) with a Regular battalion; and after recovery with a First-line Territorial one.  The latter was part of 47th Division on the Western Front, but he also claimed in his memoir to have served in Egypt afterwards (oddly enough specifically under General Gorringe, ?10th Division, no RWF units involved with that).  The medal rolls usually don't show any change of unit after the Armistice or other qualifying period, and unless his file survives there's often no other evidence.  If you're lucky the digitised Welsh Newspapers online at the National Library of Wales might just have a mention, up to the end of 1919.  

There are the Absent Voters Lists of course - do you have a County and address for him?   Some areas have surviving lists for 1918, 1919 (2 editions), 1920 (2 editions) and 1921.  Others don't.  In fairness, they didn't help me with the guy I was researching - he was on them into 1920, but consistently shown as a member of his Western Front  outfit and nothing else.  

Clive

 

 

  

[DavidOwen]

Thanks all, I suspected this was not going to be easy and it was likely he had left before the MOD retained the records.

His DoB was 17/11/1898.

Around this time his parents were living in Abergele**

By the 1921 Census he was a civillian living in Huddersfield.

I have not found him in any of the AVLs on FMP.

 

Edit ** this is 1919+ not his birth which was Whitley Superior, Cheshire according to the Family Tree.

[Dai Bach y Sowldiwr]

Have you looked at the AVL, for Denbighshire?

Someone has transcribed it and put it online :

https://dyfedjames99.wixsite.com/hanes-star/absent-voters-lists-1919-21

Hint: Denbighshire A to Z, or no. 126 in the by-parish list.

[DavidOwen]

Dai 

That is him in 1919. The lodge is his parent's address.

Thank you.

David.

[Hywyn]

On 25/08/2022 at 12:25, DavidOwen said:

 

My question is does anyone know how long the 26th Bn RWF was in Egypt for? 

 

This is from page 272 of RWF Regimental Records

Vol 4 of said Records are available online here. Should open on P272. Contents on pages 10 to 12.

https://archive.org/details/regimentalrecord04dudl/page/272/mode/2up

[DavidOwen]

Thank you Hywyn and apologies for the delay in reply.

[Buffnut453]

David,

One of my relatives, a Great-Great Uncle, was in the 9th RWF.  Do you have your Grandfather's regimental number.  It would be interesting to learn whether my relative fought in the same battles as your Grandfather.  

Kind regards,

Mark

[DavidOwen]

Hi Mark

It was 44160 and I suspect he only arrived in France in 1918 at earliest. He was born 1898 and I have a postcard from a cousin of his (see the Plumb brothers from Antrobus thread) postmarked June 1917 that states GF was still in UK. From postcards in the family (most unwritten and sadly none dated) it seems as though he did go on to Egypt with 26th.

Best wishes

David

 

Image courtesy Ancestry.

[Buffnut453]

If your Grandfather only went to France in1918, then he won't have served alongside my relative who left the 9th RWF in March 1917 to join the RE (354th Elec and Mech Coy).

It was worth the ask, though.  Good luck with your ongoing research.

[DavidOwen]

On 26/08/2022 at 20:14, Hywyn said:

This is from page 272 of RWF Regimental Records

Vol 4 of said Records are available online here. Should open on P272. Contents on pages 10 to 12.

https://archive.org/details/regimentalrecord04dudl/page/272/mode/2up

Hywyn 

Taken me long enough but your image has helped crack the address for my GF in July 1919 on the postcard he received from his friend postmarked for the Base Army Post Office in Alexandria. He and D company 26 Bn were in Damanhur. Thank you so much!

David