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28735 LCpl James William Byles


Beverley Needham

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Im trying to find information on the above soldier he was my great uncle on mothers side. Died 9/6/1918
He is buried at Cinq Rues British Cemetery Hazebrouck  

 

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Find a Grave an entry and a photo https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/14730930/james-william-byles - As posted by our OP, Beverley Needham.

28735 Lance Corporal James William Byles (Biles on SDGW). 1st Btn. Border Regiment (Formerly M2/67327 R.A.S.C. Age: 24. Born: Yarnton, Oxfordshire. Enlisted: Oxford. Resided: Yarnton. Killed in action. Brother of Mr. F. G. Byles, of Woodstock Road, Yarnton, Oxon.

M

Edit: Seemingly a MIC as BILES [description from The National Archives https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D1325822 ]

Reference:WO 372/2/139684

Description:

Medal card of    Biles, James W

Corps                       Regiment No       Rank

Army Service Corps  076327

Cheshire Regiment  21405

Lancashire Fusiliers  37949

Border Regiment       28735               Private

Plenty of other units and numbers to search upon!

 
Edited by Matlock1418
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Thank you I’ve uploaded photos on find a grave for William. James was his father. How do I find William’s service  history and or war diaries?

 

bev 

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1 hour ago, Beverley Needham said:

Thank you I’ve uploaded photos on find a grave for William. James was his father. How do I find William’s service  history and or war diaries?

 

bev 

Hi Bev. If you are looking for information about what the unit was doing the day L/Cpl 28735 James William Byles was killed the National Archives hold the War Diary for the 1st Battalion, Border Regiment, covering this date at https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C7353581 This is free to download once you register. 

 

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1 hour ago, Beverley Needham said:

I’ve uploaded photos on find a grave for William. James was his father.

Your thread title is James William BYLES as is CWGC and his MIC [as BILES] - always helps if you can try to keep to a standardised and service version for his name.

Note the slight differences between FAG and MIC for his ASC number.

1 hour ago, Beverley Needham said:

How do I find William’s service  history and or war diaries?

Always the big question(s)!  Often hard work. 

Service Record: If it can't be found on Ancestry or Find My Past perhaps extrapolating from others SR [of men with near numbers] for a potentially missing one.  Could be quite hard given he had so many numbers.

War Diaries: CWGC have James William BYLES, 28735, Border Regiment (1st Bn) - so that would be WD for around the time of his death - should be this one I feel  https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C7353581 currently free to download from TNA [earlier https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C4557464 but I suspect he may not have reached the the BR in this period]

The rest will likely be harder working back based on his transfers - potentially also based on WD entries indicating transfers of men inwards, or out.

It may potentially help to see the Medal Roll his MIC was based on as it may perhaps have additional earlier Corp/Regimental sub-units to help you [unfortunately I don't have access but many other members do - so fingers crossed!]

M

Edit: :D I see @Gunner 87 simultaneously posted so confirms 1 BR is a good starter :thumbsup:

Edited by Matlock1418
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Bev, this is James' entry on the Medal Roll for the issue of his Victory Medal and British War Medal which lists his previous units as @Matlock1418 has suggested would be of assistance. 

04A7061A-8F15-40F6-8E3B-10C2E92968D2_4_5005_c.jpeg

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18 minutes ago, Gunner 87 said:

James was his father

Question for you Beverley [sorry G87 quoted from the wrong post]

His CWGC entry cites his brother, Mr F G BYLES and there are no depentant's pension claim cards at WFA/Fold3 [well I've not found any yet(?)] - so were his parents already dead? And no wife or other immediate family? [Or else nobody was cared to/was considered dependant enough to make a claim] ??

M

10 minutes ago, Gunner 87 said:

Bev, this is James' entry on the Medal Roll for the issue of his Victory Medal and British War Medal which lists his previous units

:thumbsup:

According to LLT 17 CR http://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/army/regiments-and-corps/the-british-infantry-regiments-of-1914-1918/cheshire-regiment and 22 LF http://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/army/regiments-and-corps/the-british-infantry-regiments-of-1914-1918/lancashire-fusiliers appear to have essentially been UK training battalions so no WD.

ASC always tricky and tended not to have WD

M

Edited by Matlock1418
apology! And links
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Thanks for all this info. 
James parents both died in 1916. He wasn’t married   His siblings were taken in by waif and strays with the exception of Frederick and Albert who were also serving in France. 
Bev 

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Bev. I've had a good look and it doesn't appear that James' service record has survived. This is his Medal Index Card which corresponds with the Medal Roll. Gunner 87

39884072-1B66-4E5D-A301-17D761F5C52D.jpeg

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Thank you very much for this. I’ve been trying for years to find out about James.  It’s a shame he doesn’t have service records. 

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