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Remembered Today:

S S M WATTS DCM


Jay Hewitt

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Good afternoon 

I purchased this pewter tankard earlier from an antique shop in Northamptonshire it came with a copy of his citation for his DCM dated 1921 but as I cannot find his service number I cannot find anything about him online, could anyone here work there magic? 

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Looking at the DCM citations database as held on Ancestry, it brings up 5754 Sjt. H N Watts, 19th Hrs.

The citation is the same as the one that you have posted.

The 5 images attached are all courtesy of Ancestry.

Watts 1.jpg

Watts 2.jpg

Watts 3.jpg

Watts 4.jpg

Watts 5.jpg

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@Allan1892 has beaten me to it :), so just to add, note the contact address on the back of the MiC is c\o the Officer Commanding, the 4th Hussars, Lucknow.
 - Given the date of landing in France then looks like he was a pre-war Regular Army soldier.
- May be a co-incidence but the 1921 Census of England & Wales has two entries for a Herbert Noah Watts, both born c1891 and serving in the Army, with one entry showing place of birth as Winchester, Hampshire, and the other just as Hampshire.

4 minutes ago, Jay Hewitt said:

Could SSM stand for something ?

Squadron Serjeant Major.

Cheers,
Peter

Edited by PRC
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1 minute ago, PRC said:

@Allan1892 has beaten me to it :), so just to add, note the contact address on the back of the MiC is c\o the Officer Cpmmanding, the 4th Hussars, Lucknow.
 - Given the date of landing in France then looks like he was a pre-war Regular Army soldier.
- May be a co-incidence but the 1921 Census of England & Wales has two entries for a Herbert Noah Watts, both born c1891 and serving in the Army, with one entry showing place of birth as Winchester, Hampshire, and the other just as Hampshire.

Squadron Serjeant Major.

Cheers,
Peter

That makes a lot of sense! he was awarded the Mons star so was definitely an “old contemptible” I have just seen he was awarded an MBE in 1935 aswell! A very interesting research project!

 

994A89BE-51BD-44C4-A2C3-088724B8EEA7.jpeg

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On the 1911 Census of England & Wales there is a 19 year old Private Herbert Noah Watts, born Brighton, Sussex, who was recorded in barracks at the Wellington Lines, Aldershot. He was serving with the 19th Hussars.

Cheers,
Peter

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11 minutes ago, Jay Hewitt said:

Looks like he was a career soldier!

And so service records likely to be with the Ministry of Defence, although they could be in the process of being transferred to the National Archive as he was born before the end of 1901.

Eventually they will end up on FindMyPast but that is very likely to be years away. As he would be over 110 years old, (were he still alive), I believe anyone can apply for a copy of his records. It costs and there can be over a year wait, but still likely to be quicker than the FMP project. How to apply for his service record is set out here https://www.gov.uk/get-copy-military-service-records

You may want to track down his date of birth first - although a false dob could have been given it may still help with your application. The birth of a Herbert Noah Watts, mothers' maiden name Paston, was registered with the civil authorities in the Alresford District of Hampshire in the April to June quarter, (Q2), of 1892. Note that is the quarter registered - legally he could have been born as early as the middle of February 1892, and that would certainly stack up with him being recorded as 19 when the 1911 Census was taken on the 2nd April.

You may want to try the likes of Ancestry \ FindMyPast to see if the parish records are available - I'm not finding anything on familysearch \ freereg. There is no guarantee that the baptismal record will also show a date of birth.

I can't see him on the 1939 Register but he may not have been in England & Wales, or if he was still serving and at his wartime station then he would have been out of scope of that exercise.

Looks like he died in Durban, South Africa on the 8th July 1951. His occupation is given as Retired Major in the Indian Army - you may need to read the small print on the MoD site to see if they have Indian Army officer records. https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:8GZQ-NZ2M

Familysearch also has a couple of childrens baptisms - Herbert William Richard Watts at Dalhousie, India in 1924 https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:HGJP-LFN2
and Thomas Charles Watts at Saugor, India in 1921. https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:HGV3-7GZM

Wife was Mildred Elsie.

Hope some of that helps,
Peter

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2 hours ago, PRC said:

You may want to track down his date of birth first - although a false dob could have been given it may still help with your application. The birth of a Herbert Noah Watts, mothers' maiden name Paston, was registered with the civil authorities in the Alresford District of Hampshire in the April to June quarter, (Q2), of 1892. Note that is the quarter registered - legally he could have been born as early as the middle of February 1892, and that would certainly stack up with him being recorded as 19 when the 1911 Census was taken on the 2nd April.

There are several family trees on Ancestry (some public / some private) that show his DOB as 9 April 1892

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17 hours ago, Allan1892 said:

Re-enlisted on the 11 February 1919 whilst in Germany for 87 days under A.O. 355/27 -- new number 537832

(images courtesy of Find My Past)

Watts 6.jpg

 

While it's probably described by FindMyPast as Royal Tank Corps Enlistment Records, his new service number looks like it comes from the six digit block allocated to the Hussars in the 1920 Army renumbering - 528001 to 721000. The Tank Corps, (not Royal until 1923), had the seven digit block 7868001 to 8109000 allocated. https://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/soldiers/a-soldiers-life-1914-1918/new-british-army-numbers-issued-in-1920/

So I suspect the 87 days re-enlisted doesn't refer to the 11th February 1919 unless for some reason he was allowed to treat the days since his previous service ended as counting towards his service and thus making it continuous. It looks like he transferred in Germany. His first unit is shown as 19th Hussars from what looks like the 2nd February 1919, so pre-dating enlistment. Then:
18th Hussars 1st September 1921
4th Supernumerary List (tbc) 15th August 1922
4th Hussars 15th September 1924
Supernumerary List (tbc) 4th Hussars 11th October 1929.

9349440_WattsTankCorpsenlistmentcropsourcedFindMyPast.jpg.4880ffa95edb2e48735be4693e9a9691.jpg

"Equitation School, Saugor 13.3.31" in pencil  would also indicate he was still working with horses. Saugor was the home of the Cavalry School and was also the place his first child was born.

Saugor apparently carried out its last Cavalry course in June 1939 before closing an reopening as the Small Arms School, (from page29 of https://www.britishmilitaryhistory.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/124/2020/08/50-Indian-Tank-Brigade-1.pdf

A second source states it closed in August 1939. http://ww2talk.com/index.php?threads/infantry-training-school-at-saugor.88953/

While looking for more on the Equitation School I came across the book Soldier of the Raj by William Magan, published 2002. Google books offered me a peak inside so I tried a search for "Watts and "Saugor". The results were:-

1811930982_SoldieroftheRajbyWilliamMagansearchresults.png.eff7459dc52e832f4d26e91283e154ec.png

Image courtesy https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Soldier_of_the_Raj/7_0WAQAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0&bsq=Watts, Saugor

That seems too much of a co-incidence to be anyone other than Herbert Noah Watts and his wife Mildred Elsie, and re-affirms he was working with horses rather than being a tankie.

According to Wikipedia the 4th Queens Own Hussars went to India in 1921 and remained there until 1931 - which may explain the move of Herbert Watts to the Equitation School. The 4th Queens Own Hussars weren't mechanised until 1936 so well after that. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4th_Queen's_Own_Hussars

Hope that helps,
Peter

Edited by PRC
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1 hour ago, PRC said:

While it's probably described by FindMyPast as Royal Tank Corps Enlistment Records, his new service number looks like it comes from the six digit block allocated to the Hussars in the 1920 Army renumbering - 528001 to 721000. The Tank Corps, (not Royal until 1923), had the seven digit block 7868001 to 8109000 allocated.

@PRC -- I had my suspicions about the notation of Royal Tank Corps as I knew that the Tank Corps wasn't Royal until 1923 (great uncle Benjamin Hunter MM+Bar served in 6th Tank Battalion) but I didn't have any further time last evening to investigate. Well done with your findings on his post WW1 service. :thumbsup:

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8 minutes ago, Allan1892 said:

Well done with your findings on his post WW1 service.

You opened the door with the posting from FindMyPast - I just got lucky by stumbling through it:).

I believe the sentence that is partially cut-off as the top of the extract from page 197 of Soldier of the Raj refers to RSM Watts being head-hunted to be a quartermaster at a depot.

The second half of the extract from the enlistment book you posted looks like there is a reference to him being promoted Lieutenant & Quartermaster 7th May 1937. An honorary commission for a senior NCO to perform the role of quartermaster is a regular feature of British Army life and I suspect that is the scenario that applies here.

Maybe someday someone with access to Soldier of the Raj will stumble upon this thread and tell us what else it has to say about the couple!

Cheers,
Peter

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