Middlesex Regiment in China

[MrG]

I know this is a bit off topic as the dates concerned are before the Great War but I'm struggling with this one and I hoped someone would be able to shed some light. A distant cousin, James William Bedford, served as Pte 6727 with the Middlesex Regiments from 1900-1908 and part of his service was in "Northern China" (see attached page) but I can find no reference anywhere on line to the regiment's whereabouts at this time. I am particularly interested in interpreting the line about his swimming qualifications as this might help me pinpoint things. :-) Can anyone help?

 

Thanks

[PRC]

Probably Tientsin - see reference here to a man serving with the 3rd Battalion. http://1stmiddlesex.com/coxcharleswilliam.htm

(Among many others on t'internet

Cheers,
Peter

[Keith_history_buff]

Various infantry battalions would spend about a year on a posting at Tientsin, also providing detachments to Peking. The 2nd Battalion South Wales Borderers were performing this garrison duty in 1914, with a view to moving on to Singapore. (They in turn had taken over from the Somerset Light Infantry.) When WW1 broke out, they and a detachment of 36th Sikhs served alongside a more considerable Japanese formation who took part in the siege of Tsingtao. Once completed, the battalion returned to the UK, joined the 29th Division, and landed at Gallipoli on 25 April 1915.

[PRC]

27 minutes ago, MrG said:

A distant cousin, James William Bedford, served as Pte 6727 with the Middlesex Regiments from 1900-1908

6727 was a John William Bedford, born Alderney. He was 33 when he re-enlisted in 1890 from the The Royal Reserve Regiment, ex Royal Berkshire Regiment, in order to complete 21 years of service. He served up until 1908 with the 3rd Battalion, embarking at Hong Kong in December 1907 bound for England. That mans' Military History Sheet is the same one you have posted, so it's not just a co-incidence. Is this the right match for your distant cousin?

Cheers,
Peter

[MrG]

Yes. Thats him. My typo I'm afraid. I have his record but I am having trouble finding much background on the regiment, like what were they doing in "Northern China" and this is all helping.

 

Many Thanks

[PRC]

1 minute ago, MrG said:

Yes. Thats him. My typo I'm afraid.

No worries - we've all done it

BTW if you have similar queries in future you should have enough posts now to be able to create a thread in Skindles, the sub-forum for queries not directly Great War related.

Cheers,
Peter

[MrG]

Thanks to all and thanks for the heads up re the Skindles group. I have a number of military men pre WW1 so if I get stuck I now know where to go

[MaureenE]

@MrG You could try some of the online English language Chinese newspapers available on Findmypast/British Newspaper Archive, for details see the FIBIS Fibiwiki page China https://wiki.fibis.org/w/China

and the online Hong Kong newspapers, which would include content about China, for details see the FIBIS Fibiwiki page Hong Kong https://wiki.fibis.org/w/Hong_Kong

The China page includes links about British Regiments in China mainly in the 1920s and 1930s who were guarding the legations in Peking and defending international settlements at Tientsin, Canton, and most importantly Shanghai. They were probably there in your  time of interest  1907 for the same reasons.

Maureen

[MrG]

Many Thanks. I will have a look