PRC Posted 16 November , 2022 Share Posted 16 November , 2022 @Matlock1418 flagged this one up to me a couple of months ago because of the Norfolk connection. Just checking that no-one else is working on it. Harry was a married Clerk living in Balham when he originally signed up under the Derby Scheme on the 9th December 1915. He was mobilised on the 19th June 1916, reporting at South Farnborough the following day. He was then aged 35 years and 7 months. He would serve with the Expeditionary Force at Salonika from the 6th September 1916 to the 21st January 1917. A 2nd Class Air Mechanic he was discharged at South Farnborough on the 12th March 1917 while serving with the Balloon Training Wing. He was no longer physically fit for war service, (KR392(xvi)) – Tubercle of Lung. The medical board decided it was not caused by but aggravated by exposure and hardship while on active service. The board recommended he be discharged and noted that Harry accepted he needed sanatorium treatment. His discharge address looks like Keeling Hall, Foulsham, Norfolk, (although I don’t recognise that address). A possibility would be Kelling Hospital, but that is not near Foulsham. The case was reviewed in early August 1917 after he’d received five weeks treatment at Ipswich sanatorium, but the board described it as too short a time to expect any improvement. His incapacity to work was still rated at 100%. The death of a 37 year old Harry Mesney was recorded in the Erpingham District in the October to December quarter, (Q4), of 1918. There is a dataset that I don’t have subscription access to called “National Burial Index for England and Wales” which lists a “Henry” Mesney, aged 37, who was buried in Norfolk in 1918. His Ministry of Pensions card records that he died on the 8th December 1918 of Pulmonary Tuberculosis aggravated by active service. Image courtesy Fold3. His wife’s address when the pension was awarded in July 1919 was ‘Westmead’, Holway Road, Sheringham, Norfolk. The 1919 Probate Calendar records Harry as having died on the 8th December 1918 at Holway Road, Sheringham. Image courtesy probate service.search.co.uk An address card raised after January 1921, (printers batch information) shows his wife at Hill House, Haughley Green, Stowmarket, Suffolk. Cheers, Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matlock1418 Posted 18 November , 2022 Share Posted 18 November , 2022 Not me! Fill yer boots so far as I am concerned. Looks like a good case. And, as always, wishing you the very best of good luck with CWGC. M Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulC78 Posted 19 November , 2022 Share Posted 19 November , 2022 Not a current IFCP case. Burial is at Foulsham, there is a photo of the headstone on FMP: https://search.findmypast.co.uk/record?id=GBPRS%2FNORFOLKGRAVES%2FFOULSHAM%2FIMGP5583&parentid=GBPRS%2FNORFOLKGRAVES%2F00169744 Ancestry have a number of "private member photos" that may or may not be of use. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PRC Posted 19 November , 2022 Author Share Posted 19 November , 2022 2 hours ago, PaulC78 said: Burial is at Foulsham Does it record a plot number by any chance? I didn't pick up on it in May 2014 as one to follow up on when I went out there, (but I did get new glasses a few months later!). Cheers, Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulC78 Posted 19 November , 2022 Share Posted 19 November , 2022 4 hours ago, PRC said: Does it record a plot number by any chance? Unfortunately not, although that's not unusual for a churchyard. This is the headstone, doesn't look like it would be hard to find if you were going back there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PRC Posted 19 November , 2022 Author Share Posted 19 November , 2022 50 minutes ago, PaulC78 said: Unfortunately not, although that's not unusual for a churchyard. Thanks for looking Paul. The CWGC headstones in the older part of the churchyard at Holy Innocents, Foulsham, (the bit in the picture above), have plot numbers, and I was hoping to orientate from them. There is also an extension, and graves there just have the "north-west of the church" type description. Had a look though the pictures I took in May 2014, and as the shape of the headstone is relatively uncommon I think I can see something in the extension that matches the combination of surrounding headstones in that picture from FMP. (Behind the tree \ to the left of the bench \ on the left hand side of the continuation of the path running from the foreground) Definately sounds like I need to get out there again Cheers, Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulC78 Posted 19 November , 2022 Share Posted 19 November , 2022 Looking in the background of the photo I posted, I think that might be the Commission headstone for James Austin Armour next to the path (but facing the opposite direction). Could be wrong though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PRC Posted 19 November , 2022 Author Share Posted 19 November , 2022 41 minutes ago, PaulC78 said: Looking in the background of the photo I posted, I think that might be the Commission headstone for James Austin Armour next to the path (but facing the opposite direction). Could be wrong though. See what you mean with the kerbstone grave top and tailed by small half moon stones. Could well be the headstone on the top left hand edge of the above image. Will have to find out now - I'm an insatiable curiousity child Cheers, Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarionW63 Posted 3 January Share Posted 3 January Hello, Harry Mesney was my great uncle. Keeling Hall is the correct address. That was the name of the house (no longer standing) located on Keeling Hall Road. Harry’s father was a tenant farmer. The Mesney family resided at Keeling Hall on the farm property. Regards, Marion Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PRC Posted 4 January Author Share Posted 4 January Hi @MarionW63 and welcome to the forum I believe your great-uncle has a very strong case to be accepted as amongst the war dead based on the legal criteria that the Commonwealth War Graves Commission have to work to. The only thing that has stopped me from submitting it is the desire to track down the exact location of the gravestone, but that really is the icing on the cake in these cases and only becomes relevant if the submission is fully accepted. With the benefit of hindsight I would have put the case in back in November 2022 - we have a dear friend who lives in the area and I was hoping to combine a visit to them with a trip to Foulsham churchyard. Unfortunately must have been cancelled at least half a dozen times -- either their family health or ours. I'll dig out the paperwork and refresh it for a submission - watch this space! Cheers, Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarionW63 Posted 4 January Share Posted 4 January Thank you for what you’re doing! Regards, Marion Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PRC Posted 9 January Author Share Posted 9 January Case now submitted, Cheers, Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarionW63 Posted 9 January Share Posted 9 January Thank you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PRC Posted 24 January Author Share Posted 24 January First hurdle over. CWGC accept there is a case to investigate and have given it reference 12255. Last submission I got to that stage was on the 4th August 2023 and that was reference 12097, so just under 160 cases submitted in the last 5 months. Cheers, Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarionW63 Posted 24 January Share Posted 24 January Thanks so much! Marion Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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