Dever Mayfly Posted 10 November Share Posted 10 November In the Siberian campaign diary, I found an entry for a Captain Mellen of the Sherwood Foresters arriving in Omsk in April 1919. I cannot find any further details about this officer and wondered whether any member has come across him, or if the name is spelt incorrectly? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PRC Posted 10 November Share Posted 10 November The pages for the Sherwood Foresters (Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment) start in the May 1919 British Army Monthly list here https://digital.nls.uk/british-military-lists/archive/123822487 Possibles apart from Miller \ Millar might be:- 2nd Lieutenant W.E. Myton, 5th Battalion seniority from the 28th March 1917, column 1319a Lieutenant D.R. Mullan, 6th Battalion seniority from the 21st December 1917, column 1320b, but shown as attached flying corps. Lieutenant W.H. Madin, 6th Battalion (Reserve) seniority from the 19th June 1918, column 1320b. Lieutenant A.S. Mellor, M.C., 7th Battalion attached 16th Battalion but employed by the Ministry of Labour, seniority from the 1st July 1917, column 1320f 2nd Lieutenant H. Hallam, Service Battalions, seniority from the 26th September 1917, column 1324g 2nd Lieutenant H. Hallam, 1/8th Battalion, seniority from the 18th December 1918, column 1324h 2nd Lieutenant A. Millin, Service Battalions attached 2nd Battalion, seniority from the 18th December 1918, column 1324h 2nd Lieutenant G. Witton, M.C., 15th Battalion, seniority from the 30th January 1918, column 1324i And those are just the ones I can think of where somewhere has mis-transcribed poor handwriting. If the source for that entry had only heard the name or was working from memory then there are a lot more six letter surnames that could be in the frame. Hope that gets you started, Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
travers61 Posted 10 November Share Posted 10 November (edited) Could this be the same officer in this index entry on the British Newspaper Archive ? TESTIMONIAL TO COLOUR SERGEANT SIBERT AT....... Testimonial to Colour-Sergeant Sibert at Dmner of 1) Company. Nearly 120 Robin Hood+ dined together laic night at the Arboretum Rooms. Nottingham, under the auspices of D Company, of which Captain F. Rapier s the seder Dicer. . CaptainRayner pre. sided. accompanied by Captain W. IL look. Second- Lieutenant R. G. Mellen, Captain and Quarter. master W. H. Newham, Mr. J. A. H ... Nottingham Journal 26th February 1910 Edited 10 November by travers61 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tawhiri Posted 10 November Share Posted 10 November Coming at it from a slightly different angle, and looking at the surnames in the index of the British Army Monthly List of May 1919 that Peter linked to, there are no serving officers with the surname Mellen listed, although there are several with the surname Mellon. The other possibility is that he was serving with another regiment, but attached to the Sherwood Foresters. https://digital.nls.uk/british-military-lists/archive/123845263 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PRC Posted 10 November Share Posted 10 November 29 minutes ago, travers61 said: Could this be the same officer in this index entry on the British Newspaper Archive ? TESTIMONIAL TO COLOUR SERGEANT SIBERT AT....... Testimonial to Colour-Sergeant Sibert at Dmner of 1) Company. Nearly 120 Robin Hood+ dined together laic night at the Arboretum Rooms. Nottingham, under the auspices of D Company, of which Captain F. Rapier s the seder Dicer. . CaptainRayner pre. sided. accompanied by Captain W. IL look. Second- Lieutenant R. G. Mellen, Captain and Quarter. master W. H. Newham, Mr. J. A. H ... Nottingham Journal 26th February 1910 Harts 1910 Annual Army List shows a Captain Rayner serving with the 7th Battalion The Sherwood Foresters. The Battalion also had a Captain Rook. One of the Battalion Quartersmasters was an Honorary Captain W.H. Newham. And while Second Lieutenant R.G. Mellen could have been a guest from another Battalion or even another Regiment, the 2nd Lieutenants of the 7th Battalion does include a G.H.R. MELLERS. https://digital.nls.uk/british-military-lists/archive/100782585 According to his MiC Captain G.H.R. Mellers, 1/7th Sherwood Foresters, was Killed in Action on the 13th October 1915. So while that particular candidate can probably be excluded it does give an example of how such errors might occur , (even before the invention of Optical Character Reading software gave us the technology to do it Cheers, Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
travers61 Posted 10 November Share Posted 10 November (edited) Hi Found several other local newspaper references to Captain George Henry Reginald (Rex) Mellers of the Robin Hoods, one of which says arrived in France about 6 months before his death with the Robin Hoods so as said looks like he is the man mentioned in 1910. Going with the Mellers name & Omsk here's another to consider: . interesting photograph, showing how the British soi-oieis combated the rigorous climate Northern Siberia, taken by Capt. F. A. Mellers, Nottingham. It shows mea of tli« Hampshire Regiment at football in the snow at Omsk. ... Nottingham Evening Post 8th November 1919 He could be this man shown in the Medal Rolls as Frederick Albert Mellers, service no SPTS/2378 24th Royal Fusiliers, comm Notts & Derby Regt. 21st Nov 1916. His officer service record on fold3 shows: Born 23.9.1885 Nottingham. Married Lenton, Notts 23rd Nov 1908 to Alice Mary WARDLE, issue John Frederick born 18th May 1910. Address New Cottage, Station Road, East Gate, Loughborough. No 5 O.C.B Cambridge 7th August 1916 to 21st November 1916 3rd S.F. 22nd November 1916 to Ex.Force 17th January 1917 Lieut 1st March 1917 passed through School of Instruction Brocton 20th October 1917 Brocton to Pioneer Depot Reading (date unknown) Pioneer Depot Reading to RAF Tafrd (?Transfered) to Gen List. Struck off Strength 30th Oct 1918. https://www.fold3.com/image/677231579 The Passenger lists show a Frederick MELLERS, engineer, army officer, age 33, married and destination London, England passing through a Pacific Coast port in British Columbia, Canada in September 1919. In the 1939 Register he is living at Windy Ridge, Basford Notts & remarks column add "Captain Gen List & Infantr... Retired 1920" Travers Edited 10 November by travers61 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dever Mayfly Posted 10 November Author Share Posted 10 November In the record, on 9 March, there is a mention of a Captain Mellers without any regimental annotation, so I believe we can assume that the later mention of Mellen was therefore a spelling mistake by the diarist (Major Cecil Cameron DSO CBE). This is really useful for my talk to a group next week (whose chair served for many years in the Worcester and Sherwood Foresters). Thank you so much to Peter, Tawhiri and Travers - very much appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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