Machine Gun Corps or Lincolnshire regiment ?

[GKB]

Can anybody help ? I' trying to research my Grand father Charles William Blake 1896 - 1934  Kings Cliffe, Northamptonshire.

The publication "All the Kings Cliffe Men" has him listed either as Private 159557 Machine Gun Corps or Private 203831 Lincolnshire Regiment.

My father told me a story about how he was blown into a freezing lake then  placed next to a raging fire to recover, which eventually resulted in his early death. No locations, dates or medical history are known, don't even know  if he was evacuated  or returned to service.

After the war he worked on Badminton Estate and for a short period as a carriage driver for politician's in London,

Any help would be much appreciated.

[david murdoch]

Presuming those numbers are correct, as there is only one match for a Charles Blake serving in the Machine Gun Corps - he served as plain Charles Blake. There is not much on him on Ancestry or Find My Past - just Medal card and medal roll. From this it would appear he first served overseas in 1916 with  Lincolnshire Regiment then transferred to MGC (Infantry), then discharged 12/5/1919.  It should be possible to work out when he was issued the MGC number. 

There are no hospital or pension records and not seeing on any casualty lists for either number. 

[GKB]

Thank you David for the info and your prompt reply

 

[kenf48]

7 hours ago, GKB said:

Can anybody help ? I' trying to research my Grand father Charles William Blake 1896 - 1934  Kings Cliffe, Northamptonshire.

The publication "All the Kings Cliffe Men" has him listed either as Private 159557 Machine Gun Corps or Private 203831 Lincolnshire Regiment.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Pte. Blake was mobilised to the 4th (Reserve) Battalion Lincolnshire Regiment around April 1917

https://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/army/regiments-and-corps/the-british-infantry-regiments-of-1914-1918/lincolnshire-regiment/

The medal rolls for the Lincolnshire Regiment suggest he was posted to the 2/4 Battalion in France, probably around July 1917. Though we can’t be certain of this. The Battalion was in the 59th (South Midland) Division  and suffered heavy losses at the Third Battle of Ypres. It is likely he was repatriated to the U.K. either wounded, or sick although as noted above we can’t find him on the casualty records.

https://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/army/order-of-battle-of-divisions/59th-2nd-north-midland-division/

In any event he was one of six men transferred from a Reserve Battalion of the Lincolnshire Regiment to the MGC on the 7th June 1918.  We don’t know if he returned to France but it seems likely.  He was Demobilised to the Class Z Reserve on the 12th  May 1919.  He was awarded the British War Medal and Victory Medal.

If new to researching soldiers of the Great War we recommend you have a good look around the Long Long Trail website especially the section on how to research a soldier.

The war diary for the 2/4 can be downloaded for free if you register from the National Archives.  Unlikely to mention him by name but you never know.  The Battalion was disbanded in January 1918 and absorbed into the 1/4th 

https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C7355208

[david murdoch]

There are several Lincolnshires men together on the roll. There is a thread on the Forum regarding MGC service numbers, so should be able to pin the transfer date down. There are not many casualties in his close numbers, but those are late war. A trawl either side of his number may pick up a pension or discharge record. 

[kenf48]

1 hour ago, david murdoch said:

There are several Lincolnshires men together on the roll. There is a thread on the Forum regarding MGC service numbers, so should be able to pin the transfer date down. There are not many casualties in his close numbers, but those are late war. A trawl either side of his number may pick up a pension or discharge record. 

As noted above transfer to the MGC was on or around 7th June 1918. We cannot be 100% certain in the absence of a service record but where records survive numbers either side of him were posted into the MGC on that date.  We don’t know if he returned to the fray but six weeks training takes us to August, surviving records show some men went out in that month whilst others remained on Reserve. It may be worth noting, as this soldier had a lung condition, one of the men transferred on the 7th June had previously been gassed and had recovered but he did not go back to France.

Those that went to France would have gone to the Base Depot at Camiers and from there posted to an active service MG Battalion, but which one is very difficult to establish with any certainty as men were split up at the Base depot.