William Eade 2nd Hants and 14th Hants died on the Somme but was he in Gallipoli as well?

[helen Banham]

Good morning everyone. I am a complete novice to all this and struggling to make sense of things and wondered if anyone could help please? I am researching William Eade who was killed on 3rd Sep 1916 whilst fighting just north of the River Ancre. He was with the 14th Battalion Hampshire Regiment and I have found various memorials and references to him. I read through the war diary of the Battalion and thought I had a good idea of what his war experience was. However I then saw his medal card and there are 4 lines (see photo). It records he was in the 2nd Hants (I presume 2nd Btn), then the 14th, then the 2nd and then the 14th again. Without a service record will I be able to unpick where he might have fought? I have looked up the 2nd Btn and see they fought in Gallipoli but I am really stumped as to how to unravel this. He was Private William Eade 10627. Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks for reading.

[Michelle Young]

Welcome to the forum. His medal index card shows he first entered a theatre of war 2b Balkans-so yes he would have served at Gallipoli. 

image ©️ Ancestry 

[helen Banham]

Hi Michelle thank you so much for this. I have a lot to learn because I hadn't found this medal card. 2b I presume is for 2nd Battalion and is that date of entry of 29 Aug 1915 the date he would have enlisted? I so want to get this right.

[Michelle Young]

2B is the theatre of war code. The date is the date he entered said theatre of war. 
List of codes here

http://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/soldiers/how-to-research-a-soldier/campaign-medal-records/how-to-interpret-a-campaign-medal-index-card/medal-roll-theatre-codes/

On the image I posted, you can see a 2 in blue ink next to the Hamps R in red. That shows the battalion. Not every card shows this! 

[Michelle Young]

This from the Long Long Trail about the 2 Hants

2nd Battalion
August 1914 : in Mhow, India. Returned to England, arriving at Plymouth 22 December 1914. Moved to Romsey and on 13 February 1915 to Stratford-upon-Avon.
13 February 1915 : came under orders of 88th Brigade in 29th Division. Moved to Warwick.
Sailed from Avonmouth for Gallipoli, going via Egypt where it landed at Alexandra on 2 April 1915. It sailed again on 12 April and landed next day at Mudros (Lemnos) which was to be the advanced base for operations at Gallipoli. The battalion landed at Cape Helles on the ship “River Clyde” on 25 April 1915.
January 1916 : evacuated from Gallipoli to Egypt.
20 March 1916 : landed at Marseilles for service in France.
 

William would I think have been a reinforcement as he didn’t land with the initial force. I await people with more experience and expertise. 

[helen Banham]

Thanks so much for your time and knowledge Michelle. I will go away and work on this and try and piece it all together. Lots to learn but you have given me a direction. Goodness what a war for William.

[Michelle Young]

His body was concentrated into Ancre cemetery. Image ©️ CWGC. The map experts will be able to help showing where he was found.

 

[helen Banham]

This is so moving. Thank you

[kenf48]

10628 Ingram joined the Hampshire Regiment at Dorchester on the 2nd September on a short Service duration of war enlistment. His attestation form showed no previous military experience. He was posted to the 5th Battalion originally and then to the 3rd (Reserve) Battalion on the 7th April 1915 and from there to the 1st Battalion. 

There was another block of similar numbers issued to the 13th Battalion in Winchester on the 7th September. The 14th Battalion went to France on the 6th March 1916 but he had already been posted to the 2nd Battalion as part of a reinforcement draft to that Battalion in August 1915.

All we can say with reasonable certainty he enlisted at the beginning of September 1914, which we can corroborate with the gratuity paid at Soldiers Effects on Ancestry

The Gallipoli war diaries are also on Ancestry.

[Michelle Young]

An approximation of where his body was found. The little black dash . Image ©️ Topography of Armageddon. 

[WhiteStarLine]

Hi Helen, Michelle has shown you what it looks like on a Great War trench map.  Originally there were many cemeteries maintained by the Imperial War Graves Commission, often centred on the ground the bodies were first buried in.  Click to enlarge the image and you will see he was exhumed from Y Ravine British Cemetery quite close to the modern Y Ravine Cemetery.  The small black square denotes an original IWGC cemetery and the purple the CWGC ones.  Cheers, Bill

[helen Banham]

Thank you everyone for your help this morning, what an amazing amount of expertise. I can now begin to tell a better informed story of William's war. Many thanks

[Don Regiano]

45 minutes ago, helen Banham said:

Thank you everyone for your help this morning, what an amazing amount of expertise. I can now begin to tell a better informed story of William's war. Many thanks

I have attached a photo of Ancre cemetery where he is buried.  Unfortunately, the nearest close up I have is in the next row of graves to his.  The photo is looking back down to the cemetery entrance (in white in the centre distance).  If you look at the third line of graves to the right of the entrance, coming back towards the camera, his grave is the third in the second group located just behind the two men. (you should be able to save and enlarge the photo)

 

Edited 29 February by Don Regiano

[Michelle Young]

here’s another view 

[Don Regiano]

and a group of 10 unknowns in graves D. 1 to D. 10 to the immediate left of William Eade who is in D. 13

[helen Banham]

46 minutes ago, Don Regiano said:

I have attached a photo of Ancre cemetery where he is buried.  Unfortunately, the nearest close up I have is in the next row of graves to his.  The photo is looking back down to the cemetery entrance (in white in the centre distance).  If you look at the third line of graves to the right of the entrance, coming back towards the camera, his grave is the third in the second group located just behind the two men. (you should be able to save and enlarge the photo)

 

 

[helen Banham]

Thank you so much Don for taking the trouble to share this with me. It is a long time since I visited any of the cemeteries but feel sure we went here but did not know about William at the time so this is great.

37 minutes ago, Michelle Young said:

here’s another view 

 

Thank you for the time you have taken.

[Don Regiano]

8 minutes ago, helen Banham said:

Thank you for the time you have taken.

No problem Helen. 

We've visited there a few times as there are a number of colleagues of a relative of my wife who are buried there after the battle on 13 November 1916.  My wife's relative, who was in the marines, was wounded that day and subsequently invalided out.  That probably saved his life after what the marines went through subsequently.  The long view is over St. Pierre Divion towards the Ulster Memorial over the ground attacked by our local battalion (1/6 Cheshires) on that date.

[RussT]

War Diary here:

Ancestry.co.uk - UK, World War I War Diaries (Gallipoli and Dardanelles), 1914-1916

Regards

Russ

[RussT]

Draft of 1 Officer & 40 Other Ranks arrived on 29/08/1915 - he could be one of them.

Russ

(Image Ancestry)

 

[Matlock1418]

3 hours ago, kenf48 said:

Soldiers Effects on Ancestry

Helen,

Welcome to GWF.

Although they are essentially financial records his Register of Soldiers' Effects entry may tell you a bit more - so worth looking out if you can [I can't access]

There are a number of dependant's pension records at WFA/Fold3 - unfortunaely they aren't as full and informative as they might be, this is probably the most useful

Image thanks to WFA/Fold3

So it looks like his brother, Frederick, also died shortly after - always tragic/extra tragic - what a quick double-hammer blow for their mother. 

M

[Michelle Young]

Here’s his brother, died of wounds at the coast. 
https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/508272/frederick-john-eade/

image ©️ Ancestry 

[Michelle Young]

[Matlock1418]

20 minutes ago, Michelle Young said:

Here’s his brother, died of wounds at the coast. 

The above PIC suggests Frederick died of Broncho-Pneumonia.

I wonder what his RoSE and SDGW record [and any other record e.g. SR and/or newspaper perhaps] ??

M

[Michelle Young]

Sorry I should have read the card more closely. Died at the coast in a base hospital anyway!