Wyndham James Earl Bone

[George B]

I have been attempting to trace the service history of one of my ancestors who served in WWI and any help would be greatly appreciated.

His name was Wyndham James Earl Bone (1891-1970) and he served in the Royal Field Artillery. The story goes he cycled from the Basingstoke and Deane area to Bordon to enlist. From what I've gathered, he was a driver which fits as he grew up on a farm and knew how to look after horses and his service or regimental number was 65588. 

I found what I believe to be is his medal card (from the national archives) and due to copyright I won't post a picture of it but will give the relevant details. The theatre of war he first served in was France and along the "Victory" and "British" lines under the "Roll." column is "R.F.A/198B". As I understand that refers to the location in the medal roll index where his medal was logged but I was wondering if it could possibly mean more. 

I wonder if it could it be Royal Field Artillery 198 Battalion or Battery or  Brigade which I will break down further. The only 198th Battalion I could find is the "Canadian Buffs" which he definitely was not a part of, the only brigade I could find was the 198th East Lancashire Infantry brigade which would not fit but there was a 198 battery which formed part of the 62nd Howitzer Brigade(1). 

The 62nd Brigade was at one point stationed in Ewshott (2) which was close to Bordon, very close to Aldershot and they fought in France which would match up with his first served location. 

An anecdote from one of Wyndham's grandsons that the war left him with a fear of thunderstorms is the last piece of information I have and I regrettably know very little else about his service as he never spoke of the war.  

I appreciate this is very little information to go on and any help, particularly about my interpretation of his medal card, would be incredibly helpful. 

Thank you.

1. https://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/army/regiments-and-corps/the-royal-artillery-in-the-first-world-war/batteries-and-brigades-of-the-royal-field-artillery/lxii-lxiii-lxiv-and-lxv-howitzer-brigades-of-the-royal-field-artillery-12th-divisional-artillery/

2. 

 

[RussT]

1 hour ago, George B said:

I found what I believe to be is his medal card (from the national archives) and due to copyright I won't post a picture of it but will give the relevant details. The theatre of war he first served in was France and along the "Victory" and "British" lines under the "Roll." column is "R.F.A/198B". As I understand that refers to the location in the medal roll index where his medal was logged but I was wondering if it could possibly mean more. 

Welcome to the Forum.

I'm afraid it does not mean more - it is simply the reference to the BWM/VM Medal Roll, which tells you nothing more than what is on his MIC.

He is also on the 1914/1915 Star Medal Roll (as is also referenced on his MIC) - but this too does not tell you any more.

You do know his date of entry to France - 27/08/1915 - which might correlate to a date a certain RFA Battery deployed overseas. If not, then he might be like many 1000s of others who were sent as a draft to France, went to a Depot and was then farmed out to whatever unit needed men at the time. Without a Service Record it would be very difficult if not impossible to say which unit it was.

You could look for records of men with near numbers and/or RFA men who also went overseas on 27/08/1915 to see if there are any clues/patterns from which you might be able to infer the movements of Bone.

Good luck

Russ

 

[RussT]

Given his DoB, I would place his RFA number of 65588 as being allotted at the No 3 RFA Depot at Hilsea on 23/01/1915 having enlisted for the duration of the War.

He would have almost immediately been posted to the 13th Reserve Battery RFA, which was co-located with the above Depot, for training.

As noted, it would take a lot more work trying to find out the unit or units he served with overseas, and that work might still bring no success.

Regards

Russ

[Colin W Taylor]

Hi,

The war diary for the Le Havre base records units arriving and departing from the port. On 27 Aug 15 104th Brigade RFA arrived and presumably unloaded. The day before 103 and 105 Brigades RFA arrived and the day after was the 23rd Division Ammunition Column. There were other possible disembarkation points but it is possible that he was with the 104th, or at least one of the artillery units of the 23rd Division. As already stated, he may have arrived as a replacement ( i.e. not with a formed unit), in which case his unit may not be so easily identified.

Regards

Colin