grandfathers medal; malcolm stewart private 7567 I think a piper in the A&S 5th Battalion. The medal has 1914-1915

[malcolm stewart]

Birth certificate of great grandfather  Malcolm Stewart(.born in 1892) He appears to have joined the territorials in 1908, when they were first formed, and then became the 5th A&S H. I am trying to contact some of my relatives, but they live in Australia. I see he had a middle name! Campbell? but never used it.

Birth certificate of great grandfather of applicant.pdf

[AndrewSid]

Thankyou for posting that.  It confirms him as a 5th Bn Private in October 1914 following his mobilisation in the August on wars declaration. 

Without a service history for him its not possible to confirm he served in Gallipoli from what survives.  We know he was later serving with the 1/6 Battalion in France from both his medal roll and the medical admissions form.  

Of note is that a large component of the original 5th Battalion did deploy and fought in Gallipoli, thus many of his pre- war and early war local comrades would have gone, and that experience likely became a notable social event and discusion point locally.  The 5th did not return to France from Egypt until April 1918.  

There are a number of scenarios that can be suggested for his return to the UK from Gallipoli if he was indeed there.  Wounding or sickness wold have seen large numbers of the original 5th Battalion sent back to the UK for recovery or dicharge.  Recovered me would them be recycled back into Regiment if they were fit enough. Unfortunately, he is not coming up on searches in the Times casualty lists for the period which reported wounded and killed from that Theatre. 

The absence of the 5th Battalion on his medal roll and the stated deployment date being to France on 01 June 1915 do not tally with a Gallipoli deployment. However, as stated, without the now lost service record we cannot say for sure.

Are there any other family details you could add perhaps?

 

Andy

[TEW]

I'm aware the Medical Registers in MH106 might not be 100% accurate but his entry apparently places him in 2/6th battalion Dec 1916.

If that's correct it means the medal rolls are not giving his full service, only as much as is needed.

TEW

[malcolm stewart]

i am in touch with other family members in Australia, and will come back if/when I get any further info. Regards and Thanks, Malcolm Stewart 

[TEW]

There's been more than a few twists and turns in this topic regarding his service dates, theatres and battalions.

Just to add another, the medical register for Dec 1916 states 2/6th battalion. TLLT trail does not place that unit in a theatre of war at all for the duration of the war.

However it Was called No 10 Battalion between November 1915 and January 1916. I realise this was posted previously.

From what I can see this is not the same as the 10th Battalion, at least the dairy for the 10th makes no mention of 2/6th for the period Nov 15-Jan 16

It's confusing as his medal roll date shows entry that could concur with 10th Battalion (even though it states 1/6th).

It would be interesting to see if there are other 2/6th men in the medical registers.

Could they really have had a 10th Battalion based solely in the UK and another simultaneously in France?

TEW

[Allan1892]

1 hour ago, TEW said:

It would be interesting to see if there are other 2/6th men in the medical registers.

I have checked the register that #7567 M S Stewart is in and I apologise for my original post which stated that he was with the 2/6th Btn, his entry reads 1/6th (image courtesy of Find My Past). In addition to Stewart, there were 5 other men from the 1/6th Btn:-

#3003 -- 1/6th Btn -- J Adams -- admitted 20/12/16 -- 3 years 6 months in the army -- 19 full months in the field

#7536 -- 1/6th Btn -- J McAulay -- admitted 20/12/16 -- 1 year in the army -- 5 full months in the field

#6000 -- 1/6th Btn --  R Smith -- admitted 21/12/16 -- 2 years 3 months in the army -- 1 full month in the field

#1909 -- 1/6th Btn -- J King -- admitted 26/12/16 --  4 years 6 months in the army -- 15 full months in the field

#7537 -- 1/6th Btn -- W McAulay -- admitted 30/12/16 -- 2 years in the army -- 5 full months in the field

[TEW]

Thanks Allan, that's one less headache.

TEW