John S. Urquhart

[D0t]

Seaching for information about John S. Urquhart, serving as a private in the 8th London regiment. I have his Great War victory medal and would like to obtain some further information about him, his family, or any available information or pictures.

Thanks in advance!

[Michelle Young]

With photos, it’s really best to try local newspapers. 

[D0t]

I have been searching for some information, and me and Wilfred have been able to find more information about JS Urquhart. He was a private in the 8th London regiment in 1916 when he signed up, however he later became a lance corporal in the same regiment, before dying in battle in 1917. His family got his victory medal for him after the war. His full name is John Simpson Urquhart, we have not been able to find information about his place of birth, or any dates regarding his birth. We have also not been able to find any information about his family. 

https://livesofthefirstworldwar.iwm.org.uk/lifestory/4542064

[Wilfred]

Hello great war forum!

A while ago me and a friend were able to obtain an old victory medal at an antique exihibition, and we managed to uncover some information about the original recipient of the medal. The sides of the medal are inscribed with the number rank, name and regiment; 5863 Pte. J. S. Urquhart 8-London regiment. We were able to uncover the medal index card, and there he is registered under two service numbers. 

However, when we dug deeper we also found a war memorial to him in Ypres where he is registered as a Lance Corporal and died in 1917. We are now wondering if perhaps the family were the ones who recieved the medals and signed the Index Card. If anyone has any information about him or his service details it would be greatly appreciated. We don't know anything about his family nor background and would be very interested in information about that. 

 

Thank you in advance

 

https://livesofthefirstworldwar.iwm.org.uk/lifestory/4542064 

Lance Corporal John S. Urquhart - CWGC Certificate (1).pdf

[DavidOwen]

A POW enquiry was made by his father but without result Prisoners of War 1715-1945 Image | findmypast.co.uk

This correlates via father's address to previous service for which records exist - he was discharged from that in 1911 British Army Service Records 1914-1920 Image | findmypast.co.uk

[DavidOwen]

Threads merged to avoid confusion and duplication of effort.

[PRC]

Direct link to the Iinternational Committee of the Red Cross card, showing his father living at 270 Bonnington Road, Leith. https://grandeguerre.icrc.org/en/File/Details/4737386/3/2/
(The original correspondence no longer exists).

Unit was actually the 2/8th Battalion, London Regiment. That Battalion first landed in France at the end of January 1917. https://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/army/regiments-and-corps/the-british-infantry-regiments-of-1914-1918/london-regiment/

War Diaries for units serving in France & Flanders can currently be downloaded for free from the UK National Archive. You do need to sign in with your account, but if you don't have one even that can be set up at the same time as placing your first order. Just click on "sign in" on any page of the online catalogue and follow the instructions - no financial details are requested. The part of the 2/8th War Diary covering the period of Johns' death can be found in the National Archive catalogue here https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C7355117

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission, (CWGC), database shows 88 fatalities for the Battalion on this day - all but 4 are like Lance-Corporal Urquhart and remembered on the Tyne Cot Memorial. The other four were recoverd from the battlefield post-war along with large numbers of unknown British Soldiers. They were identified from items of clothing and discs. A check of their CWGC webpages shows they have an attachment called a Concentration Report. These give brief details of where the bodies were found.
370215 Lance Corporal Richard Henry Addiscott, (shown as 8th Battalion). https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/461713/richard-henry-addiscott/
385139 Rifleman W. Bosley. https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/461990/w-bosley/
374298 Rifleman E.J. Browne, (shown as 8th Battalion). https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/462099/e-j-browne/
373043 Rifleman R.G. Churchill, (shown as 8th Battalion). https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/462263/r-g-churchill/
They, along with the unknown soldiers recovered with them are now buried at Tyne Cot Cemetery.

The Victory Medal and British War Medal Rolls for the London Regiment are normally comparatively details, showing for each man each battalion they served with in a Theatre of War, each Theatre of War and the dates he was with them overseas. The images of the pages of the roll are available on Ancestry, but it's transcription only on FindMyPast.

The records from pre-war for him on FindMyPast are indexed as born c1884, North Leith. I don't subscribe to that service so can't check them out, but oddly the same recordset is available on Genes Reunited, (owned by the same company) and it doesn't appear to have his records. From what I can see indexed on familysearch they actually come from the unburnt WW1 series records, although they only show a service record for him with number 1145, no unit stated. Born North Leith, resident Leith. (If you are not already a member familysearch is free to sign up and use) https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVB2-Y5RZ They don't, however, have any images available of his records.

In theory as they are being treated as World War 1 related records they should also be available on Ancestry, but I'm not readily spotting them.

If you're not aware, other ranks service records for those whose service was Great War era were stored in a London Warehouse that was then bombed out in WW2. What paperwork that survived, mainly fire, smut and water damaged, are known as the "burnt records". An attempt was then made to try to recreate some of the lost records by taking copies of the pages that had previously been extracted by the Ministry of Pensions and the Medical Service to assist with ongoing claims  - the "unburnt records".

It looks like John may well have lied about his age to sign up originally. Scotlands People https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/ have a birth for a John Simpson Urquhart recorded in the Leith North Registration District in 1888 - further details available via purchase. Mothers' maiden name was Simpson.

They will also most likely have details of him on the 1891 and 1901 Census of Scotland, and depending on whether he was still serving , and if so where his unit was based, possibly on the 1911 Census of Scotland as well. Again thats a purchase option, (unless you are resident in Scotland, where I believe it's possible to get some of the information for free).

Unfortunately doesn't look like there is a Soldiers Will for him, but as it seems likely his body was never recovered his Army Pay Book, the most likely source of such a will, is likely to be lost with him.

If you are resident in the UK then you are likely to find that your local library service subscribes to either Ancestry or FindMyPast. You do need to be a library member and using one of their PC's, (although my own local library service is now allowing individuals to bring in their own devices but you have to login with your library number via the in-house wi-fi). If you don't wish to subscribe or take advantage of the free trials on offer from the likes of Ancestry or FindMyPast, then that could be another option for you.

Hope that gets you started.

Cheers,
Peter