Frank Hicks First Surrey Rifles

[Sgt Stripes]

Hi. Researching 5641 Pte Frank Hicks First Surrey Rifles, 1/21st London Reg, . Forces war records state entitled to wear wound strip, incident date 30th October 1916. A poor copy that i have of his pension card states GSW Left Forearm and Right Knee. Two of his brothers were KIA 5180 L J Hicks ( 27. 5. 1916 ), 1st London Reg and 5191 R W Hicks (5.6.1916) 1st London Reg. Would it be possible to narrow down the time line when he was wounded and possibly where the Battalion was, when he was wounded. Any new information on Pte Frank Hicks would be a great help. Thank you 

[mancpal]

Have you looked for the free to download war diary? This should answer your questions.

Simon

[Sgt Stripes]

No sorry. Not to sure how to do it. 

[DavidOwen]

5 minutes ago, Sgt Stripes said:

No sorry. Not to sure how to do it. 

Register for a free account with the TNA Register (nationalarchives.gov.uk)

War Diary for the period you need is here 142 Infantry Brigade: 1/21 Battalion London Regiment (Surrey Rifles). With maps and plans | The National Archives

[Sgt Stripes]

Thank you very much. 

[PRC]

1 hour ago, Sgt Stripes said:

incident date 30th October 1916.

More likely to be the date that the casualty list was issued from the records office. There would then be a further delay before they appear in the press.

Unfortunately not spotting him in the official casualty lists that appeared in The Times from that newspapers website and by that stage of the war they were no longer referencing which casualty list date they were reproducing. Similarly nothing leaping out at me from the newspaper titles on the British Newspaper Archive website. I believe The Genealogist website have a transcription of the Official Casualty Lists from The Times, so hopefully a forum member can check that out for you. While it can't be taken for granted that it applies, a check of CWGC for the men of the same Battalion who died and who are in the same list may at least limit the period you need to search the war diary for.

Equally unfortunately while the London Regiment Medal Rolls are normally quite detailed, I see from his MiC that he went on to serve with the Royal Army Medical Corps and the Royal Field Artillery - with his service medals being issued by the latter. Their medal rolls are much, much less detailed.

I will be pleasantly surprised if he turns up in the War Diary. Some did go though phases of including other ranks names of the killed and wounded, more often as appendices rather than for individual days entries, but practice varied enormously and essentially came down to the time available and inclination of the individual tasked with preparing ithe diary. Appendices also seem to have been the thing most likely to go missing over the years, so you will see them referenced against the daily entries but search for them in vain.

The 1/21st (County of London) Battalion (First Surrey Rifles) were part of the 47th (2nd London) Division. For context of what the Division were up to there is an official history written just after the Great War that can be read here https://archive.org/details/47thlondondivisi00maudrich

Our parent site, The Long, Long Trail, shows that the Division was involved in the The Battle of Flers-Courcelette in which the division captured High Wood and The Battle of Le Transloy Ridges in which the division captured Eaucourt l’Abbaye and took part in attacks on the Butte de Warlencourt. http://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/army/order-of-battle-of-divisions/47th-2nd-london-division/

Flers-Courcelette - 15th - 22nd September 1916 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Flers–Courcelette
Le Transloy Ridges - 1st - 18th October 1916. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Le_Transloy

Cheers,
Peter

[Sgt Stripes]

Many Thanks Peter for taking the time to look for any information for me. Very much appreciated