Pte 55619 Sidney Charles Heath MGC

[Faventia]

Hi all, over the last few years I've been doing as much research as possible on my grandfather & G-grandfather. Both have been a big mystery to myself + my father, and while I've unraveled some of the history I'm now at the stage where I need to seek help from those with more knowledge + experience. Over the years it's just been something I've plugged away at, but my father has been unexpectedly diagnosed with cancer- it's not looking hopeful- which is why it's suddenly become a bit more pressing for me. Sorry for the wall of text you're about to see & all the unorganised stories/bits n' pieces I've been collaging. Brevity is a skill I am unfortunately still working on 

 

My father grew up never once speaking or meeting anyone on his father's side (outside of his father, ofc). His father never talked about his childhood, relatives or much about his experiences in the war (never spoke of the war sober, and only rarely when drunk). It was only years after his death did my father find out his dad had a whole family prior to him & his mum he brought over from the UK to Aus (and then promptly abandoned). According to my father, he had very severe PTSD from his experiences though always promised to tell him his past + feelings one day. Sadly, he died before that day came when my dad was only 21.

When the half-brothers (that my dad wasn't even aware existed until they called him up one day!) contacted him, my father found out a bit more of the history and the family mystery around his grandfather (my g-grandfather). G-grandfather was married with a good amount of kids prior to the war, but after returning from the first world war he just disappeared- said to be dead but half-brothers told my dad that there was some suspicion about him having faked his death. G-grandmother then gave some of their children to a children's home.

My dad discovered an uncle who had been searching for his brother (my dad's father) since the 2nd world war. Uncle was dying by this stage (and the brother/my grandfather has already passed) but he was still very grateful to find his brothers child and speak to him. According to my father, that Uncle "told me of a sad story where he grew up in a children's home, he had no idea one of the girls in the home was one of his sisters, and one day out of the blue, a woman turned up and said she was his mother, and without any affection or happiness to see him, just took him to a house where there were other kids but no one spoke to him except my father, the mother never showed any affection ever.".

Through the wonders of DNA testing & my own research over the years, I discovered that my G-grandfather did indeed fake his own death after the war. He moved to a different part of England, started a new family where he claimed to be Scottish 'despite speaking with an educated English accent', rode bicycles and kept chickens according to the family I got into contact with. From their research he was POW for a period during WW1, which I'm really curious to find further information about.

 

 

Details of the man in question I would like help tracking down information on is:

Sidney Charles Heath 

B. 21st of May, 1887

88 Portland Rd, Kensington, Middlesex, England

Rank: Private 

Service Number: 55619

Years: 1914-1920

Regiment: Machine Gun Corps

 

 

 

[Michelle Young]

Welcome to the forum. Members can certainly help with the WW1 question, but this forum does not deal with WW2. There is another forum, ww2talk.com for that. I would suggest that you join that forum as well. 

[Faventia]

Ah, much appreciated thank you! I'll join and post there as well for the help on researching John S Heath

[Michelle Young]

Sidney was entitled to the War and Victory Medals, meaning he did not see overseas service until after 1st January 196. 

[chaz]

Sydney Charles has POW records free to look at and download.

https://grandeguerre.icrc.org/en/File/Search/#/3/2/224/0/British and Commonwealth/Military/heath%2C sydney

if you need help with the above. write the PA numbers down and cursor over the page then a banner comes up "more info about this person. click on then use the PA numbers.

this should tell you where he was taken POW, where taken to POW camps.

using https://digital.nls.uk/british-military-lists/archive/144481815 will give you a report you can search for his POW notification and release also free to look at, but limited dates.

A look on Ancestry or Fold3 will give other records and with a bit of work any daily list that may have the nls link date and issue number you need.

[chaz]

BTW, dont worry too much about the soldier not passing much information onto the family about his time in France or elsewhere. It did really affect them and they saw sights they were not prepared for. many locked them away in the back of their memory . This also made them hostile to others, even family. My grandfather was , we would say grouchy, my father says its probably why my mother (grandfathers  daughter) also had the same sort of attitude.

[GWF TEAM]

The reference to the WW2 sailor is off topic for this forum as pointed out by Michelle and we have edited and retitled your post to reflect this

[kenf48]

@Faventia Welcome to the GWF

Pte Heath in all probability attested under the Derby or Group Scheme in December 1915. He was then posted to the Army Reserve.  He was mobilised around June /July 1916 and completed basic training in England in either the Rifle Brigade or the King's Royal Rifle Corps.

He was posted to the Machine Gun Corps in all probability around mid-September 1916 and posted to Grantham for training as a machine gunner.

In all probability he was posted to the BEF in December 1916.  When taken as a prisoner of war he gave his unit as 197 Company MGC which by the time of his capture had been absorbed into  9 Battalion MGC following reorganisation of the Corps at the beginning of March.

As noted on the Long Long Trail, and we always recommend if new to researching soldiers of the Great War you study that site, this is what it says about 197 Company

"197 Company
Arrived at Le Havre 16 December 1916 (10 officers, 177 other ranks, 58 horses)
Joined 9th (Scottish) Division at Montenescourt 19 December 1916"

https://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/army/regiments-and-corps/machine-gun-corps-in-the-first-world-war/

You can download the war diary for free from TNA if you register.  It's unlikely to mention him by name but 

197 Company 

https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C7352523

9 Battalion MGC

https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C7352524

He is on a War Office Casualty List as a released POW from Germany dated 10th December 1918 where his address was given as Hove though the POW record identifies his wife at Portsmouth. Whether or not that is significant in your research is up to you.

https://digital.nls.uk/british-military-lists/archive/194170796