Enquiry WW1 grave

[Sjoukje]

Good day everyone, 

Since several years I adopted the WW1 grave of William Robert Boucher on the cemetery of Vlissingen the Netherlands. 

I found a lot of Williams history already but I still haven't found a photo of him. 

Probably a long shot, but maybe there are still relatives or anyone else who can help me find more information. 

http://www.yeovilhistory.info/boucher-williamrobert.htm

Thank you! 

[DavidOwen]

Welcome to the forum

Firstly, thank you tending William's grave.

The link you have posted looks very comprehensive. The best chance of a picture may come from local newspapers of the time but so far I haven't had any success.

Good luck with your research.

[Allan1892]

5 minutes ago, DavidOwen said:

The best chance of a picture may come from local newspapers of the time

As well as searching newspapers I have searched family trees; Find a Grave and just Googling his name + year of death, all searches have failed to come up with an image.

[Matlock1418]

On 04/05/2024 at 11:04, Sjoukje said:

Since several years I adopted the WW1 grave of William Robert Boucher on the cemetery of Vlissingen the Netherlands. 

Sjoukje, Welcome to GWF.

Thank you for looking after Stoker BOUCHER's grave. 

That's a nice-looking web page for him that you have brought to our attention.  Thank you to you and the author.

Unfortunately I cannot offer you a photograph(s) of him but I can share a couple of records that you may have/perhaps not yet have seen [?].

The sad aftermath ... his aged mother's dependant's pension claim [Images thanks to the Western Front Association / Fold3]

Stoker (1st Class) William Robert BOUCHER, K 29924, Royal Navy

Pension index card

The pension award of 1/6 per from 24.6.18 to 15.10.19 [1 shilling 6 pence per week] was supposed to be made under Article 21 (1a) of the 1918 Royal Warrant on Pay and Pensions - however it looks a bit short of what should have been paid under that Article.  Payments should have been pre-war dependance [i.e. 1/6 pw] or 3/6 pw if that was greater so I am a bit puzzled ???

The SA 1/- referred to is Separation Allowance - a weekly support payment made whilst a man was away on active service

Pension ledger page

Despite a recorded service number of DNB 1200 [one that I do not recognise] we can see this is for the same man because of the same details and especially the Ministry of Pension regional reference 8/D/676 which is on both records ... 8 = Region 8 [South West England] D = Dependant's claim and 676 = Claim number.  In fact the pension ledger page was the original source of the reference on the card.

We can see that there is quite a bit of detail under the Particulars of Awards 1920-24 ... notably, higher weekly awards now being made under the newer/revised 1919 Royal Warrant, Article 21 (1b).

This Article and clause allowed for "(b) If at any time either or both of the parents is or are wholly or partly incapable of self-support from age or infirmity, and they are in pecuniary need, a pension of not less than 3 shillings and 6 pence and not exceeding 15 shillings a week" - the higher awards 1920-24 do not seem especially surprising given his mother's recorded year of birth being 1853.

I hope of added interest to you and all.

Please keep up your good work.

M

Edited 6 May by Matlock1418

[Sjoukje]

On 04/05/2024 at 15:09, DavidOwen said:

Welcome to the forum

Firstly, thank you tending William's grave.

The link you have posted looks very comprehensive. The best chance of a picture may come from local newspapers of the time but so far I haven't had any success.

Good luck with your research.

Thank you so much! 

I'll keep on trying (also the newspapers). Hope I will find something. 

On 04/05/2024 at 15:18, Allan1892 said:

As well as searching newspapers I have searched family trees; Find a Grave and just Googling his name + year of death, all searches have failed to come up with an image.

Thank you for trying! 

[Sjoukje]

13 hours ago, Matlock1418 said:

Sjoukje, Welcome to GWF.

Thank you for looking after Stoker BOUCHER's grave. 

That's a nice-looking web page for him that you have brought to our attention.  Thank you to you and the author.

Unfortunately I cannot offer you a photograph(s) of him but I can share a couple of records that you may have/perhaps not yet have seen [?].

The sad aftermath ... his aged mother's dependant's pension claim [Images thanks to the Western Front Association / Fold3]

Stoker (1st Class) William Robert BOUCHER, K 29924, Royal Navy

Pension index card

The pension award of 1/6 per from 24.6.18 to 15.10.19 [1 shilling 6 pence per week] was supposed to be made under Article 21 (1a) of the 1918 Royal Warrant on Pay and Pensions - however it looks a bit short of what should have been paid under that Article.  Payments should have been pre-war dependance [i.e. 1/6 pw] or 3/6 pw if that was greater so I am a bit puzzled ???

The SA 1/- referred to is Separation Allowance - a weekly support payment made whilst a man was away on active service

Pension ledger page

Despite a recorded service number of DNB 1200 [one that I do not recognise] we can see this is for the same man because of the same details and especially the Ministry of Pension regional reference 8/D/676 which is on both records ... 8 = Region 8 [South West England] D = Dependant's claim and 676 = Claim number.  In fact the pension ledger page was the original source of the reference on the card.

We can see that there is quite a bit of detail under the Particulars of Awards 1920-24 ... notably, higher weekly awards now being made under the newer/revised 1919 Royal Warrant, Article 21 (1b).

This Article and clause allowed for "(b) If at any time either or both of the parents is or are wholly or partly incapable of self-support from age or infirmity, and they are in pecuniary need, a pension of not less than 3 shillings and 6 pence and not exceeding 15 shillings a week" - the higher awards 1920-24 do not seem especially surprising given his mother's recorded year of birth being 1853.

I hope of added interest to you and all.

Please keep up your good work.

M

Thank you so much! 

I did not find the information before, so this is interesting! Also because in the Yeovil article there was a bit of a mystery who Williams mother was, but in your info it was Mary (with an adresse too!) 

Thanks for taking the time to share this! 

[Jim Strawbridge]

William is included in a family tree on Ancestry. I have contacted the provider of the tree to see if they have a photograph.

[Sjoukje]

Thank you Jim for contacting Ancestry! Keeping my fingers crossed for finding a photo. 

[seaJane]

21 hours ago, Matlock1418 said:

aged mother

Hi Matlock,

Can you decipher the second word of his mother's address for me? Adber is a hamlet about 13 miles from my home, on the way to Sherborne. I have looked at the image you posted but can't make it out.

There is no Adber Street in Sherborne, and Adber Close in Yeovil is, I believe, too new a build to be relevant.

Thanks!

seaJane

[seaJane]

Edit: scrub round that, I think I have found it. Adber, Trent - the same place.

[seaJane]

I have been checking the war memorials in the churches for the various places connected with William Boucher and his mother Mary, given that William is not commemorated on the Yeovil War Memorial.

According to the Imperial War Museum, the name William Boncher appears on the war memorial lectern of the Church of the Blessed Virgin Rimpton.* However, there is no W. Boncher on the CWGC website - could this be a mistake for Boucher?

The church is only 12 miles from my home so I will see if I can get out there soon and look at the memorial.

seaJane 

*Rimpton, Yeovil, although the first pension card gives Mary's address as Rimpton, Bath. However, I don't think there is a Rimpton in or near Bath.

Edited 7 May by seaJane
Footnote

[PRC]

 

3 hours ago, seaJane said:

According to the Imperial War Museum, the name William Boncher appears on the war memorial lectern of the Church of the Blessed Virgin Rimpton.* However, there is no W. Boncher on the CWGC website - could this be a mistake for Boucher?

I don't know the area that well but I do know on Flickr the churchs of that part of the world are quite well photographed, although often poorly labelled. I did a search for Rimpton just in case there was a picture of the lectern which also revealed any names carved there.

What it offered me as the first match was the war memorial plaque in the Church of St Nicholas, Sandford Orcas, Dorset.  One of the two WW1 names was an A.B. William "Blucher". Royal Navy. The poster of the picture has done some research says there is no match on CWGC and therefore believes it to be the William Robert Boucher who is also remembered just across the county boundary at Rimpton.

Image courtesy Flickr member Michael Day - restriction on re-use may well apply. Click on the picture to follow through and see what he had written about the family.

The Eagle Lectern in St Mary the Virgin, Rimpton, has also been photographed. The names on the brass surround of the pedestal is only partially visible but the first names starts William B. All rights are reserved.

Cheers,
Peter

[seaJane]

1 hour ago, PRC said:

Sandford Orcas

Thank you for that! Only 9 miles from me so I can take that in en route to Rimpton.

1 hour ago, PRC said:

Eagle Lectern 

And again thanks. I will do my best to get photographs of both, not least because I shall be happy for @Sjoukje to make use of them if wished, so that the question of rights won't apply.

[Sjoukje]

On 07/05/2024 at 22:56, PRC said:

 

I don't know the area that well but I do know on Flickr the churchs of that part of the world are quite well photographed, although often poorly labelled. I did a search for Rimpton just in case there was a picture of the lectern which also revealed any names carved there.

What it offered me as the first match was the war memorial plaque in the Church of St Nicholas, Sandford Orcas, Dorset.  One of the two WW1 names was an A.B. William "Blucher". Royal Navy. The poster of the picture has done some research says there is no match on CWGC and therefore believes it to be the William Robert Boucher who is also remembered just across the county boundary at Rimpton.

Image courtesy Flickr member Michael Day - restriction on re-use may well apply. Click on the picture to follow through and see what he had written about the family.

The Eagle Lectern in St Mary the Virgin, Rimpton, has also been photographed. The names on the brass surround of the pedestal is only partially visible but the first names starts William B. All rights are reserved.

Cheers,
Peter

Wow, thank you for this information. So there are 2 war memorials where William's name is on, but with a wrong spelling. I was searching for info in Yeovil but Rimpton pops up a lot too. Thanks! 

On 08/05/2024 at 00:39, seaJane said:

Thank you for that! Only 9 miles from me so I can take that in en route to Rimpton.

And again thanks. I will do my best to get photographs of both, not least because I shall be happy for @Sjoukje to make use of them if wished, so that the question of rights won't apply.

Thank you for all the effort! Much appreciated!! 

[seaJane]

At this point I must say thank you to @Sjoukje for giving me an excuse to go on a church crawl in a lovely part of Dorset and Somerset on a beautiful spring day.

To start with, St Nicholas, Sandford Orcas (Dorset). I couldn't get into the church in my wheelchair, unfortunately (the accessible door was locked, the unlocked door led to a flight of steps), but my husband kindly went indoors to photograph the memorial while I looked round the porch, where a notice about the memorial was posted - with the correct spelling.

Edited 10 May by seaJane

[seaJane]

And now St Mary's, Rimpton (Somerset). I could get into this church so was able to take the photographs myself.

Nice to see that the Rimpton memorial has the spelling of his name right!

Edited 10 May by seaJane

[seaJane]

@Sjoukje, if you want to save these images you can do so by right-clicking on each and choosing the "Save image as ... " option. I hope they may be useful (with thanks to my dear husband for a certain amount of pushing and lifting ).

[Sjoukje]

12 hours ago, seaJane said:

@Sjoukje, if you want to save these images you can do so by right-clicking on each and choosing the "Save image as ... " option. I hope they may be useful (with thanks to my dear husband for a certain amount of pushing and lifting ).

Thank you so much for these photo's! I got a bit of goosebumps reading your post. Good the see that Williams name is correct on the memorial. 

It almost gives me an excuse to plan a trip to Somerset 😉

I search for photos of William on Yeovil forums but I will try Rimpton as well. 

On the 4th of May we had remembrance day in the Netherlands, one of the day I always visit Williams grave (the picture below) 

But thank you for this new information, much appreciated! 

 

 

[Allan1892]

@Sjoukje -- Thank you for looking after William's grave.

[seaJane]

3 hours ago, Allan1892 said:

@Sjoukje -- Thank you for looking after William's grave.

And the same from me. I'm glad I could find him here.

(I've also passed details to the creator of the Yeovil page.) 

[Sjoukje]

19 hours ago, Allan1892 said:

@Sjoukje -- Thank you for looking after William's grave.

 

16 hours ago, seaJane said:

And the same from me. I'm glad I could find him here.

(I've also passed details to the creator of the Yeovil page.) 

What a good idea 🤗