How do I find this man?

[Swally]

Hi Guys,

your help in the past has been nothing short of brilliant I wonder if you can come up trumps again?

One of my Great Uncles (your right I had a few) on his marriage certificate lists him as a Private in 1/10 Royal Scots in 1916. I have tried to look up the NA and there are loads of them.

My question is how do I find out what one is my Great Uncle?

I know nothing further apart from his date of birth and that he survived the war.

I would presume that he was home on leave when he got married on 2/6/1916 he married a Isabella Hunter at Dunscore ( a wee village in the South West of Scotland near Dumfries.

James's date of birth was 24/7/1893 and was born in Aberdeen.

[Stebie9173]

A surname might help!

Steve.

[Swally]

Oppppsss!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

sorry guys,

his surname was Allan

thanks a lot

Swally

[Stebie9173]

PROVIDED THAT:

a ) His MIC is under James Allan and not any other spelling.

and

b ) That he served overseas in the 10th Royal Scots after 1-3-1917.

Then he is probably this man:

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documen...&resultcount=33

375465 Private James Allan.

The allocation of new TF (Territorial Force) numbers given to the 10th Royal Scots on 1-3-1917 were in the ranges 375000 to 400000. This is the only James Allan who has a Royal Scots number in this range.

As I said above, if his name has mispelt or abbreviated, then he may still be out there....

Steve.

EDIT : To clarify - On further evidence ( b ) is obviously incorrect. It should read "That he was serving in the 10th Royal Scots at 1-3-1917 and also served overseas."

Edited 6 September , 2005 by Stebie9173

[Derek Robertson]

Well done Steve

[Swally]

Steve,

my you guys work quickly.

Amazing detective work from the Forum yet again.

Thanks a lot, although not confirmed as yet I need to try a see if I can get his service record this shall surley tie down my uncle.

Thanks everyone at the Forum for their help over the past few months.

Terrific work Steve, Ta

Swally

[Malcolm]

From The Long Long Trail.

1/10th (Cyclist) Battalion

August 1914 : in Linlithgow. Moved to coastal defence at Berwick until April 1918, then to Ireland.

From Brigadier James British Regiments 1914-1918.

1/10th ( Cyclist) Battalion.

4//8/14 Linlithgow: Army Troops: to East Linton and on defence duty at North Berwick until April 1918 and then to Ireland where it was stationed at Claremorris, the Curragh and Port Arlington. By the end of 1916 over 90% of the original personnel had gone overseas.

Note for Chris - East Linton is in East Lothian and near North Berwick on the shore of the River Forth. Berwick is down south about 50 miles from North Berwick. - confusing ain't it!

Private James Allan must have been with another Battalion if/when he went overseas.

Aye

Malcolm

[Stebie9173]

Looking at the Long, Long Trail, I see that the 1/10th Never made it to France.

They served in Scotland and Ireland.

http://www.1914-1918.net/royalscots.htm

Nevertheless if he was serving at 1-3-1917 he would have been renumbered.

This man would have transferred to another battalion later and kept his number (it could even have been a New Army Battalion, not just TF)

Alternatively, James' never served overseas and didn't therefore have an MIC.

Steve.

[Blackblue]

A look at the Medal Rolls may give you your answer as far as which battalion he was in.

Rgds

Tim

[Blackblue]

A look at Soldiers Died does not provide any clues. All the men with this number range who died are well and truly spread around to all RS battalions.

Rgds

Tim

[Chris_Baker]

I'll fix the Berwick thing.

[Malcolm]

Ta Boss.

Aye

Malcolm

[dycer]

Swally,

We often debate factoids on the forum which are part fact and part conjecture so please accept my posting as a factoid.

Fact. My Uncle, John Souness, lived in Haddington and was an apprentice in the local Paper, Haddingtonshire Courier.Pre-War he was a Territorial in the 8th Royal Scots and died of wounds in 1915.

This in an extract from a letter printed in the paper in the latter end of the War

"Lt James Gray,another Courier former apprentice,has been hearing from his fellow apprentice,"Jimmy"(I think his surname is Aitchison) and in the course of an interesting letter says:Jimmy sends his regards to everyone in the Courier Office.Fancy him fighting in France,and already twice wounded;-------.Johnnie Souness,in his soldiers's grave----and there is myself,(James Gray) wounded at St Quentin,and now killing time in Ireland"

Conjecture.It appears that James Gray was wounded and although no longer fit for front line action was sent to Ireland.I cannot confirm as a member of the 10th Royal Scots.There seems to be movement between Battalions so it is possible that your relative did go to France as a draft for another Battalion.

George

[Swally]

Guys,

again thanks for the help on James Allan.

I have found out a wee bit more about him.

He went to France at the outbreak of war but within a few short months he had been badly wounded by shrapnel and lay in a shell hole for 5 days beside a dead officer beofre being picked up by the Germans.

It is recorded in print that his captors did all they could for him and he was imprisoned in Germany. He was released in an exchange of prisoners in Switzerland in 1916.

It turns out that he lost his wedding tackle as a result of his injuries thus he never had any kids. After the death of his wife in 1934 he became badly depressed about his injuries and drank a bottle of iodine before shooting himself in the left lung.

He died some 9 hours after his incident with his pistol.

There exists no records of his at Kew, is there anything else that can be looked for.

Ta,

Swally