Loyal North Lancs Regt - gassed and POW

[Guest British Sapper]

I am looking to gain any info on my GF, John Barker. He was born in Wigan, Lanc's, in 1881, and listed in the 1901 census at a Wigan address when he was 21.

Because he never said anything about his war experiences and died in 1960, we the family know almost nothing . We don't even have his medals anymore, I seem to remember he had 5. Though none were for gallantry.

His occupation before WW 1, was a hewer,as stated in the Census, which was a miner who worked at the coal face.

Apparently, he was taken POW and was blinded in one eye as result and permanently. He did say however that he was treated BETTER by the Germans than he was by his own side . He was a Pvt., in the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment.

Post WW1 and apparently, due to his age and being blind in one eye, he spent many years unemployed in the 1920's and 1930's, and brought up a family of 6 children.

These are the one's that come up on the NA website for the medal cards. Of the six there, I suspect that only the three with the one christian name may be him

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documen...=1&mediaarray=*

I have a small picture of him, a 'bust' photo in his uniform.

[John_Hartley]

Welcome to the Forum.

Assuming John didnt have a middle initial, then I agree that you have have a good starting point of three men. The next quick step for you is to cross reference them with the Commonwealth war Graves Commission website, to discount any who died during the War. Your only practical next step is to see if the service papers of any of them still exist at the National Archives (only about 30% survived a fire during WW1). These are not available on-line and you would need to visit or pay a researcher to look for you.

Hopefully you would strike lucky. However, If may offer a word of caution. Say you found two of three, then you cannot 100% assume that the third must have been your relative (although it would be a good bet). This is due to a number of reasons - he may not have served overseas with the Loyals (perhaps being transferred during training) or there is a simple error on the NA's database, etc.

If you are able to identify him, you will be able to confirm which battalion he served with. This will then allow you to use regimental histories and the Battalion's War Diary (also at the National Archives) to see what actions he might have been involved in.

Good luck

John