195 Siege Battery, RGA Brigade 19

[Guest RTAYLOR]

Hi all. I am also very new to this. I am hoping someone can help me out a bit.

No information was passed on to my father regarding my grandfather's service in the war and i feel that it is something we should display and be proud of.

I am looking for information or any photographs of my grandfather or his unit, its involvment in the war, what his job was, what type of gun he worked with. We only have a few papers and some medals from his service, no photos. Are there any recommended sites to try and find photos/order them? Are there any recommended sites to order his unit insignia.

John William Taylor

59108 Bd

Signaler 1st Class

RGA 19th Brigade, 195 Siege Battery

Served in Europe from Oct 11 1915 to May 14 1919.

I have been very impressed with some of the information posted on this site and how helpful a lot of you are in providing information, good for you and thank you!

[KONDOA]

War diaries for 195th SB are somewhat scarce. The NA shows:

WO 95/219 195 Seige Battery Royal Garrison Artillery 1917 May - June

It is likely further diaries exist at the RA Museum Library in Woolwich (Firepower)

For photographs you will be harder pressed but the IWM photo archive may turn something up.

Roop

[essdee]

This is a copy from the Allocation of Batteries, which answers some of your questions and gives a good start point for further research. I'll dig through the diary extracts I have and see what else I might have have on them.

Stuart

[Guest RTAYLOR]

Thank you very much for your help!!! It does mean a lot.

[Graham Stewart]

RTaylor,

Sorry I missed this post earlier, but here is some additional information that may be of some use to you.

The 195th(Siege)Bty,R.G.A. were formed at Fareham on 13th July 1916 and were eventually disbanded in 1919.

On 20th May 1918 423rd(Siege)Bty,R.G.A. was broken up and its sections dispersed between 111th(Siege)Bty,R.G.A. and 195th(Siege)Bty,R.G.A.

By November 1918 195th(Siege)Bty,R.G.A. were serving as Army Troops in 29th(Mobile)Brigade,R.G.A., First Army. The Brigade consisted of the following units;-

12th(Heavy)Bty,R.G.A. - 6x 60pounder guns.

121st(Heavy)Bty,R.G.A. - 6x 60pounder guns.

195th(Siege)Bty,R.G.A. - 6x 6inch Howitzers.

303rd(Siege)Bty,R.G.A. - 6x 6inch Howitzers.

Thats all I know I'm afraid.

Graham.

[Guest RTAYLOR]

Thanks for your help. I appreciate the time you all have taken to look into my grandpas past!

[matthewjoy]

You should also note that the war diary for 29th Brigade RGA also contains a number of detailed references for 195 Siege Battery, which formed part of the Brigade in 1918. Document WO 95/219 at the National Arhcive contains these diaries. My grandfather served with 12th Heavy Battery RGA which was also part of 29th Brigade and I have been transacribing those diaries. I am through to September 1918 and hope to have finished the transacription in a month or so. I would be very happy to let you have a copy once it is finished.

Good luck with your search.

[Guest RTAYLOR]

Gunnerjoy,

That would be fantastic! My father and I would be very interested in this information. Thank you for dropping me a line and I look forward to hearing from you.

Regards,