Suffolk Regiment

[Suffolk_Cousins]

I am very new to all this. I would love to be able to find out more about my great grandfather Frank Cousins. Sadly I don't know alot about him, all I know is that he served in the Suffolk Regiment during world war 1, from when or for how long I do not know. He did survive it though. Frank was born on the 19th of September 1897 in Crowfield, Suffolk and died in 1953 Crowfield, Suffolk. Can anyone tell me where I should start looking? Especially if there is anywhere I can look on the net. Many Thanks Jo

[J T Gray]

I know this is going to sound a bit smug, but have you looked at the "For New members" section on the forum home page? That is the best place to start, and will give you lots of ideas and things to look at. Then, when you've seen what you can do with what information you have and had a few goes, come back and see what we can do to help here.

Do you have his medals? If you so you'll have his regiment, a service number and perhaps a battalion number - that's a good place to start from.

Any more information on what sources you have for the information you have also helps us to help you.

Adrian

[Suffolk_Cousins]

Hey, I've had a look on the new members section but sadly nothing really applied. I don't have his medals so can't tell you what his service numbers were or anything like that. He wasn't killed or injured during action either. From reading the new members section it sounds rather impossible to find anything out about my great grandfather just from his name and the fact he was in the Suffolk Regiment.

[Anthony Pigott]

If you look at the medal index at the National Archives:

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

it will show you two possible Frank Cousins of the Suffolks (I just looked). You can get a copy of the actual index card for £3.50 which might tell you more and help to identify which one is 'yours'.

There's a lot of background stuff on the NA site (and on this forum, of course).

Regards

Anthony

[Stebie9173]

There is also a 3rd possible - Francis P Cousins.

Our choices seem to be:

Medal card of Cousins, Frank

Corps Regiment No Rank

Suffolk Regiment 3859 Private

Suffolk Regiment 44085 Private

Looks like he was a Territorial soldier who later transferred to a Regular/New Army battalion of the Suffolks. Perhaps transferred 1916 or 1917.

Medal card of Cousins, Frank

Corps Regiment No Rank

Suffolk Regiment 41962 Private

A man enlisted during the War. Perhaps enlisted 1916 or 1917, at a similar time to the man above.

Medal card of Cousins, Francis P

Corps Regiment No Rank

Essex Regiment 2724 Private

Suffolk Regiment 560 Private

Northamptonshire Regiment 4194 Private

Either a man who moved around several territorial units and was discharged before the new numbering system came in or possibly a Regular soldier enlisted around 1894 in the Northamptonshire Regiment and later served in the Essex and Suffolk Regiments. (The Essex and Suffolk number would be too early to be Regular army numbers - probably about 1890 and 1882 enlistments respectively). The "always territorials" seems more likely.

None of these men were killed in the War as far as I can see.

Steve.