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12th Rifle Brigade


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Hi All, :)

I would be most grateful if anyone could please help me with any information about this man and in what action he was killed.

Cheers

Tim.

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Hi Tim,

There is no Obituary notice in any of the Rifle Brigade Chronicles.

In the War Sevice record of the 12th Battalion it only says the following:- "On 26th April 2nd Lt. Munro was accidentally killed"

I will check the Regimental side for you shortly to see if there is any mention of the circumstances.

Andy

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Hi Andy, :)

Many thanks for that.

As it stated Kia on SDGW, I didn't think there may be a twist, but accidentally killed makes one wonder ! !

Cheers

Tim.

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Tim,

There are two references to this gentleman in the Regimental History, 1 on page 83 of volume 2 and the other on page 85 of volume 2.

Page 85

During the month casualties were light but, in addition to 2nd Lieutenant Vernede, 2nd Lieutenant Munro was killed whilst Captain Spurling was badly wounded by a shell which hit "B" Company H.Q. without, however, touching 2nd Lieutenant Whyte who was with him.

Page 83

Meanwhile on April 5th the Twelth Battalion moved from Bus to Ytres to make room for the Eleventh Battalion. These two villages were in much the same condition, but the enemy had not had time to wreck them completely; quantities of explosives were lying about and the walls of the houses still standing had been prepared for demolition.

After a couple of nights of working parties the Battalion went into the outpost line between Havrincourt Wood and Ruyaulcourt with its right some seven hundred yards from the south west corner of the wood and its left midway between the two. On the 8th an advance of about one thousand yards was made, patrols moving forward at 11.00 p.m. and the right of the new line was now in the wood. Next day, the 9th, there were several encounters with enemy patrols which invaribly retired after an exchange of shots.

Captain W.C. Messenger and 2nd Lieutenant's J.L. Rappoport and M.S. Munro all had interesting little fights.

Andy

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Tim,

Lieutenant M.S. Munro's British War Medal was recently on E Bay for sale, no-one purchased it. However the story attached to the blurb for the sale stated that he was killed by our own chaps whilst he was in no mans land.

I will be at Kew on Tuesday, if you need the information I can pull his papers for you to see if there is any mention of this in them.

Andy

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Hi Andy, :)

I'm very grateful for your time and effort in looking this up for me. I'm a little in shock as to the circumstances of his death.

Do you think that there would be any reference to such a thing in any Official Documents ? If so surely someone would have been brought to account for this action if not surely it would be hearsay ? Is there any way of telling if he had some sort of reputation that would make him hated by his men or an individual ?

I would be very grateful for any information from kew so that would be great if you don't mind !!

Cheers

Tim.

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Tim,

If I can remember the blurb it said that he was accidentally killed by sentries, so if the blurb is to be believed there must be some reference in documents somewhere.

I will pull his papers for you on tuesday, lets see if there is any reference to this episode in them.

Andy

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Hi Andy, :)

You're a star mate ! Very many thanks.

Cheers

Tim.

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Andy, :)

That is excellent stuff mate. It looks as if there is nothing sinister there, just an accident.

Cheers

Tim.

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Tim,

I think it was just a case of alert sentries and one of those unfortunate accidents, as you say nothing sinister. Let's see what his papers reveal.

Andy

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Tim,

Knew my memory was not playing tricks on me.

26th April. 2nd Lieutenant Munro, whilst inspecting his wire is accidentally shot by one of his own sentries.

Andy

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Tim,

Murdo Simon Munro enlisted on a short service(duration of war) attestation on 18th November 1914 and became No R/7693 in the Kings Royal Rifle Corps being posted to the 6th Battalion on 18/11/14 and then posted to the 3rd Battalion on 6/12/14. Following just over two months at the front he was then posted home to the KRRC/RB Depot on 28/1/15 and discharged to commission on 23/5/15 in the 13th Battalion Rifle Brigade.

His next of kin was his mother Mrs. Munro, of Cherrybank, Invergordon, Ross-shire.

Andy

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Hi Andy, :)

Thanks once again for all the time and trouble you have taken to answer my threads. I am most grateful.

Cheers

Tim.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi All, :)

I am now in reciept of his will, and that appears to have been written in South Africa, where he is described as a manager. By 1914 his address is in England.

Can anyone help with any information in regard to his time in South Africa ? Or any other information not already covered ?!!

Many Thanks

Cheers

Tim.

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Tim,

Once again from memory his father was in South Africa and I believe he spent quite a bit of time with his father in SA. His will in his papers covered quite a lot as I recall.

Andy

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Hi Andy, :)

Very many thanks for that. I will Pm you in the morning about him.

Cheers

Tim.

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Tim,

If you would care to PM me your e mail address sometime soon, I will get some more off to you on this officer. There is a lot regarding his will, also a letter from some woman claiming to be his wife with regard to his estate. Interesting stuff.

Andy

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Hi All, :)

I would just like to thank Andy[stiletto] publicly for copying Murdo's service record and sending it to me. This was a very generous thing to do.

I have thanked him via email, but thought it only right to thank him on this forum !

Cheers

Tim.

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His SNWM entry.

Surname MUNRO

Firstname Murdo Simon

Service Number

Date Death 26/04/1917

Decoration

Place of birth

Other 12th Bn.

SNWM roll SCOTTISH CASUALTIES EXTRACTED FROM ENGLISH REGIMENTS

Rank 2/Lt. (Tp.)

Theatre of death Unknown

Aye

Malcolm

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Tim,

Glad that all the photographs came out OK, the natural light is not the best at the NA, quite a lot of detail there for you though.

Andy

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