5th kings own regiment?

[stephenbartley]

Its wonderful reading some of the stories and excerpts from the diaries that have been found although they are way way before my time I can see and almost feel some of the pain and hopes that these guys were going through.

Unforunately though i have come here as a last resort to try to find my grandads regiment.

None of my family have any records and the ones old enough to maybe have told me are long departed.

More or less everything im doing is guesswork albeit the part that i know he was supposedly gassed during the war and sent back home. Would that mean he was an infantryman in the trenches?

My grandad was from Morecombe(lancaster) area so Im only assuming that he would possibly have been drafted? or conscripted? into the nearest regiment.

My grandfathers name was Charles Edward Thornton and in 1914 he would have been 24-25.

I can ill-afford to go to search the archives and i have no idea whether he was awarded an SWB for being gassed.

Please guys im not asking for anyone to do a search for me all im asking is can/will someone please point me in a direction that may uncover a little more information

[John_Hartley]

Stevo

Welcome to the Forum.

Firstly can I recommend that you you click on the link to the Long Long Trail (top left of this page) and then find the Research section. This should tell you what it might be possible to find out.

The National Archives on-line medal entitlement records (Medal Index Cards) list over 100 men called Charles Thornton, none of whom served with the Lancasters. This isnt a surprise as, apart from the first few months of the war, soldiers had no choice which unit they were assigned to.

The records show three men called Charles Edward - one of whom served with the Cheshires and might be the best bet. The card can be downloaded for £3.50 but unfortunately it won't give any family details The only you have a chance at this is from the service records at the National Archives (and you have to visit). This is also a fairly long-shot as only about 30%, or so, survive.

Might also be worth you phoning the Regimental Museum @ Lancaster. They have a pretty good (but incomplete) database of soldiers. Similarly, may well be worth trawling through the local Morecambe newspapers to see if there's any reference to him (joining, being wounded, on leave, demobbed) - the very local weekly paper will be better than a wider circulation daily.

Not quite needle in a haystack, but not a easy project for you.

John

[bernardmcilwaine]

stevo,i have checked the 1914 and the 1914-15 star medal rolls for the kings own,and hes not in them,i also checked the nominal rolls for the 1/5th,2/5th and the 11th batts,but no luck,i thought he may have joined the manchesters because the 20th,21st,22nd and the 23rd batts were at morecambe in 1915,but theres no c.e thornton amongst them,the only chance you have,is to check if hes mentioned in the morcambe newspapers,bernard

[stephenbartley]

stevo,i have checked the 1914 and the 1914-15 star medal rolls for the kings own,and hes not in them,i also checked the nominal rolls for the 1/5th,2/5th and the 11th batts,but no luck,i thought he may have joined the manchesters because the 20th,21st,22nd and the 23rd batts were at morecambe in 1915,but theres no c.e thornton amongst them,the only chance you have,is to check if hes mentioned in the morcambe newspapers,bernard

Bernard , thank you very very much my friend. I apologise i did not get to reply to this earlier.

I just wish there were a lot more people in the world like some of the people i have met here and on some of the other sites that are willing to help out and point people in the right direction.

Thank you very much for taking time out to help me.