Pte Harold Oswald Taylor 20405 Suffolk Regiment

[Guest Stevie T]

Having just joined, this is my first post.

I am trying to find out any details on my Grandfather, Harold Oswald Taylor who fought on the Somme.

Born in Cambridgeshire in 1901, I am told he lied about his age to enlist. I believe he was shipped back from France when they found out he was under age, only to re-enlist and suffer a shrapnel wound to the arm.

I have found his medal card (attached) from the Regiment number listed on his war medal 20405. I also have a photograph showing him, arm in sling, entitled, a soldier of the Beds & Herts Regiment

I notice that he is listed in the Suffolk Regiment, Leicester Regiment and the Beds & Herts Regiment.

I am interested to know why he would be listed in three Regiments duruing such a short space of time and also to which Battalion he would have been attached?

Having been to the Battlefields a number of times, I am keen to find out which battles he may have seen action in, with a view to visiting these areas.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Medal_card.doc

[HarryBettsMCDCM]

Nothing too unusual in transferring between Regiments,possibly he was slightly wounded & on recouperation posted to the strength of one of the other Regts who might have been in need of re~inforcement.

The Bedfordshire & Hertfordshire Regiment,came into being in 1919,in recognition of the number of Hertfordshire Men who had joined the Bedfordshire Regiment,{The Herfordshire Regt being ,in WW1 a TF Unit only}

The number of the Suffolk Regt is I suspect,a 5 Figure 1914/15 Volunteer {Kitchener Man} Number & will more than likely pertain to one of the Service Battalions{The Medal Roll pages{from the MiC Reference may give Battalion Numbers}}though he could have been posted to any Battalion.

[Guest Stevie T]

Thank you very much for the information.

It is nice to put a date to the photo.

I've just found the website for the Suffolk Regiment so will try and find out a bit more detail from this.

http://www.suffolkregiment.org/

Many thanks

Steve

[Guest Stevie T]

Does anyone know if it is it possible to tell from a Soldiers number (20405) roughly when he would have signed up?

As a Cambridgshire man would he have volunteered and signed up locally and if so would there be any records of this?

[Guest Stevie T]

Does anyone know if it is it possible to tell from a Soldiers number (20405) roughly when he would have signed up?

As a Cambridgshire man would he have volunteered and signed up locally and if so would there be any records of this?

I have read elsewhere on this forum that if no theatre of war information was listed on the MIC, it was likely that he entered France after 1st January 1916. Can anybody confirm this? If this is indeed the case i can only summise that he was training in England during 1915-16 and was sent out after January 1916.

[Stebie9173]

The absence of 1914-15 Star, initial theatre of operations & qualifying date entries usually indicates going overseas after 1-1-1916. The execption to this is if they originally gave the man a 1914 or 1914-15 Star and then couldn't find that card to add the VM & BWM to, though this was quite rare. (Having said that one out of the seven relatives I looked up has this "problem"). This usual happened with a mispelt name.

The Suffolks are not my main area, but I would think that number 20405 would have been allocated mid-1915. With 6 months of training, I would imagine he was ready to go overseas at the end of 1915/beginning of 1916.

Steve.

[Guest Stevie T]

The absence of 1914-15 Star, initial theatre of operations & qualifying date entries usually indicates going overseas after 1-1-1916. The execption to this is if they originally gave the man a 1914 or 1914-15 Star and then couldn't find that card to add the VM & BWM to, though this was quite rare. (Having said that one out of the seven relatives I looked up has this "problem"). This usual happened with a mispelt name.

The Suffolks are not my main area, but I would think that number 20405 would have been allocated mid-1915. With 6 months of training, I would imagine he was ready to go overseas at the end of 1915/beginning of 1916.

Steve.

Steve,

Thank you very much for this information.

I find it amazing that so much can be found out from all those years ago. This is becoming very addictive and i so wish i could have asked my grandfather when he was alive. Unfortunately the Internet was merely a twinkle in someones eye.

Thanks again

Steve.

[SFayers]

As a Cambridgshire man would he have volunteered and signed up locally and if so would there be any records of this?

This is purely circumstantial I know, but there's always a possibility he may have enlisted in the 11th Battalion Suffolk Regiment - many men from Cambridgeshire joined this particular battalion, so you never know!

There is a website dedicated to the 11th Battalion and contains a lot of useful information - including approximate dates of enlistment with respect to service number (assuming your man was with this unit), but I'm afraid I don't know the URL off-hand - either a search on Google should turn it up or perhaps one of the Pals may know it.

cheers

Steve

[SFayers]

There is a website dedicated to the 11th Battalion and contains a lot of useful information - including approximate dates of enlistment with respect to service number (assuming your man was with this unit), but I'm afraid I don't know the URL off-hand - either a search on Google should turn it up or perhaps one of the Pals may know it.

Oops - just found the URL! Here it is:

http://www.curme.co.uk/

Hope this helps.

cheers

Steve

[Stebie9173]

Try this page for enlistment dates.

http://www.curme.co.uk/104.htm#KIA%201st%2...y%201916%20List

20*** = May/June 1915

Steve.

[Guest Stevie T]

Oops - just found the URL! Here it is:

http://www.curme.co.uk/

Hope this helps.

cheers

Steve

Steve,

Many thanks for this link, it makes very interesting reading.

This seems like a forum dedicated to Steve's

More information to go on.

Regards

Steve