Sherwood Forester Enlistment Date Database

[Cliff. Hobson]

Mike/ Andrew,

Thankyou for your replies,will post the photograph of the S/F at Buxton when I get hold of it, I have been checking other sources without luck so far.

Regards Cliff.

P.S. could be he is a relation of that chap called Bocking !

[Andrew Hesketh]

[Grimesy1967]

Andrew, I asked last year about 51844 Alfred Colledge. He signed up at Leicester, but was sent to the SF for training, before being KIA with the 7th South Staffs June 1917. If your data is close then he signed up dec1915/Jan1916 - any further info since the extra data was sent to you?. How long would he have been in training with the SF, and where-Buxton?

I visited Messines last week, and found several South Staffs unknown soldiers graves. His name is on the Menin Gate.

The visit has left me with an uneasy feeling - somehow trapping me in the past.

Regards

Chris Grimes

[Guest andrew yapp]

Andrew,

I notice that you are short of 7**** series numbers. Hope the following will be of use.

2/7th (Robin Hood) Battalion Sherwood Foresters

Enlistment dates:-

72114 Pte Blatch James William En 5/6/16 A/Sgt. Dis 30/4/19

72127 Pte Best Thomas William En 26/3/17 Wounded 28/3/18 Died 26/4/18

72129 Pte Barson Albert John En 28/3/17 A/Cpl. KIA 27/9/17

72148 Pte Johnson Frederick En 22/3/17 Dis 17/2/19

72155 L/Cpl. White Arthur Benjamin En 17/3/17 Dis 25/4/19

Best and Barson were evidently “Derby Scheme” men, ie they attested in December 1915.

Men bearing regimental numbers from 72093 to 72111 were all former members of the Bedfordshire Regiment . 72113 was formerly 9 Devon.

Men bearing regimental numbers from 72114 to 72158, with one exception, served only with the Sherwood Foresters, 50% served only in 2/7th Battalion. All the men in this sequence whose place of enlistment has been found, were from London. Barson and Best were initially posted to the 47th Training Reserve Battalion, then transferred to the 43rd Training Reserve Battalion. Their SF numbers appear to have been allocated in France while at 63 IBW (if I did know what that was I have now forgotten).

72091 ends 11th SF Battalion with former Bedfordshire Regiment soldiers.

72159 starts 15th SF Battalion with former Army Service Corps Soldiers.

Four more, do not know which battalion:

71938 Pte Lockey William En 28/2/16 Dis 15/4/19

72174 Pte Walker William En 13/10/15 Dis 29/4/19

72219 Pte Parker Fred En 29/7/16 Dis 7/5/19

72269 L/Cpl Spooner William En 5/8/16 Dis 3/5/19

My particular interest is my great grandfather Private Oliver Gardner 72142, enlisted in Poplar, London, I do not have an enlistment date for him.

He was with the 2/7 and then 1/7 Sherwood Foresters, KIA 21/3/18 and commemorated on the Arras memorial and Catcott village war memorial in Somerset.

Regards

Andrew

[Rory S]

1st Battalion

Sorry I've picked up on thos one so late, but my paternal grandfather, Samuel Smith was service No. 9727 with him as joining the 1st, transfering to the 2nd with the same No., he was born 15th Jan 1887, so he would have been 18 in 1905.

His medal card shows him disembarking 8th Sep 1914 & dying of wounds Chatham Hospital 6th Nov 1914, so I guess he was at Ennetières around the 20th Oct when he was wounded.

Rory S

[Stuart Basson]

I have

(1) 6925 CSM PAULSON, George. Posted to 10th Bttn, I believe. Enlisted 12.9.1914. He was a re-enlistement, having previously been 3698 PAULSON, George. Enlisted Derby, 7.7.1892; Discharged 5.7.1913. I have copies of pension records if they'd be any good to you.

I can also offer

(2) 260003 Sgt HARRIS, Edward James; transferred to 10th Sherwoods from Bedfordshire Regiment (where he was No: 200012.) Enlisted Leighton Buzzard, Beds. KIA 22.9.1918. No firm dates of enlistment or transfer, I'm afraid, but I include him in case you hadn't got the transfer.

(Small world - my wife's great-grandfather (1) and my Dad's sister's father in law (2) evidently in the same battalion.)

[Anthony Bagshaw]

Mike/ Andrew,

Thankyou for your replies,will post the photograph of the S/F at Buxton when I get hold of it, I have been checking other sources without luck so far.

Regards Cliff.

P.S. could be he is a relation of that chap called Bocking !

Did i miss someone mention the most elusive man in the world????

How did i miss this??

Andy,

I may have some more Woodhouse Foresters for you, if you still want them?

[Tim W]

Another Forester for you:

Pte Cecil Rice, 34016

Enlisted 10/12/1915 aged 21yr 3mths

Served with R Company

Joined 3rd Bn. 1/2/1916

Posted to Labour Company Ripon 26/4/1916

Died 07/12/1918

Hope its of use.

- Can anyone enlighten me to what "R.Company" means?

Thanks

Tim

[andiS]

From this thread I found out that my great uncle was

Private Frederick Osgood 96046 10th Sherwood Foresters - he enlisted in Kingston, Surrey but I don't have a date. If he's in your database or you can guess at a date based on number I'd be grateful.

Thanks

andy

[Stebie9173]

Andy & Co.

I did a little digging for Andy Smart above and it seems that Fred Osgood was part of a draft, numbered 96003 to 96064, that was transferred to the Regular Notts & Derby series from various T.F. units (including Derbyshire Yeomanry and 3/4th Queens) in France on 13-9-1917, initially posted to 12th Battalion (Pioneers) and then to 10th Battalion on 21-9-1917.

See:

http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/i...mp;#entry808368

The theory needs further work, but I am fairly happy with the date for these 61 men.

Steve.

[raich]

Josiah Grice (13514) 1Battallion Sherwood Foresters, Enlisted Mansfield, Notts - no date I'm afraid, but joined on 03/09/15, KIA 20 or 21/11/1917 In Bellevue (presumably Spur), no grave, commemorated on Tyne Cot memorial.

Can you tell by his number when he would have enlisted from those numbers around him???

Best wishes

Raich

[honkers98]

If someone in the welsh fusiliers had a number 80223 does that mean anything ?

[matteyre]

My relative 2nd Lt Artur Noel Eyre was in the 6th Sherwood Foresters, don't have his number, born 1892 Chesterfield, killed 26/9/18, attached 57 Squadron RFC , observer in a DH4 shot down over Cambrai.

[Max]

Hello Matteyre

As an officer in the Great War he would not have been issued a number.

Andy

[Tuntun]

Evening gents, I am after an approximate enlistment date for a distant relative of mine (Frank Singleton (8th Bt Royal Scots, KIA 23 Jul 18). I understand from another forum member that a Frank Singleton served with the Notts and Derby Regt with the number 2998, which I would guess would make him a TF soldier. Looking through the previous posts on this topic that would would indicate an enlistment date of October 1914 - does that sound about right?

I would also be interested to know what Bt he served in - as he lived in Hayfield I would guess the 6th, as it was formed in nearby Chesterfield. The interesting thing about him is that my relative would only have been 15 in 1914, so although it would make sense for him to join the Notts/Derby Regt as it was his local unit, he surely would have been too young to do so. It leaves me wondering if they are two different men.

Can anyone help?

Martin

[Andrew Hesketh]

Gosh, I've been remiss on this thread.

My grateful, if belated, thanks to all contributors.

My sincere apologies to those who posed a question. I'll try to get answers to you a.s.a.p.

[mikebriggs]

Martin

Thats interesting and I think that you are right. SDGW gives his former number as 2998 Notts & Derby and this is alsmost certainly a pre-1917 TF number. As you know 4 men could have had this number at the same time (ie 5th, 6th, 7th & 8th Battns).

Looking at the MICs on the NA, there is only:-

2998 Hughes was renumbered 265776 suggesting he was a 7th Battn man

2998 White was renumbered 305878 suggesting he was a 8th Battn man

So that leaves the 5th or 6th Battns. The 2/6th were certainly recruiting in New Mills (where Frank enlisted according to SDGW) and if this was the case then he enlisted on or around the 19th October 1914. And aged 15, maybe he was transfered to a home service Battn (such as 29th Prov) until old enough to serve overseas but found himself transfered to Royal Scots. Perhaps a R Scots expert can tell what date he was issued with 331065.

I actually have a gap at 2998 in my nominal role of the 1/6th, 2/6th & 3/th Battns, but I am confident enough to insert Frank there -perhaps it might be worth checking the R Scots medal role at Kew to see if it records his N & D Battn?

cheers

Mike

[stevem49]

I have three men who served in the 9th Bn with numbers 200199, 200349, 200946. The first two served with 1/5th prior to 9th, the last one in 2/5th.

I put the above because the only Frank Singleton I can find in the N&D has the number 200737

Does that help or hinder

sm

[Tuntun]

Mike thanks for your prompt reply. I've already taken a trip to Kew to research my relatives, but ran out of time so another visit will be required!

Whilst I was there I managed to copy Frank Singleton's medal roll. Unfortunately it doesn't mention any regiment other than the Royal Scots for him. What is interesting however is that most of the other soldiers on that page had previously been given TF numbers before joining the Royal Scots. They came from the 6th and 8th North Staffs, 4th Leicesters, 4th Lincs, and 1st and 21st West Yorks. Although not conclusive, the fact that most of them were originally TF would lend weight to the the theory that he was originally a TF too.

Did they really allow 15 yr olds to join up though? I thought the army were quite strict about that at the beginning of the war.

Thanks again

Martin

[stevem49]

Strange that we cannot find a 2998 Frank Singleton in the N&D and the Medal Rolls do not give another Regiment.

Could he have joined up and then they found his age and sent him home? He then joined up later and went to the Royal Scots. I actually thought most underage lads lied and got in. often the recruiters knew that a lad wa sunderage though and turned a blind eye. I have one in the 9th who died aged 16 years and had been with the battalion for over a year.

What was the source for him serving in the N&D?

sm

[Tuntun]

Steve, thanks for your reply. I am told that the source of the linkage between Frank Singleton of the 8 th Royal Scots 331065 KIA 23 Jul 18 aged 19 and Frank Singleton of the Notts and Derby 2998 is Soldiers Died in the Great War. As 'my' Frank Singleton was born and raised in Little Hayfield Derbyshire it certainly makes sense for him to have been in the Notts and Derby's, but he seems too young to have joined the TF in 1914 (he would have been 15 yrs old).

Martin

[mikebriggs]

I assume that his N & D number is not recorded on the medal roll & MIC because he never served 'overseas' with them, but went to France with R Scots or at least only served in a theatre of War with R Scots. You do see this quite a lot with N & D TF men, particulary the 'Derby' recruits who were all given a 4-digit number but for many of them this never appears on the MIC because they switched to different Battns/Regts and were renumbered before (or shortly after) getting to France.

I would guess that he probably lied about his age then? (or went in as a drummer?). His age of 19 (when killed in 1918) is given on CWGC, but weren't those details supplied by the family??

Steve, I have Mee's MIC to send you - but know nothing else about him - his number suggests late Military Service Act enlistment

cheers

Mike

[Ice Tiger]

Andrew

I ran a quick search on the Surrey Attestation records for you. It doesn't give the regimental numbers but I hope these are of some help/interest:

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa273/Y...lliamsEE-SF.jpg

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa273/Y...kefordAJ-SF.jpg

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa273/Y...ads/FoxJ-SF.jpg

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa273/Y.../DodgeMW-SF.jpg

Out of the 11,103 attestation records that remain these are the only four Foresters listed.

Andy

PS: Have used links rather than actual screen shots to keep the band with down

[Tuntun]

Hello Mike, I was just reading your post of the 27 Jan again and was caught by the bit about 'as you know 4 men could have had this number at the same time (ie 5th, 6th, 7th & 8th Battns)'. I hadn't actually realised this, as I thought that everyone joining the TF would get a sequential number when they joined the regiment, and were then placed in a particular battalion afterwards. Would this duplication of the same number have been the case with all regiments, or was this particular to the Sherwood Foresters?

Thanks

Martin

[Ken Wayman]

Hi Andrew

I can offer one of my Pelsall lads (so far - only checked to 1917 as yet!).

Horace GREEN - 19096 - Volunteered in September 1914 in Mansfield - 9/SF

Extra info: Born in Pelsall and lived in Mansfield Woodhouse, Nottinghamshire. Son of Mary and the late James Green of High Street, Pelsall. Single. Later transferred to 8th (Service) Battalion, the South Staffordshire Regiment (51st Brigade, 17th ‘Northern’ Division) as Private, 43137, ‘C’ Company.

All the best

Ken