Foreign Newbie needs help!

[love4history]

Hello,

Although a history enthousiast I'm still a beginner as WWI medal-collector. I have acquired two sets of UK-medals. One a single victory medal and the other a duo victory/BWM

I tried to find info on the recipients based on the rim-markings and trough nationalarchives Documentsonline I came up with:

for the vic med: Roberts Alfred W, Royal Engineers 502116 Sapper and Royal Engineers T880 Sapper

for the duo: Higham Arthur, Royal Fusiliers 46157 Private and Middlesex Regiment G/41365 Private

My question: What can I learn from these results? There are two corpses/rgt numbers mentioned above eachoter, what does this mean, which one is more recent?

And finally of course: how can I find out more about these men? Did they survive the war? Were these medals awarded posthumously as well?

Thanks very much for putting me on track here!

cheers from Flanders

[welshdoc]

Hi and welcome to the forum. To answer your questions start by looking at

http://www.1914-1918.net/grandad/grandad.htm

this will tell you most you need to know. The first numbers on the Mic are the original the others later. The letters on some of the numbers do have specific meanings but I dont have a list with me.

If you want to know if they died goto

http://www.cwgc.org/

and yes these medals were awarded to casuatlies.

Best wishes Gareth

[eltoro1960]

Welcome to the forum I hope you find everybody as helpful as I have

The best place to check for UK and Commonweatlh soldiers killed in the war is the Commonwealth War Graves Commission Website, generally accurate and free to search

http://www.cwgc.org/

A quick check suggests that both your men survived the war.

The G in the army number I believe indicates a man recruited into Kitcheners 'New Army', an S mean they were a Territorial (Reserve) soldier, I don't know about the T but I am certain someone will know.

Soldier did sometimes transfer to other units for various reasons, ie the unit was disbanded, they had a special skill..for example coal miners were sometimes transferred to special tunneling companies as they were experts at underground work. They may also be invalided home wounded and transferred to a more suitable job.

This site maybe of interest to you as well

http://www.northeastmedals.co.uk/British_W...ing_ww1_ww2.htm

John

[love4history]

Hello,

Thanks welshdoc and fJohn Duncan for the help

Have checked out the links as well, thank you

The first numbers on the Mic are the original the others later.

So in this case that would mean Pvt. Higham would have started his career in the Royal Fuseliers and ended in the Middlesex Regiment? (In both cases the Regiment No that has a letter in front of it is the "last" rgt number?)

This might seem a silly question for the more experienced collectors but for me...: the Regiment No on the MIC would that be the same as the Service Number on the cwgc database?

Thx for the help

and cheers from Flanders!

[welshdoc]

The number on the MIC and on the CWGC register should match. As you have already found the search is by initial and surname (family name) only.The numbers are useful though to ensure you have the correct man. As a matter of interest what details are on the rim of your medals, Gareth

[love4history]

The number on the MIC and on the CWGC register should match

Thanks for the info, was asking cause on the CWGC I did find a Higham A in the Middlesex Rgt that was KIA but with a different service nr so it would be a different person with the same name.

On the rim of the medals I find: 46157 PTE A Higham R FUS

and 502116 SPR A W Roberts R E

Not sure about capitals or not, I don't have the actual medals here with me at the moment.

[welshdoc]

Hi Ive got my list and as I thought the T denotes territorial army, whats strange though is that this should be his earlier number and the 6 digit number would have ben his new one post 1917 , so prehaps its best not to read too much into the order of the numbers on the online form, They may of course be correct on the original MIC form but this costs £3.50 to download. Gareth

this is a typical list (note the same T880 number)

Description Medal card of Dalkin, Thomas

Corps Regiment No Rank

Royal Engineers T880 Sapper

Royal Engineers 429 Sapper

Royal Engineers 530269 Sapper

[SteveE]

I was under the impression that the T denoted a territorial Royal Engineer as well.

Assuming this is the case and his MIC index is 'upside down', using the Territorial Force numbering scheme from the LLT mother site it would appear that his 1917 renumbering falls into the block 502001 to 504000 allocated to the Southern Signal Company (Warwickshire County Territorial Association).

Steve