Searching for a great grand uncle

[siddharthaoke]

I am researching my great grand uncle who died during WW1. No original documents remain within the family only stories.

So far i have got his medal records which state that his regiment number was 79880, and he was a gunner in the Royal Field Artillery. On the medal records the words "Dead 1915" are written with the field of action being France.

The Commonweath war graves commision has no record of the name, and with only the regiment number i am unsure of exactly what regiment of the RFA he served for.

At this point information seems to have dried up.

Would anyone be able to tell me what regiement 79880 would have been for and any other information would be amazing.

Many thanks

[ajsmith]

You could post his MIC for us to look at. Sometimes there are 'hidden' clues to be found on them.

good luck

[delta]

Hi SMOke and welcome to the forum

If you have already got it, the MIC card is here

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documen...p;resultcount=2

Your great grand uncle has a most unusual name; can you tell us any more about him?

[siddharthaoke]

Many thanks for the welcome. I have the medal record(from the link posted) and it says Dead 1915 on it. I can't seem to upload it on the site though.

The information i have is mainly from word of mouth. Madhow Pardhy was one of 8 brothers from a wealthy Indian family. His brothers were Drs and Engineers working in the UK and India around the turn of the last century, and he was the only one who joined the Army as a soldier. It is here that details get rather scratchy. He went to war and in 1915 a letter was sent to his wife saying that he was "dead" and that she should accept a widows pension which she never did. No info as to killed in action etc etc is known in the family. In fact my family did not even know the field of action or anything else.

Having heard stories about the family including this one i started to do a little bit of research myself . I started with the National Archives as above, and got his medal record which shows that he fought in france and that he was definatly dead in 1915 , i then tried the CWGC website but his name is not there. I therefore contacted the comission and they said that they don't have a record of his grave/name on memorial etc etc.

I now have nothing else to go on so i am slightly stuck. I don't know his regiement, i don't know what he died of etc etc. I would like to try and find out what happened to him, and if possible to go and visit his grave/memorial as the first member of the family to do so since he died. Sentimental twaddle i know, but there it is

Thanks for help and advice.

[delta]

Not sentimental twoddle at all - just ordinary decent respect; your views are shared by all on this forum. Mmost of us have either visited (or wish to visit) the grave or memorial of a family member!

You mention his medals - what are they? see the link for more info http://www.1914-1918.net/grandad/grandad6.htm

this may give us a clue as to when he deployed to France

Stephen

[Jim Clay]

... I have the medal record(from the link posted) and it says Dead 1915 on it. I can't seem to upload it on the site though...

If you can email me the medal record file, I'll try to upload it for you (I won't be able to interpret it - I leave that for those wot knows )

I'll send you a PM with my email address.

Jim

[siddharthaoke]

Wow, many thanks for the replies folks. Many thanks Jim, I have sent you the pdf file. The medals he was awarded were the Victory, the British War and the 1915 star. The record seems to have more writing which hopefully will make sense to someone.

Many thanks again

Siddhartha

[Jim Clay]

Siddhartha

Here's the MIC. Now let's see what those as knows can add.

Jim

[Stephen Nulty]

Just thought it might be worth bringing this one back to the top, and throwing in my view.

Siddartha states that the MIC has him as dying in 1915, but this isn't the case. The two key items from the MIC are that he arrived in France on 19th October 1915 and that by the time they drew up the MIC, he was dead. I note that it doesn't say Killed in Action, etc., but simply "Dead".

This leaves only the "word of mouth" that the family received a letter in 1915 saying he was dead. I can't find him on the GRO Army death index for the war years, so I am wondering if he actually died after the war and before the Medal Rolls were collated.

Thoughts?

[John_Hartley]

Siddhartha

Welcome to the Forum. I think I probably agree with Stephen, but we shouldnt rule out the family history just yet.

Looking at the War Graves Commission website, I see that a lot of Indian soldiers are listed by a single name, rather than the given/family name as used now. I gather this was not uncommon in the times before Independance. I'm also aware that, in the different cultures, there was much more "flexibility" about how family names were used. Might he have been known under a different family or religious name, even though his medal card suggests his name was recorded in the western style?

John

[John_Hartley]

Stephen - Would the GRO include Indian soldiers?

Also, would any Indian Army or RFA experts care to comment on Madhow's rank being "gunner"? I know Indian Army infantry troops had different ranks from british infantry. Does the use of "gunner" imply he was serving with a British, rather than Indian, RFA Brigade? Or, were all gunners, "gunners"?

John

[siddharthaoke]

Hiya.

As far as i know he was only known as Madhow M Pardhy. The family was very western with a brother working in the UK as a surgeon (allegedly the first non white surgeon in the UK) and was quite affluent. The gunner thing seems rather odd to me as well, as all the other indian soldiers seemed to sepoys and havildars etc etc, and he was the first i had seen to be called "gunner".

many thanks

Siddhartha

[John_Hartley]

Hiya

Yes, I agree. It's pretty reasonable to assume that he was always known as Madhow Pardhy. I just wanted to eliminate the possibility.

Do you know if he joined up in the UK or in India (I'm still puzzled by the "gunner" thing)? I wonder if it's worth trying to do some research on the brother. If you knew where he lived in the UK, there may have been something in the local newspapers about Madhow's death. The death of the brother of the first non-white surgeon would have been particularly news-worthy, perhaps.

John

[siddharthaoke]

Interesting you say that, I am reseraching his brother as we speak, and in fact spoke to his granddaughter today, which was an amazing experience and includes details of when M Ghandi stayed with him in the UK. Her brother was a surgeon at Truro, then went to Birmingham where he lived for most of his life. He was in Truro during WW1 though.

Siddhartha

Hiya

Yes, I agree. It's pretty reasonable to assume that he was always known as Madhow Pardhy. I just wanted to eliminate the possibility.

Do you know if he joined up in the UK or in India (I'm still puzzled by the "gunner" thing)? I wonder if it's worth trying to do some research on the brother. If you knew where he lived in the UK, there may have been something in the local newspapers about Madhow's death. The death of the brother of the first non-white surgeon would have been particularly news-worthy, perhaps.

John

[Milner]

Interesting you say that, I am reseraching his brother as we speak, and in fact spoke to his granddaughter today, which was an amazing experience and includes details of when M Ghandi stayed with him in the UK. Her brother was a surgeon at Truro, then went to Birmingham where he lived for most of his life. He was in Truro during WW1 though.

Siddhartha

Just googled this information

Dr. K.M. Pardhy in 1904 became house surgeon at the Royal Cornwall Infirmary in Truro. In 1910 elected a fellow of the Royal colleage of Surgeons. In 1910 he won the gold medal for wrestling in the midlands championships.

Regards

Phil