Sjt Roland Mountfield R Fusiliers

[Retrac]

Any ideas? IWM has a letter which is quoted by Peter Hart in his book but there is no return for Sjt Mountfield on MiC on line. I'm trying to track those in 10 R Fus who served with my great uncle. There is no record of a Roland Mountfield on CWGC either.

Help!

David

[PMHart]

Ooops,

There has been a missprint, its right on the original but at some point it has mutated from the correct Roland Mountfort to Mountfield. I'm really sorry and will try and get it corrected in the next edition. Mea culpa - I should have picked it up on proofing but I always was an idiot. Thankyou for drawing it to my attention!

Pete

The reference from the IWM Department of Documents is as follows:

Mountfort, R D Con Shelf

An extremely well-written series of 77 ms letters covering his service as an NCO with the 10th Battalion Royal Fusiliers (111th Brigade, 37th Division) on the Western Front, August 1915 – July 1916, and with the 25th Battalion Royal Fusiliers in South and East Africa, February 1917 – January 1918, describing his pre-embarkation training on Salisbury Plain, conditions in France and the discomforts of trench life, artillery bombardments and the sensations of being under fire, his involvement in the attack on Pozieres during the opening phases of the Battle of the Somme (July 1916) in which he was wounded, evacuation back to Mile End Hospital, East London and, following his recovery, his posting to Dover in October 1916 to join the 6th (Reserve) Battalion and later the 32nd (Training Reserve) Battalion Royal Fusiliers. In February 1917 he embarked for South Africa where he joined the 25th Battalion Royal Fusiliers on garrison duty at Wynberg and Cape Town, before returning to active service in July 1917 in East Africa where he describes skirmishes with the Germans, the burdens of being acting CQMS, and periods spent in hospital at Dar-es-Salaam suffering from dysentery and in Durban with an attack of fever.

See full catalogue and also DPH (Q 107244)

The medal roll ref is as follows. Although listed as lance corporal he was an acting sergeant and I'm afraid I always use the ranks as used in the field rather than the somewhat lagging home version!

Description Medal card of Mountfort, R D

Corps Regiment No Rank

Royal Fusiliers Stk 771 Lance Corporal

Date 1914-1920

Catalogue reference WO 372/14

Dept Records created or inherited by the War Office, Armed Forces, Judge Advocate General, and related bodies

Series War Office: Service Medal and Award Rolls Index, First World War

Piece Mill J - Nolan P

Image contains 1 medal card of many for this collection

As I've wasted your time with my carelessness please note the other 10th Bn, RFs at the IWM Docs all obtained from the IWM website - I'm at home!!

Other refs at the IWM for 10th RF are:-

Zealley, P R 76/167/1

Short ms diary accounts (25pp and 10pp) of his service with the 10th Battalion Royal Fusiliers (11th Brigade, 37th Division) on the Somme on 15 July 1916 and of a day in reserve when at the 37th Divisional Gas School, July 1917.

Hall, Captain H S H 76/220/1

Ts transcription of a letter written to him by Colonel White in which he praises the gallantry of the 10th Battalion Royal Fusiliers (111th Brigade, 37th Division) in the Battle of the Somme, July 1916.

Misc 36 (662)

Ts account (2pp) of the experience of three soldiers, of the 10th Battalion Royal Fusiliers, (19th Division) on Easter Day 1916, while billeted in the Blavincourt area of France.

Wilkinson, G A Con Shelf

237 ms letters and postcards, with partial ts transcription (15pp), written home to his family while serving with the 10th Battalion Royal Fusiliers (54th Brigade, 18th Division until March 1915, then 111th Brigade, 37th Division) in Colchester and Andover, United Kingdom, September 1914 - July 1915, describing their living conditions, recreational activities and training, Christmas celebrations, route marches, his billets in local homes, air raids, machine gun instruction, and the issue of clothing and equipment for active service; then with the Machine Gun Section of the 10th Battalion Royal Fusiliers (111th Brigade, 37th Division) on the Western Front, August 1915 - June 1916, where he refers to his billets and difficulties with the French language, life in the front line trenches, his dugout, the receipt of gifts from home, recreational activities including sport, the cold and wet weather conditions and precautions to avoid trenchfoot, war rumours, hygiene and baths, and infestations of vermin; then transfer to the 111th Company Machine Gun Corps on the Western Front, June - November 1916, referring to the poor drainage in the trenches, his appreciation of Army tea, the variable quality of their food, and the improved state of his billets; his evacuation with wounds to No 3 Australian General Hospital in Brighton, November 1916 - February 1917, and then to Seaside Convalescent Hospital at Seaford, Sussex, February - April 1917; and finally his return to duty at Alnwick Command Depot, Northumberland and the MGC Receiving Depot in Grantham, November 1917 - November 1918, describing his train journey to the camp and routine there, recreational activities, air raids back home, his medical board, and Victory celebrations. Also held with the collection are copies of two group photographs showing him in training and hospital; his service and demobilisation papers; 28 ms letters and postcards written to him by fellow soldiers and friends, 1914 - 1917; and two ts fictional stories by Arthur P Parnell, based upon real experiences of trench warfare, entitled 'He Who Hesitates' (9pp) and 'The Waif of Artois' (10pp).

Sharp, Captain P M 78/69/1

Brief memoir of his First World War service with the 10th Battalion Royal Fusiliers, training in the United Kingdom (54th Brigade, 18th Division) and then in action in France (111th Brigade, 37th Division) from August 1915 until he was wounded at Pozieres in July 1916; as an Intelligence Officer based at Batoum in Russia, 1919; and then Second World War service with the Royal Army Pay Corps in Gibraltar, 1940 - 1942. Together with a diary covering his training with the Royal Fusiliers, January - May 1915, official documents concerning his service in both wars including ID cards and passes for Gibraltar, material concerning the formation of the 10th Royal Fusiliers, the Royal Fusiliers war memorial and Association, and miscellaneous items including Royal Fusiliers Christmas cards, papers concerning the Army Officers' Emergency Reserve, postcards, photographs and a "shelled" aluminium drinking cup from the First World War.

See also DCAR (ART/ DPB/DPH)

[Retrac]

Thanks very much Pete, I've been digging through my database and found Mountford and was wondering if I had made a mistake in transcription. As a one-time history teacher I used to warn students about taking sources as gospel!!

I really must get organised and visit IWM to check the documents room, work always seem to intervene and retirement moves away.

Thanks for the prompt reply

David

[Retrac]

I should have said that I am very much enjoying the book. It gives all sorts of useful contextual information within a very readable framework

David