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Help! - Real Newbie question


WhiteWolf

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Hi Pals

Real simple question - well it will be for someone :D

Is the

West Yorkshire Rgt (Prince of Wales Own)

Same as the

The 15th (Service) Battalion West Yorkshire Regiment

I would like to put together a database of the The 15th (Service) Battalion West Yorkshire Regiment (Leeds Pals), but don't want to add the Lads I've found belonging to the Prince of Wales Own if they were different regiments.

Once I have the database I can then start to research more fully.

Cheers in advance

Andy

(still the new boy)

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Cheers Andy

Told you it would be easy for someone. :D

Did they keep the Pals nickname throughout the War or did they become just the PWO at somepoint?

Andy

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Andy

You should always ask your "brother". :P

John

Yes DAD :P

Andy

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Go on Andy You tell him :P

Andy

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Andy S

You said I could I could be an honorary Andy, cos I got a bro-in-law called Andy.

I may have to reconsider my position and become a Steve.

John

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Hey Hey!

Don't mislead the man: the two are NOT the same. The REGIMENT comprised many battalions: regular, special reserve, service and territorial.

The 15th battalion were just a small part of the regiment.

You surely don't want to cover the whole regiment?

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Hey Hey!

Don't mislead the man: the two are NOT the same. The REGIMENT comprised many battalions: regular, special reserve, service and territorial.

The 15th battalion were just a small part of the regiment.

You surely don't want to cover the whole regiment?

Thanks Grumpy

Nope not the whole regiment (well not just yet anyway :D )

I would like to start with just The 15th (Service) Battalion West Yorkshire Regiment (Leeds Pals)

Small steps and all that.

Andy B)

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Hi Andy

Just in case you didn't know (and it may save you some work) there's already a website devoted to the Leeds Pals here: www.leedspals.co.uk/

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Hi Andy

Just in case you didn't know (and it may save you some work) there's already a website devoted to the Leeds Pals here: www.leedspals.co.uk/

Thanks PH this was the site I found info about my Great Uncle on

Andy B)

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Supplementary question please

Would all the service numbers of the "Pals" from The 15th (Service) Battalion West Yorkshire Regiment be preceded with 15.

i.e. 15/1338

Andy B)

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Andy

Much depends on your definition of "Pals"

I've just had a quick nosy at my copy of Soldiers Died and my guess is the 15/ prefix only relates to the original batch of recruits. The highest number I see there is 15/1951. I presume these are the men who first went abroard

Then it goes on to the more usual five-digit numbers that I'd associate with a Service Battalion (i.e. one formed just for the War). The lowest/highest I see in this range is 19704/65148. I assume these would be later replacements.

Nothing in this research lark is easy!

John

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Cheers John

I think as this is my first piece of research I should stick to the "Pals" those with the 15/ prefix (small steps and all that).

Could you give me more details of the book 'Soldiers Died' please and is it one I should have on my bookshelves?

Andy

P.S.

As there seems to be just under 2000 "Pals" I still got a long way to go :blink:

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Andy - there is a very good book called: 'Leeds Pals' by Laurie Milner, isbn number 0-85052-335-4 which may well be a good starting/reference point for you. We acquired ours from The National Archives but you should be able to order it from just about anywhere with the isbn number. There will be other books as well I should imagine, but I can only speak for the above.

Good luck with it.

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Andy - there is a very good book called: 'Leeds Pals' by Laurie Milner, isbn number 0-85052-335-4 which may well be a good starting/reference point for you. We acquired ours from The National Archives but you should be able to order it from just about anywhere with the isbn number. There will be other books as well I should imagine, but I can only speak for the above.

Good luck with it.

Cheers Pighills

SWMBO has got me this for a stocking filler

Regards

Andy

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Andy

Soldiers Died is a CD-ROM which will cost you an arm and a leg (beyts part of £300 from memory - I have a very generous family who bought it for me as "group Xmas present".

The originals were booklets published just after the War for each regiment. It might be worth you looking out for a West Yorks volume rather than the full CD. Apart from basic service details, it'll give you place of birth/enlistment/residence.

If you're going to develop a passion for a single battalion (and I rather suspect we've hooked you now), then it probably should be on the shelf.

Abebooks currently shows one (a modern reprint) available for £25.

John

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Andy S

You said I could I could be an honorary Andy, cos I got a bro-in-law called Andy.

I may have to reconsider my position and become a Steve.

John

Well, hang on there. The Steves would have to go into some form of convocation to see if we wanted you :ph34r:

And, on topic, it seems that many of the 'Pals' battalions pre-fixed the original recruits with the battalion number. For example, I know the 13th Y&L (Barnsley) did, and the other Y&L battalions seem to have, as well, so I think it must have been pretty widespread.

Once the casualties started coming, the ranks would have been filled from the reserve battalions; in the case of the 15th W Yorks, it would have been the 19th and 20th battalions, which had been formed from the depot companies of the 15th, 17th, 16th and 18th Battalions (1st and 2nd Leeds and 1st and 2nd Bradford respectively). Eventually, reinforcements would come from just about anywhere.

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believe the leeds pals ceased to be known as the leeds pals on the 1st july 1916,

original 1914 volunteers survived and served with 15th and later 15th/17th battalion quote laurie milner

bruce

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Thanks Pals

All this info is being stored for futher reference

Regards

Andy

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