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Remembered Today:

"Manchester Pals"


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why dont you all get togethor and compile a book yourselves,choose a battalion and all muck in with material,roy,chris and myself have enough material to write a dozen books on the manchesters but we aint authors,but we all know a man who is,bernard

ps post your thoughts on it

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Hi Chris and John

Thanks so much for the replies and if there is a possibility of a scan of his platoon you would make my day!!

I don't think I explained my interest in finding out about Clarke, but if you look under the soldiers section of the forum you will see a detailed explanation along with a list of around 40 names that I am trying to find out about, there is another 25 but I didn't post them as I had photos already, but am having second thoughts seeing as the amount of info that arrives is outstanding! The long and short of it is I'm writing a book as a roll of honour to the men from my local town/village who were killed in both World Wars. All money raised is going to be used locally and in conjunction with our local RBL branch to raise funds, ideally to maintain/improve our war memorial or if not sufficient/not agreed, I will donate the lot to the Poppy Appeal. On top of that Clarke was born in my house and lived here as a child, I even found his fathers gold ring in the garden, initialled and dated, alas I'm not psychic!!

Once again many thanks for your assitance and you really shouldn't be modest but extremely proud of the work you have done on the 17th Manchesters, it truly has helped me and in turn will help perpetuate the memory of another.

As mentioned if you can send me a copy of the scan....:)

Cheers

Steve

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Steve

Fascinating story about Clarke - it gives you a real link to the past. Feel free to nick anything from the article for the book (and welcome to the growing ranks of memorial researchers). I'd be grateful if you drop in a credit as to where you got the info. Cheers.

John

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why dont you all get togethor and compile a book yourselves,choose a battalion

Already nearly have done! More of an "updated" and more accurate version of the battalion history (which itself is only really a re-written version of the War Diary with a sprinkling of extras (ie from newspapers) added) with added maps, diagrams , etc for the 11/Mancs.

Unfortunately, I think it would put me too much out of pocket to publish it as I don't think a battalion history would ever become a best seller! Might do a website on it yet , instead. (Then again, there's also the books on "Z Coy", 11/ELR", "ID Tags 1870-1945" and the "multi-used" battlefields of 1870 - 1914/18, in the pipeline too!!!! :blink: ).

Dave.

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post your thoughts on it

Bernard

To a large extent the work was done in the 1920s. As you know the histories for the 16 - 19th Bns were published then. In respect of the other service battalions (if not all of them), the histories were written in similar style but never published - until fairly recently when those for the 12th & 21st were published by the Museum Trustees.

Robert is saying that financial constraints and other demands are delaying publication of the rest.

The gap for your anticipated author would be in writing histories, from scratch, for the Territorial Battalions (except the 7th & 10th which are published).

John

John

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Bernard

The gap for your anticipated author would be in writing histories, from scratch, for the Territorial Battalions (except the 7th & 10th which are published).

John

John

Robert has just done the 9th battalion (Volunteer Infantry of Ashton under Lyne) and the 8th battalion is on the way as well

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the type of battalion history that ime talking about is on the lines of what john and dave have done with their respective battalions,but more concise,johns idea about the 6th is perfect,john will back me up when i say that theres a lot of info on the 6th in stockport library,and theres even more in manchester library,i have details of quite a few men from the 6th,killed,wounded,missing or POWs,they all add meat to the bones,pretty sure john has more,anyone fancy having a bash at it,we would need an head of operations to feed the info to,bernard

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Not a unit history as such,but I have the "MANCHESTER CITY BATTALIONS BOOK OF HONOUR".

Published in 1916,it lists by name and number all of the original members of the 16th - 23rd Battalions of the Manchester Regiment.These are all arranged into their battalions,companies and even platoons,each with a platoon photograph.At the back of the book is a (large) list of Manchester companies and places of work with "rolls of honour" naming all their employees who have joined up.

If anyone wants somebody looking up,or even any pages photocopying,just drop me a line.

Dave.

Hy Dave, i am looking for any information on "Private John Smith 21st Reg`t N0-19933. he won the MM at the Somme.

Any information would be appreciated.

Phil

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phil,it was gazetted on 26th may 1917,[london gazette]stebie on this forum is a genius with the london gazette,give him a shout,bernard

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Bernard

Hold your horses, mate.

Much as it would be a great satisfaction to write a history of the 6th, I'm not an author (apart from a few articles - some not WW1). I also have a number of years left of the Stockport project, then i want to do "something" about the 17/Manchester. So, in about 10 years time I might be ready for the 6th.

John

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hiya john,i have only wrote a few articles as well,plus ime not qualified to write a book,but we are both fully qualified rooters in our respective local libraries so we know where to look for stuff without disrupting our own personal projects,us mancs on here are based at all the right places for research material,you at stockport library,roy at kew,me at central,chris is out and about all over the place looking for new photos of manchesters and the rest of us no doubt are here there and everywhere,we dont need to go to kew for the medal rolls or the war diaries cos we already have them,without sounding bigheaded,us mancs are a bloody excellent research team for any author who wants to write a book on the manchesters,ime sure most of the time spent on writing is spent on leg work,but we visit all these archives in our own research capacities anyway,so theres barely any expense to pay,as you know john,ime practically emptying manchester library of anything about ww1,and i have just found another relatively untapped paper that has thousands of photos [named]in it,as far as i know theres no nominal roll for the 6th batt,i have a list of 300 men who served in the 6th batt,name,rank and number,if commissioned,other regts he served with,i havent got round to seeing if any were killed or not,and thats not including all those in my archive which is probably another couple of hundred,i know you have quite a few so thats not a bad start,bernard

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phil,it was gazetted on 26th may 1917,[london gazette]stebie on this forum is a genius with the london gazette,give him a shout,bernard

Many thanks Dave, just printed the Gazette for J smith. Dave / Bernard are service records available ? i belive that the "S" was saved from the fire ? how would i get acsess to these ?

Thanks for your help.

Phil

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hiya john,i have only wrote a few articles as well,plus ime not qualified to write a book,but we are both fully qualified rooters in our respective local libraries so we know where to look for stuff without disrupting our own personal projects,us mancs on here are based at all the right places for research material,you at stockport library,roy at kew,me at central,chris is out and about all over the place looking for new photos of manchesters and the rest of us no doubt are here there and everywhere,we dont need to go to kew for the medal rolls or the war diaries cos we already have them,without sounding bigheaded,us mancs are a bloody excellent research team for any author who wants to write a book on the manchesters,ime sure most of the time spent on writing is spent on leg work,but we visit all these archives in our own research capacities anyway,so theres barely any expense to pay,as you know john,ime practically emptying manchester library of anything about ww1,and i have just found another relatively untapped paper that has thousands of photos [named]in it,as far as i know theres no nominal roll for the 6th batt,i have a list of 300 men who served in the 6th batt,name,rank and number,if commissioned,other regts he served with,i havent got round to seeing if any were killed or not,and thats not including all those in my archive which is probably another couple of hundred,i know you have quite a few so thats not a bad start,bernard

Well then ,. come on, one Mancs to another, wanted service records for Private John Smith MM . N0- 19933 21st Mancs rgt 20 batalion, how can i get his service records , ? , I belive that surname "S" was saved from fire ?

Mancs, Phil

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phil,give monsstar a shout,he goes to kew regularly,he may check it for you,bernard

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Guest oldtrafford
Not a unit history as such,but I have the "MANCHESTER CITY BATTALIONS BOOK OF HONOUR".

Published in 1916,it lists by name and number all of the original members of the 16th - 23rd Battalions of the Manchester Regiment.These are all arranged into their battalions,companies and even platoons,each with a platoon photograph.At the back of the book is a (large) list of Manchester companies and places of work with "rolls of honour" naming all their employees who have joined up.

If anyone wants somebody looking up,or even any pages photocopying,just drop me a line.

Dave.

Dave,

I am interested in discovering further details of the following. John Alfred Smith, service number 47979. He served in the regiment but do not know which battalion. The only possible detail I have which might help is that he was recorded as serving in Manchester Regiment Army Services Corp. He was wounded and spent some time in a Military hospital probably in Salford. He survived the war. Any further details or further sources would be helpful.

John

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John

Welcome to the Fourm

With a service number of 47979, I can be sure he won't be in the book as he won't have enlisted until after then. He probably went overseas around July 1916 as one of the repalcements for casualties on the Somme.

This is the link to his medal index card at the national archives

click here

You can download the information for £3.50. As you'll see, it confirms he served first with the Mancs and was then transferred to the Army Service Corps. The transfer might have happened after he was wounded - perhaps he was no longer fit enough for duty in the trenches.

To research further, you're going to need to visit Kew. Firstly to follow through the info on the Index card to establish what Battalion he was in from the actual medal Rolls and, secondly, to see if any of his service papers still exist on microfilm.

May I recommend you have a look at the "research" section of the mother site (click the Long long trail link top left of this page).

good luck.

John

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Bernard

To a large extent the work was done in the 1920s. As you know the histories for the 16 - 19th Bns were published then. In respect of the other service battalions (if not all of them), the histories were written in similar style but never published - until fairly recently when those for the 12th & 21st were published by the Museum Trustees.

Robert is saying that financial constraints and other demands are delaying publication of the rest.

The gap for your anticipated author would be in writing histories, from scratch, for the Territorial Battalions (except the 7th & 10th which are published).

John

John

Hi John

The 21st Battalion book was first published in 1934 with some photos in it cheers Roy

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phil,give monsstar a shout,he goes to kew regularly,he may check it for you,bernard

Thanks Dave, however i can`t find monsstar in the list of members or i am looking in the wrong place ?

Phil

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phil,it was gazetted on 26th may 1917,[london gazette]stebie on this forum is a genius with the london gazette,give him a shout,bernard

Thanks Bernard, Got the copy, great thanks.

Phil

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phil,which area was he living in when the war started,bernard

Hy Bernard, he was living in Bradford or Clayton Mancheter. We belive he enlisted at Ardwick Barraks Manchester. many thanks for your help.

Phil

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Hy Bernard, he was living in Bradford or Clayton Mancheter. We belive he enlisted at Ardwick Barraks Manchester. many thanks for your help.

Phil

thats the 8th battalions barracks,bernard
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So the 1/6th is still up for grabs then?

"Gable to Gallipoli"

The Diary of Claude Worthington 6th Battalion, Manc Regiment oct 14- dec 16 ( R Bonner :) )

but there's 17-18 i suppose?

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