Stephen White Posted 18 December , 2003 Share Posted 18 December , 2003 another one from me !!.thanks for the info so far on private george white,1863 2nd battalion royal warwicks.we now know he is buried in boulogne eastern cemetery.as he is buried away from the front line,does this mean he was evacuated to hospital where he then died ??.if so did they keep records on this sort of thing and where would those records be, do they still exist ?? (unless the luftwaffe have done their bit again !!).i have obtained a certified copy of his death certificate from the gro,but all that tells me is "died of wounds received in action" would any hospital records tell me the nature of the wounds etc ??. again any help very much appreciated. STEVE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John_Hartley Posted 18 December , 2003 Share Posted 18 December , 2003 Steve The info that he "died of wounds" and is buried at Boulogne makes it certain that he died in hospital. I havnt been following your story but am I right that his service papers no longer exist at the PRO. If that's the case, then you are probably at the end of the line, I'm afraid. The hospital records are not available to the best of my knowledge. If papers still exist, it is just possible that there was a reference to how he died, but it's most unlikely. I don't know the Royal Warwicks museum or what archives they have there. It would be a long shot (to put it mildly), but they might have private papers that have been donated that includes a letter or notes from someone describing how his best mate George copped for it. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greenwoodman Posted 18 December , 2003 Share Posted 18 December , 2003 I'm sorry but I haven't been following this one closely either, but if personnel records aren't available, and there are no family records, then local papers of where he or his family lived may offer you the only chance of finding out about his death. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sue Light Posted 18 December , 2003 Share Posted 18 December , 2003 Steven, Some hospital records remain at the PRO/NA, but just a 'representative selection' - I think 2%, but could be wrong. Class MH106 includes things such as admission and discharge registers from six general hospitals, six casualty clearing stations, some field ambulances, four UK military hospitals, the hospital ship 'Assaye' and one ambulance train. Also quite a few other general bits and pieces including some regimental medical records. I know that it is unlikely that any man in particular will be mentioned there, but of course, thousands are! The A & D registers contain details of a man's name, rank, number, unit, date of admission, type of wound - this can range from gun shot wounds to dental caries; date and method of discharge - i.e. ambulance train, ship, death etc., or perhaps discharged straight back to his unit. No indexes of course , but always a long shot to investigate, and for those with medical interest and a wardrobe full of anoraks a real treasure chest! Regards - Sue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jhill Posted 18 December , 2003 Share Posted 18 December , 2003 I have tried to find out details of soldiers' deaths with frustrating results. However, if you have the time and energy to thumb through reams of documents, looking for the needle in the haystck, you may find the project useful in itself. The first thing is to check the battalion war diary. In Pte. White's case, this would, it seems, be for the February and March period of 1915. It is unlikely that Pte. White was noted by name, but if this was a quiet period you may get likely and find a few references to casualties, which might provide some indirect information. You can also check the diaries of the Hospitals at Boulogne. From the mother site I see that the 11th and 13th General and the 13th Stationary Hospitals were there at the time (I think!). These might list numbers of deaths by date and perhaps some other tidbits of information which may be useful, although casualties are unlikely to be mentioned by name. In some cases I have attempted to trace the route of evacuation of casualties from the place where they were wounded to the place of their deaths. For this you need to check the diaries of the Field Ambulances and other medical units serving that part of the front. Once again, individuals are rarely mentioned by name, but the information may be useful nonetheless. In short, I am afraid you are likely to be dissappointed if you are after hard evidence about Pte. White's death. However, you may be able to reconstruct a narrative of what “most likely” happened to him. You may even strike it lucky. Despite what I have just said I have occaisionally found diary entries naming individual casualties. I am sorry I cannot be more helpful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen White Posted 19 December , 2003 Author Share Posted 19 December , 2003 thanks for the replies,didn't think this was going to be an easy one.JOHN yes your right his service records no longer exist,not amongst the serviving 30% of the "BURNT DOCUMENTS" at kew.i'll try the museum for that "long shot".GREENWOODMAN.the family is spread the full length of the country,many have not been heard of/or from for years,i'll try an advert in the local birmingham paper,where they all originated from,and see what comes up.SUEL thanks,one for my new year visit to kew i think,lets hope that 2% contains something (i have a large anorak !!).JHILL i have a copy of the battalion diary for march 1915,no names but wounded reported on 7 days during the month,the museum seem to think his wounds occured on one of just three of those days,i'll be contacting them again.i assume those hospital diaries would be at kew,so i'll be very busy on my next visit !! any other comments/suggestions/imformation keep it coming,i think i'm going to try for that "long shot" after all nothing ventured nothing gained. STEVEN Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris_Baker Posted 19 December , 2003 Share Posted 19 December , 2003 Steven, the medical unit records at PRO are as follows: In the WO95 series you will find the operational records of the hospitals. In general they do not list men who died whilst in their care, and they do not include admission records either. In MH106 series are some patient records and admission lists, but they are a tiny fragment of the whole. It might be worth checking the MH106 index to see if any of the hospitals you are interested in are covered. MH106 also has a sample of medical records, by unit. These only include RHA, some of the Hussars, Grenadier Guards, Leicester Regiment and RFC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greenwoodman Posted 19 December , 2003 Share Posted 19 December , 2003 Steve, I may have confused you with the local papers. SDGW says that he was born in St George's Parish Birmingham, and enlisted in Birmingham. Good chance the family (His Mum and Dad, siblings) lived in Birmingham. Therefore check the paper local to that parish, for March 1915 and for a couple of months afterwards. You may find copies of local papers in Birmingham Central Library, or at the British Museum, Newspaper Library at Colindale N. London Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John_Hartley Posted 19 December , 2003 Share Posted 19 December , 2003 Steven Just to add to Richard's post about newspapers. Best bet, in my view, is to see if there was a weekly paper very local to that part of Birmingham, rather than, say, the daily evening paper covering the whole of Birmingham John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen White Posted 19 December , 2003 Author Share Posted 19 December , 2003 CHRIS AND SUE L. "representative selection" god i've come across this so many times while doing this research.last time when i tried to trace his widows "WAR WIDOWS PENSION".only 10% of the 100,000 plus records were selected for preservation,the rest destroyed !!!!.sometimes i don't know whats worse losing records to the gross stupidity of the keepers of our national archives or losing them to enemy action !!!!.thanks for the comments/suggestions so far i think i know which direction i need to go with this one (on with the anorak i think).if anyone can think of anything else,please let me know. STEVEN Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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