12145 Sgt. William Henry Piper

[Max]

Hello Everyone

Could someone with access to the SDGW cds please do a lookup for me?

The subject is 12145 Sgt. William Henry Piper, 11th Bn Prince of Wales Own, died 2/10/1917.

Many thanks

Andy

[Greenwoodman]

Hi Andy

b. Featherstone, Yorks, e. Leeds

died of wounds. France and Flanders

Military Medal

[Max]

Thanks Greenwoodman

William was my Grandmothers elder brother. I am astounded that no one mentioned that he had been awarded the Military Medal. Do you know of any archive were I could maybe find either the date of the award or a citation?

Andy

[Guest Ian Bowbrick]

London Gazette, which has an on-line search facility. There is a link from the mothersite.

[Greenwoodman]

Andy

Once you have the date when the MM was gazeted, you can work backwards from that date through the war diary (or battalion history if there is one - on checking there is "History of the PoW Own West Yorkshire Regiment - 11th (Service) Battalion" by Major C L Armstrong (Sunderland: Jas. D. Todd & Sons, 1919) 100 pages) to see if the award is mentioned. Gazette notification usually appeared some 3 to 6 months after the incident.

If no mention there, then the local papers where he lived may have an article about it.

I found the citation for my Grandad's MM, but I was very fortunate. But I'm sure you will enjoy the hunt! Good luck!

[Max]

Thanks for that lads,

I checked the London Gazette earlier, but not with any success. The text font is quite unfamiliar so I think it may take several viewings of the search results before I am happy that the entry isn't there.

Thanks again

Andy

[Yorts]

Hi,

The LG online is not without its faults, so if you can't find him your next best bet is to view the LG in hard copy. There is a complete listing at the PRO in Kew.

Rgds,

Alex.

[Max]

Thanks Alex

Would I be right in saying that the MM index at Kew is on fiche and housed adjacent to the MIC fiche?

Andy

[Yorts]

Yes, you would be correct in saying that. The MM index card sometimes gives more details than the MIC for an individual but it will not give a citation. From here it is possible to work out what date the award appeared in the London Gazette (the chart for working out LG entries from MM index card entries is taped to the table).

Information usually given is full service number, name, rank, unit, regiment and LG reference. The unit is particually useful as it tells you the exact unit the man was serving with when the medal was awarded, e.g. I had a VM to a London Regiment man, it showed 19th London Regt. But his MM was awarded for service with the 2/1 London Regt. I was able to discover what general action his MM was for (but not the exact day ) . Compare this to the MIC which often only states the regiment and not the battalion.

The actual LG entry will gove you the man's home town, and from this it may be possible to search through local papers. Obviously, you already know his home town, but I include this information for others on the same quest!

Rgds,

Alex.

[Max]

Thanks very much Alex, a very helpful response.

Andy