PLEASE HELP - 102 year old seeks information on brother KIA

[Pighills]

I'm sure you'll all appreciate the urgency here!

Basically, my next door neighbour has decided to research his family and he knows I 'do' family history (therefore I'm doing for him - lol). His granddad is 102 and is the last remaining brother of this soldier - he would like to know what happened after all these years.

I would be so grateful for all your help to see if there's any information out there.

I have downloaded his medal card but am unable to post it here because my main computer keeps crashing (it's my birthday next week - do you think I stand much chance of a new one?). Anyhow this is the information so far:

Watson Hubert A

Hamps R

Pte

8/1548

Victory C/1/103B30 2906

British ditto ditto

15 Star C/1/9B 26

K in A

(2B) Ballearic

10-8-15

and from the CWGC site:

Name Watson, Hubert Alexander

Rank Rifleman

Regt/Service Hampshire REgiment

Unit Text 1st/8th Bn

Age 18

Date of Death 22/09/1915

Service No 1548

Additional Son of Henry and Alice Watson of Knight's Cross, Wootton,

Information Isle of Wight

Casualty Type Commonwealth War Dead

Grave/Memorial Reference Panel 125-134 or 223 - 226 228 - 229 &328

Memorial Helles Memorial

I know there's going to be very little - but am hoping someone has the war diaries for that particular regt and could tell me what happened that day?

Thanks for taking the time to read this.

Kim

[alliekiwi]

On the Long, long trail it says about the Hampshire Reg:

1/8th (Isle of Wight Rifles, Princess Beatrice's) Battalion

August 1914 : in Newport, Isle of Wight. April 1915 : attached to 163rd Brigade, 54th Division. Landed at Suvla Bay, Gallipoli on 9 August 1915. Left Gallipoli and moved to Egypt, arriving 19 December 1915. Moved into Palestine as part of EEF.

I wonder what this bit means on the card? Is that the name of the boat he was on?

(2B) Ballearic

10-8-15

[Stephen Nulty]

That's his Theatre of War and Date Entered

[alliekiwi]

Balearic Islands? Shoddy geography... are they anywhere near Gallipoli considering he was supposed to have landed at Suvla the day before, unless I got my info off the LLT totally screwy?

I think everyone should ignore me. Nearly midnight - brain obviously not working!

Allie

[Garron]

According to Google the Balearic Islands, are off the coast of Spain and Algeria.

http://www.britannica.com/eb/art/print?id=...rticleTypeId=31

Gaz

[Stephen Nulty]

2b is actually Gallipoli (Dardanelles) or may have been written as "2b - Balkans" - perhaps worth another look at the card?

[alliekiwi]

Ah, a mere hop, skip and a jump, then. Thanks, Garron.

Kim, I know what you men about how urgent these things are. I was trying to get a photo of a headstone for my hubby's grandmother. Her brother and uncle both DOW in the war, and she was coming up 97. Managed to get the one of the brother's stone, but not the uncle's - and she died in June.

Edit That makes much more sense, Stephen.

Allie

[ralphjd]

The BRITISH WAR GRAVES PROJECT have a photo of his name on the Helles Memorial on file. Ralph.

[Jim Clay]

Kim

You may already have this, but if not:

The 1901 census shows 3 year old Hubert A. WATSON living at Knights Cross, Wootton, IOW, with parents Henry (railway platelayer) and Alice, 4 older brothers, 2 older sisters and a baby brother.

If you need it, I can send the census image - just PM me your email address. (I know, not strictly what you're after, but a bit of shading to the overall picture...)

Jim

[MelPack]

There is some useful information on this site:

http://www.isle-of-wight-memorials.org.uk/...t_le_brun_f.htm

I think that T8Hants is an expert on the IoW. It would be worth you while dropping him a PM.

Regards

Mel

[MelPack]

have a look at this:

http://www.iwm.org.uk/upload/package/2/gal...files/azmak.pdf

[sotonmate]

Kim

It looks to me as if he landed at Suvla Bay on the 10th August and may have been killed in the landing or positioning process.Only the War Diary can help here.It is under piece number WO95/4325 at Kew,covering August to December 1915, and is downloadable for a fee.

You also might like to read this from the Long Long Trail:

http://www.1914-1918.net/54div.htm

Best wishes

Sotonmate

[Stebie9173]

I believe I have 163rd Infantry Brigade War Diary for Gallipoli at home on PDF. I'll try and post later!

This website covers the (in)famous Sandringham Company of the 1/5th Battalion of the Norfolks (also of 163rd Brigade) that "disappeared" on the 12th August, but should give you some background.

http://user.online.be/~snelders/sand.htm

(Edit : Helps if I post the link!)

Steve.

[Crunchy]

It looks to me as if he landed at Suvla Bay on the 10th August and may have been killed in the landing or positioning process.Only the War Diary can help here.I

His date of death as per post #1 is "Date of Death 22/09/1915" so he was killed later in the campaign, he entered the theatre on 10/8/1915 - not killed on that date. See posts #1 and #3. Thus he spent at least 6 weeks on the peninsula.

cheers

Chris

[Pighills]

Hello Everyone - sorry I disappeared, my hair dresser turned up to do my hair.

I'm just going to go back and read all your posts again and I shall address each one in turn .... please bear with me.

Kim

[Pighills]

OK firstly,

AllieKiwi - the (2B) Ballearic refers to the theatre of war first served in and the date 10-8-15 is when he first served there.

I shall try to scan the card in again and hope it doesn't crash my computer but will answer the replies first.

I shall go back and read the link you have left for the Hampshire Regt - thank you.

Rayjadee thanks for that - I shall go and look at that and print it off to add to the rest of the info I already have.

Jim Clay - thank you very much indeed for looking at the parents, I already have the census right back to 1841.

[Pighills]

Melpack - thank you very much for the link, that's now printed off and I shall indeed contact T8hants shortly as well as looking at the second link you've put up.

[Pighills]

Sotonmate - interesting snippet posted there, thank you and I shall follow the link as well as looking at TNA for that downloadable file.

[MelPack]

There is an Eldridge with the 1/8 Hamps number of 1594 on ancestry who attested on 15th August 1914. So it looks as if your man enlisted within days of the start of the war.

Regards

Mel

[Pighills]

Stebie - fingers crossed it's the right one and again, in the meantime I shall follow your link and do some reading.

[Pighills]

Crunchy - yes, he entered on 10 August 1915, but sorry, a slight slip of the finger in my eagerness to get the details down, he died on 22 August 1915. He actually was there for 12 days.

To everyone else who has responded thank you so much for your interest, I hoped for a bit of interest but this has been great.

Many thanks to you all!!

........... and finally, I'm gonig to try now to re-scan it, if I disappear again for a little while it's becaue I've crashed!!

[T8HANTS]

Hi

Kim Please PM me we have just what your neighbor is after and I will send you a copy of my article on the Rifles at Suvla Bay

Gareth aka T8Hants

[Pighills]

So sorry, I came back on and was about to reply and it all crashed on me again (it's been ongoing for weeks which is why I really am hoping for a new one next week).

Gareth thank you so much for your message I will pm you straight after I post this.

I will try to get back on here tomorrow to check things out and in the meantime I will also try to follow up some of those leads.

Thanks once again everyone, speak to you all later!

Kim

[Stebie9173]

I have the 163rd Brigade War Diaries for August to December 1915. There is not a fantastic amount of detail in them, but you are welcome to copies of the PDFs. E-mail me or PM me with your e-mail address.

Steve.

[Pighills]

Steve

PM on it's way to you as I speak - many thanks.

Kim