information sought

[carol cooper]

I have copies of my great uncles papers [Arthur Gathercole] that I paid someone several years ago, to obtain for me from Kew. Unfortunately a lot of the writing on them is so indistinct as to be unreadable. They only seem to start from when he was transferred into the 45th Lincolnshire Labour corp after being wounded in March 1917. He was previously in the 6th Lincolnshire regiment. Perhaps the earlier papers were amongst those destroyed, if anyone knows this!

It says that he embarked from Folkstone and disembarked at what looks like Boston. Unless there was some place in France with a similar name. I wonder if they brought him back when wounded as this would explain Boston, but I don't know if he actually came back to England. He obviously went back as he was killed in August 1917. Does anyone know where the labour corp would have been in August 1917?

The information that I have from a book gives the position of the 6th Lincolshire Reg. up to June but does not go as far as August. Would they be in the same vicinity as the 6th?

He is buried in Brandhoek cemetery no. 3 Vlamertinghe, Ieper. It does say, died from wounds on the papers and I wonder if it would give further details as to how or where he was, perhaps in a hospital, if I sent for the death certificate.

I will attach a scan of his casualty form which says that he is in the 45th and the only part that I could read was at the bottom where it says Abdomen & Thighs, so I guess that is where he was initially wounded. It looks to me that there was other writing on the lined form but not readable. Is there any other way of finding out about this, apart from going to Kew, which is impossible for me?

One of the papers, dated 1922 after he had died, gives next of kin, and his brother George was in the Second DG Queens Boys, Egypt. No. 33373, any idea what this was, I have never heard of it. He was only 19 in 1922, so I wonder if it was a cadet or territorial outfit.

[saberhagen427]

It's probably Second Dragoon Guards Queen's Bays ie a regular cavalry regiment.