My Grandfather

[roni]

My Grandfather, John Frederick Grace of Ripley Derbyshire served in the army and was badly wounded in WW1. He was gassed and also his right arm was injured and useless. He died in 1926 of acute Phthisis. In 1922 a letter came with his war medals enclosed. He threw them against the wall and never picked them up nor would allow anyone else to pick them up. He was very bitter because he couldn't work and felt useless and had nothing but his medals and no financial support. The British Government had passed a law that if a serviceman died seven years or more after the war ended, death was not counted as being caused by the war and there were no pension rights for the surviving family. The medals were lost- Grandmother could not bear to look at them either and the war was not allowed to be mentioned in the family.

I want to find out which regiment he would have been recruited by in the Ripley district and what medals he would have been awarded. My Mother will not be with us much longer and she asked me to try to find out and I want to know to tell to my children.

Can anyone direct me in this? My great grand Uncle, also from Ripley, served in the 2nd battalion Seaforth Highlanders- he died at Gonnehem France in 1918. Is it possible to access their records to find if my Grandfather was recruited by them too?

Any help is much appreciated.

thank you, Roni

[nhclark]

Roni, welcome to the Forum.

The second chap shouldn't be too hard. What was his name please?

Noel

[Anthony Bagshaw]

Welcome to the Forum.

Looking at the medal index cards online, here's a possibility for you:

Medal card of Grace, John F

Corps Regiment No Rank

Royal Field Artillery 83757 Fitter

Royal Field Artillery 83757 Driver

However, there are quite a few John Grace's who are listed. I'm afraid that without any more info from your family, which i suspect you don't have, it might be difficult to actually narrow him down specifically.

The 'local' Regiment for Notts and Derbys is the Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment. If he enlisted voluntarily in the earky stages of the war, up to the end of 1915, the chances are that he would have volunteered to serve with them. But this isn't always the case as men often vokunteered for other Regiments.

If he didn't volunteer and was conscripted, this was introduced in January 1916, he would have been sent to wherever he was needed, not just the local Regiment.

Just a thought, have you tried to find his death certificate? This may have a bit more information on it for you.

Good luck with your search for him

[nhclark]

One other thought.

I assume that John married Harriet M. Lancashire?

Thier son Joseh F. Grace was born (registered) in 1916, and their daughter Phoebe K. Grace in 1919.

It's possible that if John was in the Army at those times that the birth certificates may just provide a clue. I have one certificate where the father's regiment was quoted.

Noel

[roni]

One other thought.

I assume that John married Harriet M. Lancashire?

Thier son Joseh F. Grace was born (registered) in 1916, and their daughter Phoebe K. Grace in 1919.

It's possible that if John was in the Army at those times that the birth certificates may just provide a clue. I have one certificate where the father's regiment was quoted.

Noel

Thanks Noel for your reply. Yes, Harriet Maud was my Grandmother and I do have those birth certificates. Phoebe Kathleen is my Mother. Unfortunately there are no comments on the certificates regarding his regiment etc. However, I have got close thanks to help from members of this forum and its a question of sorting out which one is my John Grace.

Such a helpful forum this is

Roni

[mts]

Hi Roni,

John Frederick Grace died in the 2/4 1926 age 35, the death was registered in Belper district 7b 663 this certificate can be bought from the local registry office or the GRO. it might hold some information?

He was born Sep 1891

Grace John Frederick Belper 7b 577

I found this on Ancestry and it will rule out one of the numbers on the MICs

British Army WWI Pension Records 1914-1920

about Frederick John Grace

Name: Frederick John Grace

Residence: 13 Mallard St, Hackney Wick

Document Year: 1915

Regimental Number: 2673

Number of Images: 12

Not much help I know

Mel

[ian turner]

Roni,

I think he might have been awarded a silver war badge if discharged from the amy due to wounds. The SWB roll will give you more service info.

Also I imagine he would have qualified for a pension due to his disability, and perhaps these records survive.

Ian

[Stuart Brown]

Roni,

I think that Anthony (above) is very near with his suggestion of Fitter.

Derby newspaper datetd 10th March 1916.

Ripley Artilleryman Wounded

News has been received that Fitter Fred Grace of the R.F.A. (Royal Field Artillery) , son of Mr Joseph Grace of Ripley, has been seriously wounded and is in hospital. The official intimation says "seriously ill with shell wound in right arm " , and a comrade in hospital writes that an operation has been performed.

(There is no further information)

Stuart

[sotonmate]

Roni

Further to Ian's post (No 7) The RFAs Silver War Badge issues are listed in the series WO329/2965 to 2983 at Kew. You will need to get the Roll page reference from the MIC to identify which of the WO329 ledgers you want. You might be lucky to get a reference to a unit there,or some other information,but this is not always the case.

Best wishes

Sotonmate