MIC for Samuel Franklyn Cody

[NigelS]

Any thought on these MICs from Ancestry.com, Please

I'm reasonably certain that, despite the differences in intials these MIC's are both for Samuel Franklyn Cody the son of "Colonel" Samuel Franklin Cody the pioneering aviator. Cody "Jr" seems to have been known as Frank rather than Sam which might explain the FSL initials on the 1st MIC.

SDGW gives:

Name: CODY, Samuel Franklyn

Regiment, Corps etc.: Royal Flying Corps

Battalion etc.:

Last name: Cody

First name(s): Samuel Franklyn

Initials: S F

Decoration:

Rank: 2/LT (TP)

Date died: 23 January 1917

How died: Killed in action

Supplementary Notes: (41/SQUAD GEN LIST)

& CWGC (no other Cody's show up in a a search using RFC)

Name: CODY, SAMUEL FRANKLYN LESLIE

Initials: S F L

Nationality: United Kingdom

Rank: Second Lieutenant

Regiment/Service: Royal Flying Corps

Unit Text: 41st Sqdn.

Secondary Regiment: General List

Secondary Unit Text: and

Age: 21

Date of Death: 23/01/1917

Additional information: Son of Lela M. Cody, of Vale Croft, Ash Vale, Surrey and the late aircraft pioneer, Samuel F. Cody; husband of Maude H. Cody, of 'Notre Dame', Church Road, Aldershot, Surrey.

Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead

Grave/Memorial Reference: XVI. C. 1.

Cemetery: PERTH CEMETERY (CHINA WALL)

the Supplement to the London Gazette of 2nd Nov '16 gives "Serjt. Samuel Franklyn Cody from RFC, to be temp 2nd Lt. for duty with Mil. Wing of that Corps. 10th Oct. 1916"

this is a year later than the date given as "Dis. to Tem. Comm 9.10.15" but possibly there was a transcription error when this Index card was raised?

Assuming that I am correct about both of these MICs being for Cody "Jr", the areas I have problems with are:

1) the SF Cody MIC, which as it gives the rank of T/2nd Lieut must have been the later of the two, simply says Dec'd with no further details given

2) there is no mention of an entitlement to the Victory or BW medals, which Cody must have been due, given on either MIC although that for the 1915 Star is given on the FSL MIC

3) the meaning of the NW/6/17626 reference

I did wonder if there might be another MIC which hasn't been put on Ancestry yet, but a scan through Cody MIC's on the NA site doesn't show any which appear relevant, other than the two above.

Does Cody appear on Medal Rolls proving entititlement to the BW & Victory medals, have they just been left off the MICs in error or for some other reason, were the medals never issued to NoK, or is there some other explanation?

Comments gratefully received

NigelS

[themonsstar]

Cody's house is still on the corner of Lysons Ave & Frimley Road, Ash Vale.

[david murdoch]

Bumping this old thread as I have an interest in Cody's earlier service.  He appears to have joined the army pretty well at the outbreak of WW1 (probably September 1914) and did his initial training/service with 9th Kings Royal Rifles in the UK. 9th (Service) Battalion, King's Royal Rifle Corps was raised at Winchester on 21st of August 1914. I have him cropping up attending the 56th Vickers Machine Gun school at Hythe 31st October to 20th November where he's listed as a Lance Corporal 9th K.R.R. This course was run primarily to train men for the (then) forming Motor Machine Gun Service and many of the other officers, NCO's and other ranks show up as key players in the MMGS and later MGC(M) or Tank Corps. He was probably already selected for MMGS and shows up as Gunner 291. He went to France 20th June 1915 and with a Motor Machine Gun Battery, possibly 11th or as a casualty replacement to one of the lower numbered batteries already there. His medal entitlement therefore all gained with MMGS - RA.prior to RFC service. His RFC 15 Star roll is noted with his 291 service number and MMGS as unit. Given his background and who his father was he appears to have very quickly transferred into the Royal Flying Corps (in France), as an Aircraft Mechanic 2nd Class 7624. He qualified as a pilot on 28th September 1915 at the British Flying School at  Le Crotoy, France - by that time Air Mechanic 1st Class and then discharged to commission on 9th October 1915. He does not appear to be on BWM/VM medal rolls - he is missing off the MGC(Motors) BWM/VM roll and no roll referenced on either RFC Medal Cards (those posted originally are certainly both him).  The 15 Star would have been issued automatically but as an officer he or a relative would have had to apply for his BWM/VM and it really looks like this never happened. As his father was already deceased (1913) his mother was likely his NoK. His family background is a bit complicated given his father was a "bit of a character" and his mother had a previous marriage. He was born in Basle, Switzerland 7th September 1895. In 1911 Census he was living with his parents and older half brother Vivian Evelyn Garnett (King) who is shown as being an "aeronautical engineer" employed by the war office. His parents appear to have separated some time after this and his father remarried in 1913 a couple of months before his death. Samuel's background may have pulled strings to get flying (as an non commissioned air mechanic), but he most likely had the credentials on his own merit. Likely he'd been around aircraft and mechanics from an early age. His joining MMGS aged 19 probably hints an interest in motorcycles as well, he'd already seen combat in France and was a trained machine gunner. He is also remembered on an additional tablet on his father's grave.

Edited 18 May , 2020 by david murdoch

[ss002d6252]

The war gratuity paid on death (for service in the ranks) was £14 10. This covered the service up to the date he was commissioned on 10 Oct 1916.

 

https://www.wargratuity.uk/war-gratuity-calculator/

 

 

Craig

[david murdoch]

Thanks. That would fit in with his joining 9th KRR in the weeks after they were raised. He would not have been with them very long. I presume a month later when word went around that the MMGS was being formed he put his name in for them and was selected for the machine gun course, starting end of October. This seems to be fairly constant with other early MMGS men  - prior to them recruiting off the street. Many keen motorcyclists and some well known riders of the day had rushed to enlist right at the start of the war then were desperate to transfer into MMGS when it was formed. It was heavily over subscribed and they had to turn people away - often The Motorcycle newspaper advised excess applicants to try for the RFC.  

Given the make up of the course the majority of the Officers and NCOs were pre war soldiers and junior NCOs and men recent enlistments come from all over. Cody being a Lance Corporal an appointment rather than rank shows early capability, but he reverted to Gunner (Private) in the MMGS (at least as his original rank). Interesting his actual commission date as this is basically a year after he was discharged to commission and 13 months after he gained his wings. He may have gone to France with 11th MMG as they would have gone around the time he embarked. Unfortunately their war diary is incomplete and missing the relevant time frame. I will need to look in other Battery war diaries to see if he crops up either as an arriving replacement or noted transferring out to RFC over summer 1915.

[david murdoch]

To add to what I have on him. His Soldiers Effects  beneficiary was his widow. Maude who he had married in April 1913 (when he was still 17). They had two sons  Samuel Franklyn Cody born 31st October 1913 and Frank Leslie Helier born 18th February 1917 – less than a month after his father was killed. On the Soldiers Effects it’s noted widow's address unknown and she remarried in August 1921. So looks like nobody applied for his BWM/VM.

[NigelS]

David thanks for resurrecting this thread - 12 years since I started it (& if I remember correctly before the medal rolls were readily available) - and giving more information. 

 

I think it likely that the family - in the wider sense - may have have had too much else to deal with to worry about applying for medals even if they did know they were available. 

Cody juniors wife Maude who obviously, as well as grieving would have had, the two youngsters to bring up and  Lela, Cody senior's partner  - also  the first female aviatrix in 1908 - after the death of both her partner & her son is said to have become reclusive for the rest of her life (dying in 1939, aged 87), but that was not all.  Cody's first wife - another Maude - after their separation, had returned to the USA and it seems they never divorced. In 'Colonel Cody & The Flying Cathedral' (Author Garry Jenkins) gives that following the break up Maud  '..continued a peripatetic existence herself, seemingly performing in a parachuting act back in America'. In 1905 she is said to have a bad fall which resulted in severe head injuries rendering her insensible and put '...under the care of the State Hospital for the insane...'  It's not impossible that  the couple did marry, but there doesn't appear to be any evidence to support this in the UK records (although they may have married elsewhere) and such would have made Cody a bigamist - not that, knowing his flamboyant nature & enigmatic character, that would have stopped him. It is said that Queen Victoria refused to meet the couple because of their  unmarried status. Subsequent to Cody's senior's death her father & stepmother (Lee) fought to have Maud recognised as Cody's legal widow with the case running for seven years. Eventually this went in favour of Maud and, Cody senior  having died intestate, his four surviving Cowdrey (Cody's original surname) siblings, leaving Lela & Frank (Cody's only child) disinherited & with nothing.

Incidentally, Cody's seniors step son Vivian continued to work at the Royal Aircraft Establishment as Head of the Fabrics Shop where his work on kites, balloons & parachutes for military purposes through both World Wars, clocking up over 40 years service and resulted in a BEM. Vivian died in 1961 and is buried alongside his step father and mother at Aldershot Military Cemetery (source The Flying Cathedral, Arthur Gould Lee)

 

MICs are just an index of the medal rolls (must admit to not being sure whether they were automatically raised regardless, or whether they were only raised as part of the medals issuing process). I don't think there's any question of Cody' entitlement to the Victory & BWM, and as the rolls are a record - at least according to the heading - of entitlement, not issue there should be a roll entry for them somewhere. The fact it hasn't been possible to find one might be mean the loss of a record - any time after generation and digitising - or an error because of confusion over who he was serving with at the time he qualified when the rolls were being raised. Interestingly, being free access at the moment, I downloaded the MIC of the only other name not scored through on the RFC medal Roll above ( the ones scored through are clearly annotated as appearing on the medal rolls of other regiments) Crow, N A, 7739: 

 

It looks as if he would have been awarded the 15 star (not being an officer, presumably automatically), but no roll entry references for the  BWM or Victory Medal - as with Cody he clearly qualified - but there is the additional note 'X Card to supervisor when on roll' with the corresponding 'X' against the 'Victory' & 'British' boxes. The 'Trans 16.9.17' note might indicate that they were, but might have expected more details, but perhaps these are on the roll

The MIC for one of the scored through entries (Coast, Harold 8419) shows that, as expected from the entry on the RFC roll, his 1915 Star was transferred  to the Notts & Derbys and appear along with the Roll details for his Victory & BWMs. 

There is a clear note, again, as expected, saying that the '15 star was deleted from the RFC Roll  to allow it to appear on the Notts & Derby Roll (I haven't been able to check the roll, presumably it does).

 

So this raises the question of whether both Cody & Crow's Roll entries (& therefore MICs) for their BWM & Victory medals fell foul of a clerical error because they were a little more than straightforward, or a certain action, that should have happened, never happened. I don't have access  to name search for medal rolls at the moment, but it would be interesting to know whether Crow does appear on the Victory/ BWM medal rolls of the Royal Munsters  or the Royal Marines (or anywhere else...) and, if he does, how the records are annotated (or not)

 

While I was looking at the the NA records I also found Cody's Officer service record details (not digitised of course) WO 339/75582 & also that there are nine pages which are closed until 2038 (WO339/75582/1), possibly because they might relate to someone who might still be alive(?) Is this a regular occurrence with Officers' records or unusual?

 

It seems that there is very little about Cody family history that is ever straightforward

 

NigelS

[FROGSMILE]

I had not spotted this thread before and have found it fascinating, thank you for posting.  I don’t know if it will be of assistance, or interest, but in searching for details of the dogfight referred to on young Cody’s parents grave I stumbled upon this website relating to RFC aircrew casualties of WW1: http://www.airhistory.org.uk/rfc/people_index.html

Edited 23 May , 2020 by FROGSMILE