BOMBARDIER S Partington 66290 royal garrison artillery

[ANDREWPARTINGTON2]

Hey all

tracked down a family member finally is on a spec memorial in his hometown of pendleton salford, had a quick look on ancestry with no luck

he died on 25th march 1917 can anyone tell me anything about his number or his unit

thanks

Andy

[Messina1915]

Hi Andy

I assume you've seen his CWGC record, but here's a link in case you haven't seen it.

Cheers,

Carole.

[ANDREWPARTINGTON2]

Thanks carole.

my sister has had a friend helping with the family tree and discovered this for me, there was always a rumour thata member of my dads side of the family had died but no one knew who,

we intend to go to pendleton on sat and see the special memorial

why a special memorial there as i persume there is no body? any ideas about this one, the family did come from pendleton so is it it just pendleton remebering the lost men?

[kildaremark]

The nearest man I could find on ancestry was:-

66299 Frank Hilton enlisted on 7/11/1915 and was attested as a gunner at No. 2 Depot RGA at Fort Brockhurst, Gosport on 10/11/1915. He was sent to 'a' siege depot for initial training before posting on to a battery.

Your man would have been sent to the same depot and enlisted on or about the same day. He might also have gone to 'a' Siege Depot for further training before allocation to a battery although this is difficult to tell without the service record.

Edit: Can't find a Medal Card on the National Archives site which suggests he never served overseas?

Mark

[ANDREWPARTINGTON2]

Cheers mark thats a big help.

going tmoz to see the special memorial in the churchyard hopeing it may give some clues. my concern is that if he only served at home he would have a grave/and prob not commemerated by the cwgc unless it was a war related death?

is there a possability as lost at sea on the way to france/belgium? lack of a medal card is strange to he would have been entilted to a victory medal wouldnt he?

the mystery continues

Andy

[ANDREWPARTINGTON2]

after much driving around salford we found the churchyard in question where there is a special memorial stone for six pendlbury men(including samuel) it also says that they are burried in the graveyard as well but we were unable to locate the family grave stone

anybody out there have any knowledge of events in france or belgium on 25th march 1917?

did many men who signed up stay in the country for the whole war and surely if he died in service even if not war related there would be some info

also the cwgc only remeber soldiers lost in action

i suppose i need to order his death certificate

comments please

andy

[jay dubaya]

Hi Andy,

Samuel also has an entry in SDGW. Rank of Acting Bombardier, born and enlisted in Manchester, a resident of Irlams o' th' Height. Died at home 25th March 1917. So it looks like Samuel never saw overseas service. If he is buried at Pendlebury Church it will be a private headstone and not the usual Portland headstone. It could be that Samuel died during training either accident or illness, the cause may well be listed on his death cert. Are you nearby? An afternoon in the local archives may throw some light on his death, newspapers of the time being a good source.

If indeed Samuel enlisted towards the later part of 1915 and didn't go overseas, he certainly rose in rank, perhaps he was involved in training new recruits or he was struck down by illness or accident shortly after enlistment,

good luck,

cheers, Jon

[ANDREWPARTINGTON2]

Thanks for the info thats really helpful. we looked for the family grave yesterday but had no luck some of the stones are missing so will have to contact the church for a site plan.

Will order the death certificate as im very interested in the cause of death, i suppose it must be service related for him to be remembered by the cwgc

as always thanks for the information

Andy

[ANDREWPARTINGTON2]

Hi all

Have discovered thats samuels death was registered in amesbury wiltshire anyone know of any major bases in that area in 1917

ANDY

[tjec]

Larkhill Camp Salisbury Plain

Try this link courtesy of digger history.

http://www.diggerhistory.info/pages-confli...1/salisbury.htm

Still used for gunnery practice today.

Regards,

Norman

[ANDREWPARTINGTON2]

Thanks for the info.

have recieved samuels death certificate he had a ruptured appendix and died from an internal blockage.

The really interesting thing is that it lists his unit as the 303rd siege battery

anyone have any info on this unit, were they about to deploy to the front or were they a training unit.

andy

[ororkep]

Andy,

There is a N&M paperback you can easily still order for about £10 entitled: “With a siege battery in France” that is all about the active service of 303 Siege Battery, a 6 in Howitzer gun battery formed at Plymouth in Nov 1916. There is a very famous photo of this battery when in Germany. But it did not embark for France until April 1917 and while he is not mentioned in their index of battery members he IS mentioned as the first of two battery casualty in the book introduction when based at Larkhill, no 27 camp. He is recorded as dying of appendicitis..

Rgds Paul

[ANDREWPARTINGTON2]

Thanks for that great info .

i have already ordered the book Looking forward to reading it and am pleased that my relative is mentioned as they must have been in preperation to go to france as he sadly passed away.

Andy