Who do I trust? CWGC or SDGW?

[Simon_Fielding]

I suppose we've had various answers to this one over the years, but when CWGC and SDGW contradict each other flatly, who is more likely to be right?

C J ROGERS

Private 4351

1st Bn., Welsh Guards

who died on Thursday 12 September 1918 .

Additional Information: Husband of Mrs. W. A. Simmonds (formerly Rogers), of 47, Welch Gate, Bewdley, Worcester.

Cemetery: BAC-DU-SUD BRITISH CEMETERY, BAILLEULVALPas de Calais, France

Grave or Reference Panel Number: VI. A. 13.

Location: Bailleulval is a village in the Department of the Pas-de-Calais about 13 kilometres south-west of Arras, and the Cemetery is one kilometre west of the village on the north side of the main road from Arras to Doullens (N25).

Historical Information: The cemetery was made in March 1918 by the 7th, 20th and 43rd Casualty Clearing Stations, but when the German advance began at the end of that month, their place was taken by field ambulances of the units fighting on the Arras front, notably the 31st Division and the Canadian Corps. In August and September, when the Germans had been pushed back, the 45th and 46th Casualty Clearing Stations were posted to the neighbourhood. Bac-du-Sud British Cemetery contains 688 Commonwealth burials of the First World War. There are also 55 German war graves. The cemetery was designed by Charles Holden.

SDGW:

4351 Christopher J Rogers 1WG, DoW FF 31/7/17.

Some data from a regimental history seems (apocrophally) to support the SDGW date......but the place of burial sounds more like an appropriate location for a 1918 casualty.

Which is more likely?

Simon

[Chris_Baker]

Personally, I would go with CWGC every time over something like this. SDGW is riddled with errors and needs to be treated carefully.

Is the SDGW info from the CD or from original print? The transcription process introduced another layer of error, but I would not have thought that this would produce such a strange difference in the date.

[Arthur]

SDGW and ODGW are not wholly accurate:

A statement at the beginning of each part makes this clear:

These rolls have been compiled from information furnished to Officers-in-Charge through the Offical Casualty Lists.

They are published to enable information, which has from time to time been circulated during the war, to be available in volume form.

Attention is invited to the explanation of abbreviations which are printed at the commencement.

Nothing whatever contained in these rolls is to be quoted or made use of in any representation hich it may be desired to make on the subject of rank,decoration, nature or date of casualty or anything consequent upon any casualty.

The War Office.

September 1921.

Arthur

[AndrewThornton]

I would say, on balance, that the information on casualties held by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission is more accurate than relying on SDGW, but it might be wise to seek out a third source that may confirm this soldier's date of death, such as a contemporary newspaper report. It might even be worth your while contacting RHQ Welsh Guards at Wellington Barracks as they would probably have his records there to refer to.

I agree wholeheartedly with Chris and Arthur about SDGW and ODGW. They are extremely useful sources to use for basic research but errors in surname and date of death crop up again and again when I have trawled through the various volumes (I don't have the CD ROM yet as I am a Luddite!). Mind you, I have seen a photo of the grave of Captain Harry Ridgway of the 1/5th North Staffords recently which shows that the CWGC can get it wrong as well. He was killed on 13th October 1915 but his headstone at Loos Cemetery shows 13th May 1915! This may have been changed but it doesn't surpirse me that things like this occur because of the sheer number of casualties involved.

[Simon_Fielding]

The data is from the CD ROM - does the burial location have any bearing on the most likely date?

Simon

[Terry_Reeves]

If I remember rightly, after a visit to the CWGC some years ago, they used a combination of Soldiers Died and their own records.

Terry Reeves