William Henry Bauer 5517/682711 Lond Reg Medal & Award Roll Enigma.

[DavidJP]

Hi all,

I have lately been making use of the recently released WW1 Service Medal & Award Rolls on Ancestry. I have been able to find quite a number that I was looking for. However one in particular has me a little bemused & struggling to find/research further.

The man in question is my gt grandfather Bauer's cousin William Henry Bauer (1884-1960). He was a private with regimental numbers 5517 & 682711 in the 22nd Battalion, The London Regiment.

His service record does not survive.

His medal index card is indexed under Bauer, William H and shows:

22nd Lond R           Private         5517
     Do                                       682711

He was entitled to/awarded the Victory & British medals.

In his WW1 Service Medal & Award Rolls entry he is indexed as Bauer, William Henry & it shows the following:

22nd Lond R    Pte   5517     1(a) 25-6-16 to 14-12-16
                                          2(a) 21-12-16 to 2-4-17
22nd Lond R    682711     MALTA 10-4-17 to 11-7-17
                                          4(b) 16-11-17 to 28-2-19

I have worked out that 1(a) is France & Belgium/Flanders, 2(a) is Balkans - Greek Macedonia, Serbia, Bulgaria & European Turkey and lastly that 4(b) is Egypt between dates of 18/19 March 1916 & 31st October/1st November 1918.

From the Long Long Trail website if I understand it correctly the 22nd (County of London) Battalion London Regiment (The Queen's) were in France/Flanders for the whole time, i.e 1916-1918. So what was William Henry doing in The Balkans, Malta & Egypt?

Can anyone help or give any advice?

Many thanks in advance.

Kind regards

David

Edited to correct Regimental Number.

[km1971]

You have used 682771 and 682711. The former was a man called Fawley.

It could be that Bauer's six-digit number is wrong. In which case he was in another London Regiment/Battalion. You may be able to match his movements with another - http://www.1914-1918.net/london.htm

However it may only match until March 1917, as if he transferred after that date he would have kept his original six-digit number.

Ken

[DavidJP]

Hi Ken,

Many thanks for your reply, very much appreciated.

Ooops!  His number is not wrong, just a typo on my part I'm afraid! Now corrected on my original post!

Just to clarify that his numbers were 5517 & 682711. It looks like they were renumbered in April 1917, as on 2nd April 1917 he is no 5517 & then by 10th April 1917 he is no 682711. Both numbers being shown as for the 22nd London Regiment.

My thanks & apologies again.

Kind regards

David

[apwright]

He must have been 2/22nd Londons, not 1/22nd. (Rolls and MICs don't always distinguish between 1st/2nd/3rd line battalions.)

2/22nd were in 60th Division, the movements of which roughly match your man's dates ... apart from his 3 months in Malta, which may have been due to illness or wounds, and during which period the Division moved from Salonika to Egypt/Palestine.

Adrian

[DavidJP]

Hi Adrian,

Many thanks indeed for your reply, very much appreciated.

Many thanks for the info & insight re his time in Malta, much appreciated.

Kind regards

David

[Hilary18]

Hi David. Are you still active here? I have one of William Henry Bauer’s war medals. Please contact me.

[DavidJP]

Hi Hilary18,

Many thanks for your reply, very much appreciated.

Apologies for the non response until now. Have also replied to your PM to me on this subject.

My thanks again.

Kind regards

David