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General => Armed Forces => World War One => Topic started by: paulalou on Thursday 06 November 08 12:03 GMT (UK)
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Hi,
I'm looking for information, possibly war diaries, about the 2nd Battalion East Kent Regiment. My great-grandfathers brother died in July 1915 and i'm interested in finding out about the battles he may have fought in. I've looked at the war diaries section of the PRO website but can't find anything for the 2nd battalion. I'm also struggling to find anything else online.
Does anyone know of any online resources that may be able to help me?
Thanks
Paula
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Hi Paula
http://www.1914-1918.net/buffs.htm will tell you what they were doing. You need to follow the 28th Division link next to the 2nd Battalion.
If you have his medal index card it will tell you when he 'entered theatre', ie when he went to France.
Ken
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Hello Paula,
Here you are:
http://www.rootschat.com/links/04pz/
Search 2 Battalion Buffs
The NA search engine is fussy, to say the least.
Phil
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Thanks for your help.
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My GF served with the battalion. On my wall at home I have a regimental photo taken in Barton, Kent in 1917 prior to dispatch to France. My GF was part of the signals section. They were shown as the 2nd/4th Battalion.
Regards,
Mark
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Hi Mark
2/4th Battalion were created as second-line (ie reserves) of the 4th Battalion. Paula's relative was in the 2nd Battalion. They later created a third-line of the 4th, Extra Reserves, ie 3/4th.
According to http://www.1914-1918.net/buffs.htm the 2/4th stayed at home, so if he went to France he was probably transferred to the 1/4th.
All 4th battalion units - 1/4th, 2/4th and 3/4th - would have used the same numbering sequence, so transfers within the 4th would not have involved a number change, and so are difficult to track, except via the individual's service record.
Ken
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Thanks for that insight, Ken.
You are right that he turned out to be difficult to track. His medals and payroll numbers were different - even with a little time at Kew many years ago I couldn't get the story.
I have some papers and army currency stamped "Lille" so know he was in Northern France sometime. Like many, he never spoke of his time in the trenches, and the only story my grandmother related was that he lost his signet ring in a trench during an advance, but apparently found it in the mud again some days later on retreat.
He survived the war with a shrapnel wound in the foot. The irony was that this injury killed him through septicemia in 1939 just before WW2. My father was just 7.
Mark
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I have read the Buffs information on the link I supplied and realise that the 1/4th were in India. Have you found a medal index card for him?
Ken
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The UK Online archive has started to provide this info. When I looked a couple of years back they had reach "G" and I saw my GF mentioned as entitled to his medals and that was all.
Mark
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Hi,
I was researching the 2nd battalion of the East Kent regiment, and saw your message from 2008. I guess you have made a lot of progress by now, but in case you are still looking I have found my Great Great Uncle's grave and have pieced together several bit of info. He died in a communal hospital in the town of Bailleul on April 25, 1915 and is buried in the community cemetery there. In all possibility he was one of thousands of victims of the first ever German gas attack, using chlorine gas, on April 22 during the Second Battle of Ypres. The battalion was clearly involved in that battle, alongside many more Canadians. I visited his grave with my elderly father, and I hope you too have been able to find out more about your relative in the same battalion. Best wishes, Chris
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Would I be able to find details of the accident in the attached note. Among the casualty lists various number notations in the "600 s" appear, 607 in this case. What does that indicate ? Thanks for looking.