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General => Armed Forces => World War One => Topic started by: SM223 on Monday 26 February 18 21:23 GMT (UK)
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Hi All,
First time poster here!
A quick question for you knowledgeable folks!
My grandfather Charles Taylor won the Military Medal during WWI, I found the announcement in the London Gazette but it is not mentioned on the Medal Rolls Index card is this a normal occurrence? I am trying to follow on with my late mum's research in the hopes of finding out what he did to achieve it although I understand that is a tough task. He was a Driver in the RFA regiment 1349.
Thanks in advance
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Hi, there will be another MIC with it recorded on it, as far as I am aware it was recorded on a separate card, my wife's Grandfathers was.
Frank. :)
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Thanks Frank.
I will keep up the search for it!
Cheers
Steve
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Back again, Welcome to Rootschat by the way, my apologies for not saying it on the previous post :-[
The record is mentioned on Ancestry but no image is available, I will keep looking, someone will be along shortly to offer further assistance I'm sure.
Frank.
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If you don't find it on one of the sub sites, the second card is at the National Archives for £3.50 at:
http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D6283501 -enough of it can be seen on the distorted image viewer to see the heading The M----ry Meda
MaxD
I heard you calling Frank :)
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I heard you calling Frank :)
;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
Beat me to it MaxD ;)
Frank.
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WOW that's amazing! I did look in the National Archives but I guess not in the correct place.
Really appreciate your help guys!
Steve
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The MM card won't give any details apart from LG date etc what date is given,maybe able to work out which battle it was awarded for using Howard Williamsons detailed analysis of MM awards in his book.
Ady
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On his Medal Roll but no other info.
You need to know his Brigade.
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First off thank you all so very much!
Jim how do I read that? I understood the 1349 to be his original regiment number and then 630398 to be a regiment that he was either transferred to later or it was reassigned a new number is that correct? I do know he was in 255 brigade of the Highland Division (51st Battalion).
What information sources are you using? Is it mainly the National Archives and Ancestry only? When I looked through there I did not find this much information but I suspect my searches were not specific enough?
Thanks
Steve
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255 (or CCLV) Brigade Royal Field Artillery, originally 1/1st Highland Brigade RFA, was one of the field artillery brigades in support of 51st Highland Division. (First one here http://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/army/regiments-and-corps/the-royal-artillery-in-the-first-world-war/batteries-and-brigades-of-the-royal-field-artillery/cclv-cclvi-cclviii-howitzer-brigades-51st-divisional-artillery/
His second number was the result of the 1917 re-numbering of the Territorial Force. Numbers in the block 630001 – 635000 were allocated to that Brigade.
As you have Ancestry, you might like to read the war diary to see if you can discover the award of his MM, link:
https://www.ancestry.co.uk/interactive/60779/43849_2854_3-00000?backurl=https%3a%2f%2fsearch.ancestry.co.uk%2fsearch%2fdb.aspx%3fdbid%3d60779%26path%3d&ssrc=&backlabel=ReturnBrowsing
National Archives to find the second card, Ancestry for the remainder. There is a second medal roll for his 1914/1915 Star, link:
https://www.ancestry.co.uk/interactive/5119/41804_636897_11341-00280?pid=126808&backurl=https://search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/sse.dll?_phsrc%3DJdV2525%26_phstart%3DsuccessSource%26usePUBJs%3Dtrue%26gss%3Dangs-c%26new%3D1%26rank%3D1%26msT%3D1%26gsfn%3Dc%26gsfn_x%3D0%26gsln%3Dtaylor%26gsln_x%3D0%26gskw%3D1349%26cpxt%3D1%26cp%3D4%26MSAV%3D1%26uidh%3D6x5%26pcat%3D39%26h%3D126808%26recoff%3D5%25206%26dbid%3D5119%26indiv%3D1%26ml_rpos%3D3&treeid=&personid=&hintid=&usePUB=true&_phsrc=JdV2525&_phstart=successSource&usePUBJs=true
MaxD
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ditto.
Medal ribbons were awarded pretty soon after the event, so you're looking at Nov.-Dec. 1916 for a diary entry which may make a reference to it.
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Thanks both and thank you Max for the help on finding the diary, that'll make some interesting reading fingers crossed I can find a reference in there!
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Don't be disappointed if you don't find him named. The artillery brigades were better than most in naming men awarded and some are indeed picked out in the diary. However, the artillery brigades are often difficult because there were interminable re-organisations that saw batteries moving from one brigade to another so although your man seems to have started in 255 Brigade, there is no guarantee he was there later.
On 15 May 1916, one of these reorganisations saw D Battery of 255 Brigade moving to 258 Brigade where it became A Battery only for it to return to 255 Brigade in August when the battery was brokne up and the three sections sent to A B and C batteries. I haven't seen his name in either 255 or 258 Brigades but then he may have been posted elsewhere too! The fact that his new number was a 255 Brigade number doesn't necessarily mean he was in 255 at the change, the new allocation was based on where the man came from in the first place.
Feel free to ignore anything after the first sentence!
MaxD
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Thanks I appreciate that, whilst my grandfather wasn't mentioned in the diary its a very interesting read. Apparently he didn't want to talk about it according to my mum despite various attempts to get him to open up, not unusual I suspect.
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Did we get a London Gazette date?
Ady
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Jan. 1917.
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Steve, have you thought of checking the local papers of the time, where he was from may have carried a story.
Frank.
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Ady, it was Jan 22 1917. I attached the screenshot of it, I think.
Frank, good idea! I will give that a try.
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The notes in Williamsons book about 22/1/17 gazette
"This gazette carries a few schedule numbers but many of the cards have none this would indicate a tidying up of awards from August to November 1916 Dates for citations cover 19/8 to 14/11 and cover actions on the Ancre and Transloy Ridges."
Difficult to track artillery men due to them being sent all over the area in support of actions.
Ady
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Thanks for the info Ady and I can appreciate the complexity of tracking down individuals, seems like it will remain a mystery!
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Local papers are a good source around MM deeds if there was a local paper around at that time maybe a local history group or library could help.
Ady