WW1 advice

[kat2004]

I have just discovered my gg grandfather Herbert Fisher died in the Great War. We think he was in the Shropshire light infantry, and was a colour sergeant. I've looked on the war graves commission website and there is a grave in France that matches my Herbert, but how would I know for sure?

When my gg grandmother was informed Herbert was dead, would she have to register the death? If so, and I obtain the death certificate, would it have his service number on it?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, Hertbert deserves to be remembered and its an honour to have him in my tree.

[casalguidi]

Hi Kat

Yes, there may be a death certificate for Herbert but it wouldn't have your nan's details on it as his death would have been registered by the army.  It will have army number etc. but then so does CWGC.  In reality, there probably won't be anything on the death certificate to say that he was your relative.

A couple of ideas to try and find out about your relative ................

If you know where they lived WW1, check out the local war memorial.  These don't give family relationships but there is a possibility that somebody (local library/council) still have the information that they collected for inclusion on the memorial.  The same goes for local schools/workplaces/churches - they often collected information on their late employees and sometimes organised their own memorials.

His loss may have been reported in the local newspaper - some of them even included photographs where available.

I hope I have given you a couple of ideas to try and find further information and, rather ironically, one thing in your favour is that it is usually easier to find information on those that died rather than those that survived.

Best wishes

Casalguidi

[Carmela]

Hi Kat,
You might also check out this site:

http://www.multiline.com.au/~jeand/greatwar/index.html
 
Many pictures of men who were in WWI. Not a great chance of finding your gg grandfather, but you never know.
 
Cheers,
Carmela

[jeffH]

I have to agree with Casalguidi. Search for local info. I did the same and lucked out with one of my relatives. Someone had compiled a list of WW1 soldiers listed on local war memorials with other related info and put it on a website. I got an address and his wifes name just from doing a google search.

You may also get some clues from the medal index cards

http://www.documentsonline.nationalarchives.gov.uk/medals.asp

You certainly won't find anything about related family or next of kin but just searching can turn up any other regiments he may have served under. The actual index card may contain a date for entrance into a theater of war or confirm the date of death. But sometimes (most in my cases) they just give the basics - name, rank and number.

Another source are the regimental museums. Recently, I was researching an individual in the Somerset Light Infantry and contacted the regiments museum to see what they knew. Their archivist was able to provide me with some specific dates and theories. Not all museums will do this and some require a fee, but it's something else to consider.

jeff

[r973g]

Hi Kat,
In many cases CWG do give names and addresses of nok, parents, wife if there is one and where they are buried/recorded. Definitely worth a try.
Ray

[kat2004]

Thanks all. Its a sad story because my g nanna never really knew him because she was only 5 when he went off to war. Luckily, I live about 35 miles away from where he lived so I am going to check out the local war memorial and get to the records office to look at the paper archives. In the meanwhile I will check further at the CWG and find out if the Herbert Fisher I've found is mine.

I wonder if its worth having a seperate thread for ancestors who were in the armed forces? There must be a great deal of us who need advice on researching ancestors in the armed forces?

Thanks to everyone