Author Topic: Is he the machine gunner? help needed please  (Read 3668 times)

Offline jess5athome

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Is he the machine gunner? help needed please
« on: Thursday 06 December 12 22:13 GMT (UK) »
Hi, Family talk has always said that William Isles Ridsdale was a machine gunner in the first world war and  suffered from the effects of being exposed to gas in the trenches.
He was born in Airmyn in abt 1897 and died in 1932 at the young age of 35, I have found a on line medal index card for a William Ridsdale with the following details:-
E.R of York Y. Reg no 151 (is this the regiment?)
M.G.C Reg no 150184. (would this be "Machine Gun Corp?)
Theatre of W "3"
Date of entry 10-11-15.
What I would like to know is, is there any way that I could prove that the William Ridsdale in my wife's family is the same person shown on the medal index card I have come across,
as always any help and advice would be greatly appreciated
Kindest regards always,
jess5athome
Ramsey Ridsdale Ridgway Kempen Knight Harrison Denby Sisson Graney Spilsbury Wain Hebden Abbott Skinn ........ Yorkshire (Doncaster Goole Snaith Thorne area)Lincolnshire Nottinghamshire The Netherlands

Offline GrahamSimons

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Re: Is he the machine gunner? help needed please
« Reply #1 on: Thursday 06 December 12 22:14 GMT (UK) »
MGC is certainly Machine Gun Corps.
Simons Barrett Jaffray Waugh Langdale Heugh Meade Garnsey Evans Vazie Mountcure Glascodine Parish Peard Smart Dobbie Sinclair....
in Stirlingshire, Roxburghshire; Bucks; Devon; Somerset; Northumberland; Carmarthenshire; Glamorgan

Offline GrahamSimons

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Re: Is he the machine gunner? help needed please
« Reply #2 on: Thursday 06 December 12 22:26 GMT (UK) »
I've found a William Ridsdale 5 Bn MGC. Number 67631, which clashes with your info; enlisted 4/6/1915 aged 17; Lance Cpl 4/12/1915; Cpl 21/9/1917.

The difficulty is that only about 30% of service records survived enemy action in WW2, so there may have been service records of other William Ridsdales ......
Simons Barrett Jaffray Waugh Langdale Heugh Meade Garnsey Evans Vazie Mountcure Glascodine Parish Peard Smart Dobbie Sinclair....
in Stirlingshire, Roxburghshire; Bucks; Devon; Somerset; Northumberland; Carmarthenshire; Glamorgan

Offline jess5athome

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Re: Is he the machine gunner? help needed please
« Reply #3 on: Thursday 06 December 12 22:34 GMT (UK) »
Hi, yes I thought that may be the case, I think I will have to try to find out if "our" William Ridsdale enlisted, he would be about 17 years of age at the onset of the war and would have probably enlisted where he lived at Airmyn/Goole area.
Regards always,
jess5athome  :)
Ramsey Ridsdale Ridgway Kempen Knight Harrison Denby Sisson Graney Spilsbury Wain Hebden Abbott Skinn ........ Yorkshire (Doncaster Goole Snaith Thorne area)Lincolnshire Nottinghamshire The Netherlands


Offline MaureeninNY

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Re: Is he the machine gunner? help needed please
« Reply #4 on: Thursday 06 December 12 22:37 GMT (UK) »
I think his service records are listed on A*try as:William H Ridsdal.

Maureen

Offline MaureeninNY

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Re: Is he the machine gunner? help needed please
« Reply #5 on: Thursday 06 December 12 22:56 GMT (UK) »
Just to add that his medal record is:William I Ridsdal
Regiment or Corps:   Machine Gun Corps
Regimental Number:   67631

Maureen

Offline jess5athome

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Re: Is he the machine gunner? help needed please
« Reply #6 on: Thursday 06 December 12 22:58 GMT (UK) »
Hi MaureeninNY,
Absolutely stunning is what you are!
Thankyou so much for that information, that's him but he looks to have signed to the 3 /5 Kings Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, (do you know what 3 /5 means?) and not the m/c gun corps tho` I suppose he could have transferred at some point. he signed the paper William Isles Ridsdale and signed in Rawcliffe which is about a mile from Airmyn.
Thanks to you I killed two birds with one stone as the other person shown on that site (Stanley Ridsdale) who also signed up at Rawcliffe is the elder brother of William. :) :) :)
Many many thanks
jess5athome
Ramsey Ridsdale Ridgway Kempen Knight Harrison Denby Sisson Graney Spilsbury Wain Hebden Abbott Skinn ........ Yorkshire (Doncaster Goole Snaith Thorne area)Lincolnshire Nottinghamshire The Netherlands

Offline GrahamSimons

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Re: Is he the machine gunner? help needed please
« Reply #7 on: Thursday 06 December 12 23:03 GMT (UK) »
From my slight memory, many transferred to the MGC from other regiments, so that would make sense. The record I found was indeed visible in Ancestry.
Simons Barrett Jaffray Waugh Langdale Heugh Meade Garnsey Evans Vazie Mountcure Glascodine Parish Peard Smart Dobbie Sinclair....
in Stirlingshire, Roxburghshire; Bucks; Devon; Somerset; Northumberland; Carmarthenshire; Glamorgan

Offline km1971

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Re: Is he the machine gunner? help needed please
« Reply #8 on: Thursday 06 December 12 23:22 GMT (UK) »
The MGC was created after his enlisted. So he was transferred to the MGC from the Yorkshire Light Infantry.

In other parts of the record it looks like 3/4th. Both the 4th and 5th Battalions of the KOYLI were territorials before WW1. When the war started they quickly filled their battalion, and created a 'second-line' - 2nd/4th and 2nd/5th - to act as a training unit. When that filled up they created third line - hence 3/4th and 3/5th. As they were self standing regiments within regiments it is easier to think of them as 3rd Battalion 4th (or 5th) KOYLI.

NOTE: although Ancestry says there are 14 images there are in fact closer to 34. Ancestry have this bad habit of linking to the attestation page when there are (in this case) about another 21 images before this page. You can go to the beginning by going straight to image 42701.

In this section it says he was awarded the Military Medal and that it was posted on the London Gazette on 28 July 1819.

Ken