HEC needs you! - First World War crowd sourcing project

[SCHEC]

Good afternoon,

My name is Sean Clemenson and I am the Research Specialist & Digital Content Manager for the Lloyd’s Register Foundation Heritage & Education Centre. If you haven’t heard of us, we are the custodians of Lloyd’s Register’s library and archive, offering its resources to the public for free. Our purpose is to enhance public understanding in marine and engineering science and history.

Last week, ahead of Armistice Day and Remembrance Sunday, we launched our brand new First World War crowd sourcing project – HEC needs you!

The project aims to uncover any information regarding the 15 members of staff named in our First World War Memorial at 71 Fenchurch Street. Using materials from our archive, the Heritage & Education Centre team have published the employment and military information of the 15 members of staff that are named in our First World War memorial. The severe loss of life during the First World War often means that the individual lives of those that fought are forgotten. However, the team realise that our archived material, whilst offering a unique glimpse into the past, can only tell so much.

Subsequently, we’re contacting any regimental military groups, heritage centres, ancestry groups asking for any information regarding these 15 men:

1.   John E Davis – Gunner, Royal Garrison Artillery
2.   Ernest Grainger – Private, 7th Battalion Middlesex Regiment
3.   William Greig – Private, 14th (County of London) Battalion – London Scottish
4.   William F Hutchison – Sergeant, 10th Battalion Essex Regiment
5.   Clifford J Macey – 2nd Lieutenant 28th Couny of London Regiment, Artists and 1st Battalion Dorsetshire Regiment
6.   Archibald MacLean – 2nd Lieutenant, King’s Own Scottish Borderers
7.   Reginald J Prescott – 2nd Lieutenant, 18th Battalion Lancashire Fusilliers
8.   Joseph E Russell – 2nd Lieutenant, Queen’s Royal West Surrey Regiment
9.   James H Sandhall – 2nd Lieutenant/Captain, Royal Garrison Artillery
10.   Joseph C Smith – Honourable Artillery Company
11.   Charles T Squires – 2nd Lieutenant, 11th Battalion Royal Sussex Regiment
12.   J Henry A Walker – Private, 7th Battalion, Essex Regiment
13.   Maurice G Wells – 2nd Lieutenant, Royal Field Artillery & Royal Horse Artillery
14.   Leslie G West – 2nd Lieutenant, 5th Battalion, London Rifle Brigade
15.   Maurice G Boyer – Captain, 116th Heavy Artillery Regiment

I wonder if this forum would be interested. So far, the response to the project has been overwhelmingly positive.

The project's homepage can be viewed here: www.lrfoundation.org.uk/public_education/Staff-bible-project/

If you think our project would be of interest to any of your associates, please do not hesitate to circulate this email. Furthermore, if you would like to find out more about the Heritage & Education Centre’s activities/resources/events, please visit our website. Alternatively, you can also find us on Twitter, Facebook & Vine.

If you have any enquiries about the project please contact me

Many thanks & kind regards,
Sean.

[ScouseBoy]

Welcome to RootsChat.

[SCHEC]

Welcome to RootsChat.

Pleasure to be here!

[lizdb]

Hi SCHEC

I'm sure lots of us would enjoy hunting out info about these men. However, we don't want to spend time going over what you already know, and find them in sources you have already found.

I see there is a little about them on the website, but even so there is a risk we will just be going over old ground. Not sure how it can be overcome, short of starting a thread about each person from the list and putting all you already know in it.

For example - have you got William Greig in 1901 as follows:

1901
183 East Dulwich Green
Robert Greig 51 shirt manufacturer bn Scotland
Sarah 49 wife bn Westminster
Baxter 22 son architect
Robert 21 shirt warehouseman
Samuel 19
John 17
James 15
Sarah 12
William 11
Ewart 9    children all bn Camberwell

website said he "lived in Dulwich" so I think maybe you have this already?

or Clifford James Macey
1901
25 Chester Rd East Ham
James Macey 35 Commercial Clerk bn Poplar
Mary J 39 wife bn Poplar
Clifford J 9 bn East Ham

website says "place of birth unknown" - so maybe you haven't looked at this? 

[MaxD]

SHEC

I would echo lizdb's point in spades.  I, and I am sure many others, would be very happy to join in the search for information regarding these men but I could well have been looking at the same man as lizdb in the past few minutes.  I fear chaos and confusion!

It certainly needs an element of coordination and the suggestion that each man has a thread to himself with a link to your site is a good one.  It will keep the researches open to all to see and add to as they go along and although duplication won't entirely be avoided, it may be lessened.

Just a point about the military records. 9 at least of your men are officers.  Their service records, apart from medal cards and a little bit more if they didn't survive the war, are not on line, they are still at the National Archives and cost an arm and a leg to copy if you can't find someone to visit for you.

Very keen to input but not keen to find when I post the results of an afternoon's work that the effort has been duplicated.

maxD

[Ruskie]

Welcome from me too Sean. This sounds like an interesting project.

I was interested to know what sort of "information" you were looking for about these men? Are you only interested in their wartime stories, or their personal lives as per lizdb's census finds? If personal lives, are you looking for a complete family history about each man, or just some basics like wife and children, place and date of birth etc?

A few years back there was a lot of work on these boards regarding men lost at Fromelles and finding nok to obtain DNA to try identify them etc, so I think you have come to the right place for help. If you are interested, go to "search" in the dark bar at the top of the page, and enter Fromelles into the search box. I think a seperate thread was started for each man to avoid confusion.

Best of luck with it.

[MaxD]

Just a brief note.  I suspect that the last on the list is a French national who served in the 116eme Regiment d'Artillerie Lourde.  His name does not come up in anything on the British side I've looked at so far.  I can't (yet) find him on Mort pour La France or the 116 eme RAL website or the war diary.  Although there was a British 116 Brigade it was a Field Artillery Brigade equipped with 18 pounders not heavy guns and the Royal Artillery didn't at that time use the title "Heavy Artillery Regiment".  The man was an agent at Havre (presumably Le Havre).

I have sent a message via the web site asking if they have other info that would suggest his nationality.  I put this here in case anyone else has started at the bottom of the list!

maxD

[MonicaL]

Hi Sean

Not sure if you are going to take up the suggestion made earlier to create a separate thread for each of the men. It is a tried and successful method for this type of research here on RC and has been used by many research groups trying to establish ancestry for WW1 soldiers.

In respect of Archibald McLean www.lrfoundation.org.uk/public_education/Staff-bible-project/Archibald-MacLean.aspx there looks to be clear Scottish connections there from what you have. The Valuation Rolls for Glasgow 1913-14 ( see www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/record-guides/valuation-rolls) show an Angus McLean at 2 Glenavon Terrace. This Angus shows as clerk, a good occupation matching what you had for Archibald. As you can see from the listing on the attached page for the VR, the property looks to be multi occupancy (ie a tenement). There may be a connection there to Archibald but more info is needed.

There is this entry in 1911 London that is of interest https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XWP5-3RR. The family originate from Scotland. Birth place is correct for the address you have although the family look to be in London 1911 (maybe also 1901 with the birth of a daughter around that time there). Archibald Jnr.'s occupation fits well with what you have.

[MonicaL]

From the index on www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk for Wills and testaments, there is an entry for an inventory for Archibald.

Archibald MacLean - 7/4/1919
2 Glenavon Terrace, Broomhill, Glasgow, d. 18/08/1918 in France,
Glasgow Sheriff Court Inventories - SC36/48/295

Monica