Austin H Croxford - WW1 2 & 13 Bn Yorkshire Regt - brother of G-Grandmother

[teach3r]

Good morning and thank you in advance for any help that can be given.

Austin Henry Croxford is the brother of my Great Grandmother (Agnes Emily Croxford).  He was born on 8 April 1890 in Burchetts Green, Maidenhead, Berkshire.  In the 1911 Census he is recorded as a Builder's Labourer and on his marriage certificate to Sarah Elizabeth Witney (3rd April 1915) he is recorded as a Labourer living in Crowell, Oxfordshire.

I have found an Austin H Croxford on the WW1 Medal Rolls Index Cards for the Yorkshire Regiment (Private 42299).  He is on the Medal Rolls as having served in 2 and 13 Battalion, Yorkshire Regiment.

I have not been able to find a service record for him (presumably destroyed in WW2).  I do have the War Diaries for the relevant Battalions.  Any additional help tracing his military life is greatly appreciated.

Edit:  I have found on the forces war records site that he was listed in the War Office Daily List 5547 (23/04/1918) as wounded.

Thank you,

Nic

[MaxD]

In the absence of his service record, much of this is (hopefully educated) guesswork.

Looking at the 2 Yorks men whose numbers are near to his and for whom more than medal records cam be found (not many), I'd suggest that he joined 2 Yorks early in 1917, I haven't found one serving earlier with that battalion..  He certainly didn't serve in 1914 or 1915, no Star medals.  The war diary for mid January 1917 records the arrival of a draft of 198 men which roughly agrees with the dates of two men transferred in.

The casualty lists tended to be behind the game and his appearance in a list on 23 April could well be the result of the German March offensive. 
 
He appears in UK with 3rd Reserve Battalion Yorks in West Hartlepool in July 1918 in a list of men warned to proceed overseas on 2 August 1918.  This would be of a piece with him being sent home when a casualty earlier in the year.  This move may have been his posting to 13 Battalion who in July 1918 were in UK preparing for later deployment to Murmansk.

It may be as well to look around for material on the web relating to 6 Battalion (which seems to have absorbed 13 Battalion) example:
http://www.militarian.com/threads/british-army-in-russia-1918-1919.7652/

First stab and, as stated, speculation but sme of it fits!

MaxD

[teach3r]

As always, thank you Max

Gives me some food for thought.

Nic

[MaxD]

There is more to be squeezed out of this .

A large proportion of the 70 plus list of men in 3rd Reserve Battalion in UK warned for overseas duty in July 1918 ended in 13 Battalion.  The war diary for 13 Bn ends on 31 July and records that they were in UK preparing to form "the new battalion" or "the new unit".  236 Brigade which was formed to go to Murmansk included both 6 Bn Green Howards and 13 Bn (the latter is not shown in the link I gave yesterday) - sources Wikipedia from "The Regimental Warpath" and Longlongtrail (the latter is a tad confusing with the 19, 13 and 6 Bn relationship dates).

This all gives me more confidence that after service in 1917 and 1918 in 2 Bn Green Howards and a spell at home after being wounded, your man ended his service in the short lived Murmansk expedition with 13 Bn.  The net will have more on the Murmansk expedition, starter here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/236th_Brigade_%28United_Kingdom%29

MaxD