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General => Armed Forces => World War Two => Topic started by: Squirrel69 on Friday 02 November 12 16:02 GMT (UK)
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My Dad and his brother remember well their father serving in the Home Guard in WWII. They recall arguing over who got to hand him his gun when he left to join his unit and loved looking at his uniform. Both men want to get their father's records (though we know there might not be much info on them) but we have no idea what unit he served in!
The family lived in Newbold upon Avon in Warwickshire. Is there anyone who can tell me what was the closest unit (Rugby, perhaps?) or of there is a web site that can tell me?
Thank you so much!
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hi
here is the national archives website were you will most properly find the records of the home guard but most properly there still being hold by the ministry of defence.
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/looking-for-person/homeguard.htm
ray
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Thank you Ray,
I have looked there.....but when I type Granddad's name in the search the archives area, nothing comes up. Could be I am doing it wrong....I find it not the easiest site to navigate. Thanks again.
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Home Guard Records are still with the Ministry of Defence, the only exception being those from the Durham area which have been digitalised as a pilot study and are available from the National Archives. I believe it was the intention to release all the records in this way eventually, but apparently they have run into a snag with data protection, a substantial number or records relate to men still living who served as youngsters.
You are right in your supposition that they don't reveal very much, name, rank, next of kin, address and unit, dates of enlistment etc. are just about it on the examples I've seen.
jds1949
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jds - What you say would be somewhat useful. I applied to the MOD some time ago regarding my father's time in the Home Guard, sent them £30 and got absolutely nothing back other than a letter saying they had been unable to find anything. I wasn't too impressed!
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Thanks jds1949.
And wyndham, I almost paid the money to MOD, but I was wary, I live in the US so that's a bit more out of my pocket, and if they come back to say they can't find Granddad....I just can't take that risk. But I figured somewhere I could find the units around where Granddad lived and then deduce which one he belonged to...crazy how those records seem to be so hard to find!
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I cannot be certain, Squirrel69, but it is highly likely that your grandfather would have served in the 2nd Warwickshire (Rugby) Battalion. This Battalion would have been responsible for an area larger than the town itself. It would have comprised several companies and each of these would have consisted of several platoons. One of the latter would have been responsible for the defence of Newbold-upon-Avon and would have had its HQ in the village and drawn its membership from local residents.
Such a platoon looks the most likely unit in which your grandfather would have served. On the other hand, if he worked for a large company in Rugby he could have been a member of their works HG unit which again would have been part of the 2nd Warwickshire.
Perhaps an area for further research would be the Warwickshire Regimental Museum who I am sure would respond to an overseas request for information.
Some time ago I put together a few notes to help people searching for Home Guard members and their units. I think that it is all still fairly relevant and you might like to flick through it. It is in my Home Guard website here: http://www.staffshomeguard.co.uk/J9GeneralInformationSearchingforMembers.htm
You will see in that article that there is a slightly better chance of pinning down an old member if he were an officer. There is a published list of officers serving as at February 1941. If you think that there is any chance of his having been an officer, please let me have his name and I will do a look up for you.
Good luck in your further researches.
Chris
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Thank you so much for your reply Chris!
I do not know if Granddad was an officer.....I do know that he worked at BTH, he was a lathe operator and because of that he was told he could not fight in the war. He was needed at home.
Thank you for a link to your site, I will have a look at it hopefully soon, I have been busy with work lately and not able to do anything.
Thank you again for your help!!
Sylvia
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Chris,
I'll just give you Granddad's name, just in case. I asked my Dad and Uncle, and they have no idea if he was an officer or not. His name was John M. Leybourne.
Thanks again!
Sylvia
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Thank you, Sylvia.
Unfortunately your grandfather isn't listed as an officer in 1941. This is not too surprising since:
a. the chances were probably only around 5%
b. if he was of the right age to be called up (but wasn't because he was in a reserved occupation) it's likely that he was too young to have served in the Great War - and the vast majority of officers in the early years of the HG had previous army experience. The haphazard way in which village platoons were formed and their officers (and NCOs) appointed is nicely illustrated in this contemporary description: http://www.staffshomeguard.co.uk/HomeGuardingPages/29staffshg.htm
The fact of your grandfather working for BTH certainly raises the possibility of his serving in their factory unit. So...either Newbold village platoon or BTH factory platoon.
Please let me know if you make further progress. I suppose there is no hope of any documentary evidence of his service still lurking in a family member's attic, is there? At the very least he would have had a certificate of appreciation from George VIth at the end of his service.
Chris
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Chris,
Thanks for looking him up, but I figured he wouldn't be an officer. He was too young to serve in WWI, he was born in 1907.
He did have a letter from the King; my Uncle remembers seeing it, but my family moved to America after the War, and then kept moving around, so my Grandmother claimed she lost everything....pictures and documents. Very frustrating. My aunt in Australia might have it, but she won't share anything, which has made lots of things hard. My head is very use to hitting brick walls!!
I will starting digging around in Newbold and BTH; I had found a site for BTH not too long ago. Turns out, I have looked at your site before, it is very informative!
Sylvia
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newbold home guard were manned from two villages mainly newbold on avon and harborough magna they consisted of one officer 5 sergeants and 2 corprals plus approx other ranks in 1941 of30 to 35 men they were 2nd batt, 4th comp royal warks .i do not recall anyone by the name of leybourne but it is possible he joined after the batt was moved to rugby later on in the war
best of luck sopwithde