Ypres advice

[homeguard]

Hi, could someone please advise if the Manchester regiment fought at the Ypres battles in 1914 and 1915 and at Albert in 1916. Also did any part of the Manchester regiment merge with the Durham light infantry during the war ?

[Kevwood]

Hi, looks like they did.

http://regiments.org/regiments/uk/inf/063Manch.htm

I expect Mack and Chris[Harribobs] will be able to go into detail

Kev.

[harribobs]

Hi, could someone please advise if the Manchester regiment fought at the Ypres battles in 1914

yes the first and the second battalion both fought around ypres

Albert in 1916.

Albert ( or Bert to the lads) was behind the british lines in the battle of the somme (1916) but wasn't safe from shelling. Lots of Manc battalions, especially the New Army battalions fought at the somme

Also did any part of the Manchester regiment merge with the Durham light infantry during the war ?

i don't think so, at least not off the top of my head

If you give me details of who what why etc. we should be able to answer most queries on the Manchesters 

[homeguard]

Hi folks, thanks for your replies, from help given in the past I now know that my uncle Bill, private William Ernest Hanson 63718 was in the Manchester regiment & the Durham light infantry 82279 between 1914-20. On a medal is his Manchester number and I was told he joined before the age limit and that he was gassed at Ypres.  I am basically trying to piece together a little of his war record, where he might joined because he was living in Shropshire when he joined and where he might have fought, any info at all will be appreciated.

[harribobs]

without going too deep,  63718 as a service number would mean a late-ish entry into the regiment, certainly not an original pal battalion number (16-24th battalions), although quite easily be a replacement/re-enforcement to them, probably not one of the regulars or territorials either.

re DLI i strongly suspect after he was gassed he was then sent to them as a replacement

what do you have already? medals and  medal index card? if you don't have it, it's here http://tinyurl.com/9rs34 it's possible it might have his batt number on it  and thats what we could really do with

[homeguard]

Thanks Harribobs for the advice, I looked at the medal card but it does not seem to contain anything i did`nt already know, regiments names and service numbers. Although next to the box where it says victory medal are the numbers 0/1/103 and then what could be b27 or 627 ?? whatever they mean! Also what reason could there be for the late service number and the fact that he joined so early in the war ? could it have been his young age ?  so many questions ! I thought if I could find whch Manchester regiment was disbanded and when I could then link  uncle Bill to the Durhams, or is that too simplistic ?

[harribobs]

the numbers relate to the page of full medal roll, the card is just an index to the roll. have another look to check there isn't a number (like 21st or 12th) near manchester regiment

is there any entry next to star? if not we can say he didn't go abroad until after 1915 and yes that could/would be the reason for the late s/number, and it could have been his age, he shouldn't have been allowed to join up before his 18th or go abroad until 19

The war service battalions were disbanded after the war, the Manchester  regiment existed until it's amalgamation with the kings in the 50s

[homeguard]

Hi, i checked but there is nothing against the Star and no number by the regiment, as i said there are numbers against Victory and what appear to be ditto next to British.  Does this indicate that Bill may have had 2 medals ? Could you please say what Victory & British stood for and why were thet given, many thanks.

[harribobs]

it means he didn't go abroad until 1916 then

yes he would have had two medals, there should be a date at the bottom of the card, that was when he arrived in..... (france for example) there is a code there as well  like 1A  4 B that will tell us where

the two medals are ( from long long trail http://www.1914-1918.net/grandad/grandad6.htm#wm  have a look...it's good!

The British War Medal, 1914-1920   

It is impossible to set out all the details of qualification for this medal, but briefly, the requirement was that a member of the fighting forces had to leave his native shore in any part of the British Empire while on service. It did not matter whether he/she entered a theatre of war or not. Service included the intervention force deployed in Russia in 1919 and 1920.


The Victory Medal, 1914-19   

This medal was awarded to all those who entered a theatre of war. It follows that every recipient of the Victory Medal also qualified for the British War Medal, but not the other way round. 300,000 fewer Victory Medals were required than British War Medals. All three services were eligible. It is not generally known that Victory Medals continued to be awarded after the Armistice, for the British forces who saw action in North Russia (up to October 12th, 1919) and Trans-Caspia (up to April 17th, 1919) also qualified.

let me know which theatre