Soldier in the Blackwatch

[Antdamm]

I may have already posted this on here, so apologies.

I am looking for ANY information on a relative called William Murphy Born 1893 in Glasgow. He got married in November 1914 in Glasgow. On his marriage certificate his profession is stated as - Private B Corp,  3rd Battalion - Blackwatch. Special Reserves. His residence is also listed as Nigg, Ross shire which is where the Blackwatch's training camp was. I know that this is the reserve forces and they went to Curragh, Ireland in 1914, but thats it.

I have tried searching on ancestry.co.uk and found an enlistment record/pension record that I thought was his, but after being in contact with an archivist from the blackwatch he assures me it is not. So there's no record of him on ancestry. I tried the nationalarchives and got some medal cards but I dont know if they are his or not. The archivist said to look for regiment numbers starting with 3/, but I havent been able to find any.

[km1971]

The 'Corp' will be Coy meaning Company.

If he was in the Special Reserve before the start of WW1 there could be a separate set of papers for him in WO96 in Kew. You need his regiment to search these, which you have - Black Watch or Royal Highlanders. If you cannot get to Kew, Findmypast will be putting them on line by 2011.

If you search the NA medal index card site there is one with a 3/ prefix. You need to use the Royal Highlanders as the Corps - http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documentsonline/medals.asp? - and press search

You could now search Ancestry for other Royal Highlanders with numbers beginning 3/ to see when they enlsted. You need one either side of 2324.

Didn't see the attachment - just read that you could not find any.

Ken

[Antdamm]

Thanks for the info KM.

Much appreciated

[km1971]

The 'entry into theatre' date of December 1914 I think shows he would have pre-WW1 experience.

Ken

[Antdamm]

Okay, im having no luck on ancestry. Maybe because im not sure exactly what to look for. If i try to search for royal highlanders, its coming up with nothing. If i search for william murphy, it only comes up with info i already have that is probably not connected to me.

Ken, are you suggesting that one of the medal cards i have belongs to My William Murphy?

[Antdamm]

Okay have managed to get ancestry to work for me. Have a massive list of folk associated with the words royal highlanders. Could be a while. They dont always put the 3/.

[Antdamm]

Have found a John Webster who's number is 3/2325

[atom12]

The most likely William Murphy appears to be this one:

[km1971]

He is top left in your six. At least now you have it in colour. It looks as if he changed battalions in the RH and was then transferred to the Labour Corps.

Here is the NA link to MICs - http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documentsonline/medals.asp. Let us know if you have any problems. If you can get to Kew the Victory/BWM roll might tell you which second RH battalion he was in. Or you might find a RH expert to say if you can tell from the number 30275 which battalion he moved to.

Ken