Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers: John Kennedy

[schooly]

I am looking for help and advice on finding some more information on John Kennedy who died 15 October 1918 and who is recorded on the Tyne Cot Memorial as 24495, Private John Kennedy, 1st Bn. Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers.

John was Irish, born in Galway (I think) but enlisted in St Helens Lancashire early in the war. Family tradition says he was invalided out of his regiment and returned to his young family in St Helens only to re-enlist and later be killed a couple of weeks before the Armistice.

Any help would be really appreciated as the above is the sum total of my knowledge of John Kennedy, my maternal grandfather.

[km1971]

I assume his papers have not survived, If so the best you can do is to try and discover when 24495 was issued to the 1st battalion. Either by looking for other men on Ancestry or by posting on the Great War Forum.

Ken

[spof]

The TNA MIC has him down as Royal Irish Rifles while the card on Anc definitely shows R Innis Fus. His BWM and VM were returned as per King's Reg 992 in 1923. Not sure what 992 states but he may have moved again since leaving the Army and they lost his address.

[schooly]

Thanks very much for your prompt replies: and on New Year's Eve too! People on this site are so helpful.

As you can tell I'm new to searching army records, and am unfamiliar with the abbreviations.What is TNA MIC, BWM (War Medal?)and VM?

I am intrigued by the reference to King's Reg 992 in 1923:

"The TNA MIC  has him down as Royal Irish Rifles while the card on Anc definitely shows R Innis Fus.

His BWM and VM were returned as per King's Reg 992 in 1923. Not sure what 992 states but he may have moved again since leaving the Army and they lost his address"

How can I find out more about Kings Reg 992 in 1923 which was 5 years after his death?

Thanks in anticipation.

Jim

[km1971]

I could find few references to para 992 of KR 1923. The NA link to medal cards says "ret'd" means returned, either for the inscription to be corrected, or in cases when the medals could not be delivered. No one seems to have a copy of the 1923 KRs, but as the only other example was also for a man killed, my guess is that they could not be delivered. When medals were unclaimed they were broken up (ie recycled) after ten years.

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documentsonline/medals.asp

The writing on the MIC is very poor and you can see why the person indexing it for the NA site has misread it as Royal Irish Rifles. This is the only one for his number and surname.

Ken

[schooly]

I have located the MIC and the wtiting is indeed difficult to decypher.

Two further question immediately spring to mind: is it possible as his surviving kin to get his British and Victory medals which were melted down in 1923, reissued?

Secondly how is it possible to locate just where the 1st Batallion were in October 1918?


Your help is much appreciated

[km1971]

WW1 medals cannot be re-issued - http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/DefenceFor/Veterans/Medals/MedalFaqs.htm - and look at the last paragraph.

They joined 36th Div. - http://www.1914-1918.net/36div.htm - in February 1918. To find out what they were doing before then you should search for them under Infantry Regiments on the left.

Ken

[spof]

The  war diary from Feb 1918 to MAr 1919 can be downloaded from the National Archives here for £3.50


http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documentsonline/details-result.asp?Edoc_Id=8199420&queryType=1&resultcount=6

Glen