South Wales Borderers pre WW1

[GrenPen]

One last comment from me:

James Toman and Thomas Green (service numbers 10572 & 10576 respectively) appear in the 1911 Census; I believe if you are searching an ancestor with a service number lower than this, they should appear in the 1911 Census.

[Old Bristolian]

Thanks GrenPen for all your help & suggestions - I will follow them up. Sorry for the delay in replying but I've been away for a few weeks. I have found Frank Flexney in the 1911 Census in Pretoria, but under the name Henry Flexney!

Steve

[GrenPen]

Family stories relate that he served in India at some time in his first tour of duty

Steve

Hi Steve,
I have been concluding my research, and have been in contact with the RRW museum at Brecon. The staff were kind enough to indulge me with some dates of drafts sent to India (along with the numbers of soldiers sent - the individual names have not survived) during 1908 and 1909.

In addition, I was advised of the following drafts from the 1st to the 2nd Battalion; the Regiment was keen that its overseas battalion was kept at full strength:

6 September 1910 - A draft of 148 NCOs and men of 1st Battalion, on transfer to 2nd Battalion, proceeded to Karachi, then Bombay - to UK - transport 'Dongola'. [9867 Ernest Mitchell appears to be one of these draftees.]
 
22 October 1910 - A draft of 239 NCOs and Men of 1st Battalion, on transfer to 2nd Battalion - in South Africa via RIMS 'Northbrook' to Durban.

[Old Bristolian]

Thanks GP

The drafts are really interesting - it could be that Frank Flexney was one of them & did serve in India after all

Steve

[GrenPen]

Hi Steve,
This will, I believe, be my final posting.

Private John Godwin, number 8546, would have joined at the same time as your great uncle. John was invalided out of the Army, receiving a Silver War Badge.

The medal card for the Silver War Badge states that he joined on 3 September 1904.

Thanks
GP

[GrenPen]

I have had the pleasure of dealing with Paul Nixon recently, a true gent.

He advised me of how it is possible to do wildcard searches with WO97 records. The result was considerably more records than 12 months of working with the poorly indexed WW1 Service records (many were missing) and WW1 Pension records (more of these survived than Service records). If you are researching a pre-war regular, I would advise using the WO 97 records as your first port of call.

http://armyservicenumbers.blogspot.com/2011/10/south-wales-borderers-1881-1914-1st-and.html

[Old Bristolian]

Hi GP

Thanks for the information - I'll certainly follow that up

Steve

[hanes teulu]

Steve,
Re your reference to a"Henry Flexney" on the 1911 Census and the somewhat garbled address (R--dland, Bristol Glam).

FindMyPast has a military record for a Frank Flexney joining 4th Somerset L I, 30 May 1903, aged 17yrs 11 months and buying himself out after 76 days.
Details include next of kin, "Frank Flexney, father, 106 Cressell Rd", brother "Oliver" and mentions the Parish of "Redland".

Have found the family in 1911 - minus Frank.

regards

   

[Old Bristolian]

Thats really interesting - its certainly the right family - Frank had a brother Oliver (finally died at Passchendael 1917) and his father was another Frank; they lived at 106 Chessel Street, Bedminster, Bristol. There was always a family story about Frank buying himself out  - I assumed it was from the SWB c1912 - perhaps he did it again then. I'll follow this up, but  it shows he was determined to be a soldier, possibly changing his mind when faced with the reality!

Thank you so much

Steve