Author Topic: Orphan records in the WW1 British Army Service Records.  (Read 1514 times)

Offline O1dgobbo

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Orphan records in the WW1 British Army Service Records.
« on: Sunday 02 May 10 11:11 BST (UK) »
I recently searched through several service records of men who enlisted in the Durham Light Infantry in September 1914 and went to France on 20 April 1915 - I was trying without much success to reconstruct the missing service record of William Herbert Harland, Pte no 2619 (I have a copy of his medal card). Some men's records included information about other men and these are the orphan records that are described briefly below.  It may be helpful to other researchers if anyone finding such records adds a memo to this thread.

In the records of Alfred Henry LANGLEY, born Bridport, Dorset, no. 2623 Durham Light Infantry at image no. 52250 there is:

Statement as to disability
Unit 2/5th DLI, 2623 WRIGHT John Foster, 89 Thompson St West, Harrowgate Hill, Darlington, age last birthday 25, joined 7 Sep 1914 at Stockton, medical category in which joined A1. Signed "I do not claim to be suffering from a disability due to my military service.J. F. Wright, 12-2-19"

Among the orphan records there are also some typed hospital casualty lists that seem to have been used as page markers in the service record files.  These records consist of a list of casualties and very brief details of their injury and treatment. I found two of these lists in the records of two soldiers:

Hardy HUDSON born Esh, Durham, no 2621 Durham Light Infantry at images 16112 and 16118 (the original sheet has been torn in half to give two images)

Alfred Henry LANGLEY, born Bridport, Dorset, no. 2623 Durham Light Infantry at image no. 52245.

A sample of a complete entry is

33044 Pte Lovitt E.G.  1.Bed,   GSW Hand mild   Adm.8 Sty.H Wimereux 25 October/17

Fire and water damage (and also tearing) have obscured some of these records but in every case the man's name, number, hospital and date of treatment are readable.

The attachment lists the men involved in alphabetical order but I have not transcribed their regiments or the hospital information.

All the best

Gobbo
Aberdeenshire - Chalmers, Crocker, Dalrymple, Kelman
Fife - Co?per, Dun, Jackson
NE England - Harland, Hasted, Heaviside, Longridge, Thompson
SE England - Drawbridge, Hall, Hayward, Howard, Newell, Seward, Slade, Smith

Offline O1dgobbo

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Re: Orphan records in the WW1 British Army Service Records.
« Reply #1 on: Tuesday 04 May 10 11:59 BST (UK) »
Hi

I just realized that RootsChat search won't search the text of an attachment so I have copied the list of soldiers in the attachment to my previous post.  To get to an image go to Ancestry and browse the WW1 British Service Records.

Number   Rank   Name   Ancestry image
245    L/C    Adams WH   Lan 52245
21538    Pte    Bailey DT   Lan 52245
43258    Pte    Barwick A   Hud 16118 & 16112
23808    Pte    Blyth H   Lan 52245
42977    Pte    Bowers J   Hud 16118 & 16112
6214    Sgt    Capper W   Lan 52245
54345    Pte    Collinson G   Hud 16118 & 16112
36456    Pte    Cooper F   Hud 16118 & 16112
50502    Pte    Cox T      Lan 52245
21689    Pte    Dicks F   Lan 52245
241078    Cpl    Dixon J   Lan 52245
27056    Pte    Dransfield E   Lan 52245
21/463    Pte    Duthie RF   Hud 16118 & 16112
37657    Pte    Elderkin F   Hud 16118 & 16112
43615    Pte    Gathercole TH   Lan 52245
41291    Pte    Gilytt JE   Lan 52245
36399    Pte    Gray J      Hud 16118 & 16112
50594    Pte    Ingham ES   Hud 16118 & 16112
43641    Cpl    Jarvis W   Lan 52245
307805    Pte    Lee T      Lan 52245
33044    Pte    Lovitt EG   Lan 52245
50441    Cpl    Martin B   Lan 52245
25861    Pte    McCall R   Lan 52245
40249    Pte    McLennan P   Hud 16118 & 16112
267922    Pte    Morrin JH   Hud 16118 & 16112
54634    Pte    Nicoll G   Hud 16118 & 16112
240400    Pte    Parker H   Hud 16118 & 16112
9956    Pte    Proctor J   Hud 16118 & 16112
40777    Pte    Pugh W      Hud 16118 & 16112
1283    Pte    Smith E   Hud 16118 & 16112
18967    Pte    Smith F   Lan 52245
267841    Pte    Steele H   Hud 16118 & 16112
32132    Pte    Tordoff R   Hud 16118 & 16112
1320    Pte    Walker H   Lan 52245
49838    Pte    Wiegold G   Hud 16118 & 16112
14924    Pte    Wragg G   Lan 52245
Aberdeenshire - Chalmers, Crocker, Dalrymple, Kelman
Fife - Co?per, Dun, Jackson
NE England - Harland, Hasted, Heaviside, Longridge, Thompson
SE England - Drawbridge, Hall, Hayward, Howard, Newell, Seward, Slade, Smith