The Roe family in dublin map

[seanIRL]

There is one William Roe who served in WW1 whom I haven't been able to eliminate so far, so just to note him for now. I can't see a service or pension record for him, but there are three separate documents for him under the regimental number of 341980:-

(1) a medal card for William A Roe, showing him in the Labour Corps, enlisted 31 July 1916, discharged 14 September 1917, cause of discharge 'Wound', address = 56 Morse Street, Swindon. 

(2) a pension ledger index card for William Roe who was discharged on 4 September 1917, in the Labour Corps, birth year indicated as 1899, record type = disability, and his residence place given as 'Post Office Salford Manchester'.

(3) a Silver War Badge record for William Roe, enlisted 31 July 1916, discharged 14 September 1917, discharge regiment = 5th Royal Irish Rifles, discharge unit = Labour Corps, cause of discharge 'Wound', age at discharge = 19, served overseas.

Edited to add: There was an article in a Bath newspaper of May 1920 that has a resonance in this case, under the title of TWO DESTITUTE EX-SOLDIERS, it is about the soldiers wrongly receiving 3s 6d from the Bath Branch of the Discharged Soldiers' Federation, for which the Bench took a lenient view, bound them over to be of good behaviour and arranged to send them from Bath back home to London. One of the soldiers was described as 'William Roe (21) ... a music hall artiste ... 13 Tressillian Road, Lewisham, S.E ...'.   

It goes on to say 'Roe was discharged from the Army as unfit for further service as the result of a gunshot wound. His pension had been discontinued, but its renewal was under consideration. Apparently his Army record was good ...'.

Edited again to add:  Just found another two pension ledger index cards for William Roe, definitely the same person as mentioned at (1) - (3) above (regimental no. 341980... and other details match), one card shows residence as Bristol, the other shows residence as Dublin.

Wow so you have cracked the case then! William was not in the irish army but he was in the british army.. i can't wait to tell my family this ! Its amazing that stories about ancestors change as they pass down through the generations.. its great to finally learn the facts though and what exactly happened.. thanks for doing this .. this is amazing

[seanIRL]

Confirmed, Pte William Roe reg. no. 341980 was indeed your William, I've seen the pages in the pensions ledger that correspond to the index cards mentioned above at reply #24 and the breakthrough is on the page where his residence was shown as Dublin (the page 's actions / correspondence run from August 1926 onwards), for the specific address recorded was 47 Cuffe Street.

Another page covers what looks like a claim he made in the run up to May 1920 (which would fit nicely with that Bath newspaper article) his address was recorded as c/o the YMCA Dug Out in Colston Street Bristol (you will get info and photos about this location if you google it), although at the bottom of the page there is a comment of 12 October 1920 indicating that William had moved to London and was living at 16 York Road, Covent Gardens. His disability was described as 'GSW Rt' (Gun Shot Wound Right) followed by a word that I think is 'Tarsus', the disability was attributable to his army service.   

A third page relates to earlier in 1920, his address was recorded as Cross Lane Post Office, Salford, Manchester, but then the page has been scored across with a comment of 27 September 1920 saying 'Transferred to South Wales.

So it's sounding as if William was leading a fairly peripatetic existence at that point - not helped by a break in his pension payments - a lifestyle that would be consistent with a jobbing music hall artist.  I'm not seeing newspaper references for him in that context, but that might simply be because he had a stage name, which I don't know.

In the circumstances I can't see him having been active in the War of Independence, but it is intriguing that he enlisted in the Army just 2 months after the Easter Rising.

Christ i was expecting to get tiny amounts of information and facts but I never thought all of this could be found .. intriguing is an understatement! He would have watched his city blown to pieces in a relatively small battle to then go fight in the mother of all wars ? We can take from this that he was a brave man.. i read that young lads went to fight in ww1 not having a clue what they were signing up for .. it was a chance for them to "see the world" but William had witnessed what war was like and still signed up ... i wonder where he was sent to ? What battles he fought in .. i have lots more to find out havent I 😌

[gaffy]

Unfortunately, I can't see a service record, it may be one of the many that were destroyed, or it may just be that fresh eyes are needed to find it.  One minor correction to a previous post, when I mentioned enlistment in the Royal Irish Rifles, it actually said just 'R.I.R.', so could well be the 5th Battalion of the Royal Irish Regiment that he was in, I'm not knowledgeable in this area.

[seanIRL]

Unfortunately, I can't see a service record, it may be one of the many that were destroyed, or it may just be that fresh eyes are needed to find it.  One minor correction to a previous post, when I mentioned enlistment in the Royal Irish Rifles, it actually said just 'R.I.R.', so could well be the 5th Battalion of the Royal Irish Regiment that he was in, I'm not knowledgeable in this area.

😄 you've done enough ! You are an absolute legend.. you've brought a memory that my mam had of her great uncle to life .. she was less than 10 years old when she seen him last .. from what you've taught me and what my family have told me I believe he was  good man .. the house in gorton Manchester he owned he gave to his neice because she would have ended up homeless otherwise.. she lived in that house and raised 7 kids there, she only passed away in 2001 .. 

[dathai]

Apparently he did join the Irish Army in 1922 and was stationed at Beresford Barrack's ,Curragh,Kildare
http://census.militaryarchives.ie/pdf/Beresford_Barracks_Curragh_Command_Page_60.pdf

While Arthur was at Keane Barrack's, Kildare
http://census.militaryarchives.ie/pdf/Keane_Barracks_Curragh_Command_Page_2.pdf

[dathai]

See paragraph ''Establisment of Defence Forces ''
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Army_(Ireland)

[gaffy]

Apparently he did join the Irish Army in 1922 and was stationed at Beresford Barrack's ,Curragh,Kildare
http://census.militaryarchives.ie/pdf/Beresford_Barracks_Curragh_Command_Page_60.pdf

While Arthur was at Keane Barrack's, Kildare
http://census.militaryarchives.ie/pdf/Keane_Barracks_Curragh_Command_Page_2.pdf

Amazing find.

[Kiltaglassan]

Apparently he did join the Irish Army in 1922 and was stationed at Beresford Barrack's ,Curragh,Kildare
http://census.militaryarchives.ie/pdf/Beresford_Barracks_Curragh_Command_Page_60.pdf

While Arthur was at Keane Barrack's, Kildare
http://census.militaryarchives.ie/pdf/Keane_Barracks_Curragh_Command_Page_2.pdf

Amazing find.

Yes indeed, dathai.       Well done! 

[seanIRL]

Apparently he did join the Irish Army in 1922 and was stationed at Beresford Barrack's ,Curragh,Kildare
http://census.militaryarchives.ie/pdf/Beresford_Barracks_Curragh_Command_Page_60.pdf

While Arthur was at Keane Barrack's, Kildare
http://census.militaryarchives.ie/pdf/Keane_Barracks_Curragh_Command_Page_2.pdf

Unbelievable find dathai !
William and Aurthur were brothers .. i didn't know his brother Aurthur was in the army too .. their father Arthur C Roe was married in Newbridge kildare only minutes from keane barracks.. do you think Aurthur senior was a soldier before he became an actor ? Also if William went to ww1 and was discharged in 1917 with gun shot wound to his leg, he must have joined the irish army with the damaged leg which probably slowly worsened over time and could have been later amputated because he definitely had a wooden leg and I doubt the irish army allowed 1 legged soldiers into their army 😄