Private Thomas George Chivers

[LilyAllenfan86]

My great Grandfathers cousin Thomas George Chivers fought in the South Wales Borderers during the first world war and unfortunetly on May 6 1917 he was killed at just twenty one I would like to find out more about his time in the military through his army records if there are any available.
 He had ben born in Garndiffaith, Abersychan, Monmouthshire in about 1896 to George Chivers and Annie Louisa Lewington, he was a private in the "A" Coy, 12th Battalion, SW Borderers and his service number was 23422 and was buried at the Thiepval Memorial, if anyone could help me please I would be very grateful thank you very much.

Kind Regards
Bethan catherine Price

[Peter J]

Hello Bethan,

Looks as though Thomas' army service records have not survived, though there is some small amount of info available through his MIC (Medal Index Card)...

...awarded the British War Medal and Victory Medal.

You may be interested in the war diaries for the 12th Battalion SWB (please follow the link below) though it is almost certain that he will not of course be mentioned therein. They will give you details of where his battalion was at the time of his death, and perhaps assist you in piecing together a better picture of Thomas' movemnets at that time:

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/displaycataloguedetails.asp?CATID=-2243303&CATLN=7&Highlight=%2CSOUTH%2CWALES%2CBORDERERS&accessmethod=0

Hope this is of some help.

Regards,

Peter.

[Peter J]

One other detail; the CWGC lists him as thus:

CHIVERS, THOMAS GEORGE
T G
United Kingdom
Private
South Wales Borderers
"A" Coy. 12th Bn.
Age 21
Died: 06/05/1917
Service Number: 23422
Son of George and Annie Chivers, of 28, New Council Houses, Talywain, Pontypool, Mon.

Regards,

Peter

[SueK50]

and was buried at the Thiepval Memorial,

Sadly - just to clarify this - he is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial (along with many many thousands of others) rather than buried there - as he in fact has no known grave

Here is some info on the background to the Memorial from the CWGC website

http://www.cwgc.org/search/cemetery_details.aspx?cemetery=80800&mode=1

Sue

[militarytorch]

I just registered for the forum to reach LilyAllenfan86 but it looks like the member hasn't been active for a while.

The reason why I ask is that I recently acquired a M1888 bayonet with belt, frog and on the scabbard there is a name --> Tom G. Chivers

Does anyone know how to reach this person?

Thank you very much.
Steve

[sarah]

Hello Steve, Welcome to RootsChat

When you reply to a topic (just as you have) we send an email notification to advice the user to let them know of a new reply. I have checked Lilyallenfan86 and can see that a notification has indeed been sent out - so it looks like the email is still live.However I also noticed that she has not visited us since 2013 despite continuing replies on her other topics

I do  hope that she picks up on this post as I would be so excited to see your find

Regards

Sarah

[km1971]

The bayonet is pre-WW1, for the Lee-Metford (used up to the Boer War) and the Long Lee. These were replaced by the SMLE - Short Magazine Lee Enfield - not long afterwards. These dates are for regular battalions. Part-timers kept them a little longer. But I do not believe the 1888 pattern was used in France. It is only a sharp point. The bayonets used in France were longer (to make up for the lack of length of the rifle) with a sharp edge.

Also I have never seen a 1888 pattern with a name on the scabbard. The normal practice was to stamp the battalion, regiment and number on the blade near the handle.

I will post examples of 1888 pattern at the weekend.

Ken

[militarytorch]

Thank you for your replies.
Hopefully she replies