Robert William Buck - COMPLETED WITH THANKS

[corisande]

I thought that probably was the answer

If I were you, I would not bother waiting for a reply from them. I would just download and send off the form again with the £30 and death cert. Using ""5875117 LCpl Buck RW 1st Btn Northamptonshire Regiment"" and his dob

If they really have not got the records of the new number you have (I doubt it) then you will not lose anything other than the time for filling up the form.

[Stebie9173]

...and don't forget the next of kin form as this enables you to get the full record rather than a very short summary.


If there is a break in service then it may be that his WW1 records are not with his later records but in this case I think he served straight through with just a change in number when he a ) moved Regiment in 1914; and b ) was given an Army number rather than a Regimental number in 1920.


Steve.

[Stebie9173]

Hello again.


I'm back at my own computer now.


The medal roll confirms that 9839 Robert W Buck's full name is Robert William Buck.

The medal roll does however state that he first served overseas with the 6th Battalion of the Northamptonshire Regiment.

Combined with the lack of a 1914 or 1914-15 Star this may mean that he either had some sort of training role (perhaps during the 6th battalions training between August 1914 and July 1915) or was retained in the UK for some over reason (possibly related to his Bandsman role that he had earlier).

The medal roll states that he was a Private and then later a Lance-Corporal.

The medal roll also shows that he had not been discharged by the time that the medal roll was authorised for the issuing of the medals - that date being 31st May 1921.


In addition to that I have one extra note against his name - That he was reported as Wounded as a Private per the Official Casualty Lists of 12-6-1918 (residence of next of kin: Winchester)

This would likely equate to wounds received in late April 1918, a time during which the 6th Battalion were in battle at Cachy near Villers Bretonneux.


The Rifles Depot - that of the Rifle Brigade and the King's Royal Rifle Corps was at Winchester - I wonder if that is significant?


I assume his children were:

Percy (Elham, 1911)
Leslie (Farnham, 1913)
Florence (Winchester, 1916)
Violet (Medway 1918)
Edith (Northampton, 1920)
Arthur (Elham 1924)
Betty (Farnham, 1926)



The medal rolls of the Northamptons do not give dates when a man served overseas, so he could have (in theory) gone overseas any time between the 1st January 1916 and the beginning of April 1918.



I hope this helps, at least until a service record can be found.


Steve.

[Stebie9173]

Because of the size I'll only post a sliver of the picture here, but if you want I can send you the whole picture (send me a PM with your e-mail address). It is from the Northampton Independent of 16-10-1915.


The following picture is part of a picture of the brass section of the band of the 3rd Battalion of the Northamptonshire Regiment - at that point in time based at Gillingham/Chatham in Kent. The "back row" in the caption is a short row of men not visible on this section, so the 3rd row is actually the backmost row you can see. Musician R Buck is the man in the top left hand corner.


The quality is not great but since the photo exists, then either the Northampton Museum or the newspaper may have a copy of the original. You can also probably get a better copy than I did!


Incidentally the bandmaster (not in shot) William Cresswell was numbered 9874 (i.e. he joined around the same time) retired in October 1927. he shows up in a couple of extracts of Northamptonshire Regiment bands on the Flickr photostream of the Northampton Museum:

1924:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/northampton_museum/3005021432/

1919:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/northampton_museum/3004185869/


So there are certainly photos of the band about... I would think Robert Buck is more likely top appear on the 1924 picture as the 1919 picture is an extract from the 1st Battalion band in Germany.

[Luzzu]

Thank you so much Steve.  I will PM with my email address.  This is the first picture I have ever seen of my gt granddad.  I will certainly be trying to find obtain a copy of the original.  You've given me so much information here I am trying to take it all in.  Thank you.  My Uncle did tell me that he had been shot in the neck so makes sense too with the information you have provided.  I have a next of kin letter from my Uncle from the first time I applied for his record.  His children are correct as you have listed them.

Thanks also for your good advice Corisande.  I will be sending off my new application tomorrow.  It could take days or weeks for them to reply to my email  .

Can't wait to tell my Uncle everything you have found out for me.

Thank you so much for helping me.  You are all fantastic.  I am so happy.

Luzzu

[Luzzu]

Have re-applied for his service record but I know there is about an eight month wait.  It is a shame they didn't look at my original application properly instead of assuming he had been discharged in 1921/1922.

Have emailed Paul Robinson at the Northampton Museum too to see if they can help me with anything.

Hope you got my PM okay with my email address, Steve.

Once again, a huge thank you for helping me.

Luzzu

[Stebie9173]

I have got your e-mail address Luzzu.


I will try and sort it out tonight. It probably won't take long but it may be either side of the (alleged) football match I'm off to tonight.


One extra thing - if you can't get hold of his service record then the birth certificates of his children may shed some light on his service.



Steve.

[Luzzu]

I want to say a massive thank you to everyone who has contributed to this thread.  Yesterday I received my great grandfather's service record from the MOD.  He wasn't discharged until Sept 1927 so they still had his papers.

He first joined the Militia in 1899 and then the 9th Btn KRRC.  He served in South Africa until 1902 and was awarded the SA Medal with 3 Clasps; Cape Colony, OF State and Transvaal.  He transferred to the 2nd Btn KRRC and served in India until 1910.  After completing 12 years service he transferred to Depot Staff with the Northamptonshire Regiment.  He continued with the Northamptonshire Regiment in WW1 serving with different batallions in France.  He attended the Victory March and was awarded the British and Victory Medals.  He received a severe gunshot wound to the face and head in Jun 1917 and was wounded again in May 1818 (mild bullet wound to the left hand).

So all in all a very successful outcome considering that before I received his son's WW2 record I was led to believe that Robert William's record was destroyed with the "Burnt" WW1 records.

Thanks once again.

Luzzu