1st Battalion Seaforth Highlanders

[bluedooo]

I'm looking for any military information on James Russell born 19 Mar 1889 in Glasgow.  I have his medals which give the following information -
Medals Bar 5th Aug-22nd Nov 1914
Back 10568  Pte J Russell   1/SEAHIGHRS

I assume he was with the 1st Battalion Seaforth Highlanders.  He survived WW1

Any help would be appreciated

Regards
Tom

[jim1]

Also listed as James T Russell on his other MIC.
Entered France ( Marseilles ) 12/10/14
Medals;
14 ( Mons) Star
British War & Victory Medals.
No services docs. have survived.
Seaforth Highlanders WW1:
December 1915 : moved to Mesopotamia, landing at Basra late in the month. Formation was by now renamed 21st Brigade, 7th Indian Division.
4 February 1916 : owing to heavy casualties, formed the Highland Battalion with 2nd Bn, the Black Watch.
12 July 1916 : resumed former title.
January 1918 : moved to Palestine, arriving Suez 13 January 1918.
more about the 1st. Batt. & the 7th. (Meerut) Div.
Scroll down to WW1:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7th_(Meerut)_Division

jim

[bluedooo]

Hi Jim
Many thanks for taking the trouble to reply.
I'm a bit new to the military jargon - can you tell me what MIC means.
Did the record you found on James T Russell have the 10568 reference number? - is this his service number?
Where can I find this record that you found?

Thanks so much for the information.

Kind Regards
Tom

[jim1]

MIC = Medal Index Card.
James T Russell has the same no. 10568 which is his service number.
There's a reference on each card with the alternative name on it.
He was in the 1st. Batt.
His MIC is on Ancestry. Alternatively you can download it from the A2A website.
His service docs. didn't survive.

jim

[bluedooo]

Hi Jim
Things are getting a bit clearer now.
The 3 medals that the family have for James Thom Russell are indeed as follows -
The Victory Medal, The British War Medal, The 1914 Star.  I believe these three medals were irreverently known as Pip, Squeak and Wilfred.
I wonder if you had any knowledge of the Roll codes used and displayed on the MIC. 
The  roll codes are -
Victory - G/104  B10  Page 591
British - same as Victory
1914 Star - G/1/6  Page 73

Sorry to be a pest

Tom

[jim1]

That's were they appear on the Medal Rolls.

[bluedooo]

Hi Jim

Many thanks for your help and pointing me in the right direction - most appreciated.

One final question, I can see that many of WW1 service records were destroyed by fire during WW2, but some did survive.  Where can I see that James T Russell service records were destroyed and did not survive.

Kind Regards

Tom

[jim1]

All surviving service docs. are on Ancestry.Unfortunately his isn't amongst them.

[Tyrannosaurus]

The Scotsman (Edinburgh), 04 December, 1917.
http://i1052.photobucket.com/albums/s445/Tyrannosaurus12/Scotsman04Dec1917_zps89ca69a4.jpg

A long list of Seaforth Highlanders wounded includes:
Russell, 10568, L.Cpl. J. (Glasgow);
[The address was usually that of nok]

Maybe if you check the records of some of the other wounded it'll give a clue as to what was happening. Probably Battle of Tikrit. The CWGC has many 1st Seaforths killed on that day.
https://archive.org/stream/mesopotamia031379mbp#page/n89/mode/2up

Rex