Andrew GALBRAITH

[jim1]

Well done MaxD...again.
I could only assume (& we know what that did) that it was supposed to be the 51st Div.
I couldn't see any reference on his LG entry. Obviously didn't look hard enough.
Aaargh..it's on his 15 Star Roll! I missed it.
Crossed out because he wasn't attached at that time.
The clerical error may be this:
CCLVI (156th.) (1/2nd Highland) Brigade RFA. Div. Artillery for the 51st.
Where did Andrew Galbraith Live pre war ?

[MaxD]

51st (Highland) Div Routine Order 874 dated 15 Oct 1917 found in the war diary of DAA & QMG HQ 51 Div publishes a number of honours and awards, among them "for gallantry displayed between the 5th and 20th September 1917" the Military Medal to 645116 Sergeant Andrew Galbraith of 51/V Heavy Trench Mortar Battery RFA, (51st DAC attached).

The battery diary has nothing specific during those days which were the preliminary bombardments prior to the Battle of the Menin Road Ridge on 20 September.  Men of the TMB were employed as stretcher bearers, guarding and escorting prisoners.

MaxD

[jim1]

MaxD would you reckon he was in the 156th. (2nd. Highland) Bde. RFA in the 51st. Div.
Transferred to the RGA (probably in the same Div.) & back into the RFA & 51/V TMB.
Quite often stretcher bearers were awarded MM's after risking life & limb going back for the wounded.
Sounds like a likely scenario to me.

[MaxD]

Jim

The sequence makes sense (except it would have been 256 Bde RFA).  His date of arrival in France accords with their arrival in France in 1915.  He must then have done a stint in the RGA (Star on the RGA roll), then back to RFA perhaps to the brigade then DAC or direct and thence to V TMB.  There is one more move.  He is on the BW and V roll in the Hampshire RGA, in possession of his MM with his 357148 number, previous service 645116 so he was back in the RGA again at the end of his overseas service.
I am sticking with my thought that the 56 was simply an error in the number.  The MM card has 56th (High'd) DAC and 56 would have had an association with a brigade not a DAC, and it was a year after they changed title, which would mean two errors in one.

That said, to try to interpret a clerical error  - that way lies madness!!

MaxD

[mickawinn]

Thanks for all the info. Can you just let me know some of your sources please?

[jim1]

156th. was renumbered 256th. in 1916 just to add to the confusion.
The LLT is a good source for anything WW1.
The rest is pretty much Ancestry Military records.
MaxD may have other sources.

[MaxD]

mickawinn -could you say what and where from you got the info on your first post and do you have access to Ancestry and to Findmypast?

MaxD

[mickawinn]

My initial finding of the MM award was on Findmypast and I do have access to Ancestry. I have discovered a birth record and a couple of census entries since my original post.

[MaxD]

OK

The specifics I quoted related to the MM are all on Ancestry.  The war diaries can be found through the card catalogue, number of ways to find them, here's one:
51 Div Trench Mortar Batteries  - search terms Unit - Divisional Trench Mortar Batteries, Division -  51st Division brings up 2854/7, click pages forward to image 45 of 79.
51 Div HQ DAA & QMG - search terms Unit - Divisional Headquarters - Division - 51st Division- select 2849/1-4, page 276 of 705
51 DAC - search terms Unit-Divisional Ammunition Columns Division - 51st Division - brings up 2854/8

You have his MM card.  His medal card and medal roll entries are under Military - Awards and Decorations of Honour.  Search on Andrew Galbraith with 136 (his first number) in the keyword field, nothing else.  He comes up first in the list for medal cards.  Then click on Medal and Award rolls with Royal Garrison Artillery in the Keyword, he comes up first and third in the list.

The remainder, as Jim1 says, are from the various pieces on the division on the excellent Longlongtrail http://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/ plus, if I may say so, our own understanding of how it all knits together hence the educated guess work of the sequence of his service.

Shout if you need anything more.

MaxD