grandfather james winchester.

[janet2]

Hi
Help needed please.   been searching for a few year's now for my grand's ww1 army record's
      His name James Winchester Army no 69004 Regiment Royal Garrison Artillery Rank Bombardier.
      He was born 1882 Leith Edinburgh I think he signed on in Elgin Morayshire.
            He was awarded the French Croix De Garr would realy like to find out how he got that.
       After the war he came to Hull that's as much as I know
         any help much appreciated.       
               janet2.
               

[avm228]

Welcome to Rootschat 

Unfortunately a lot of WW1 records simply don’t survive, but it would be great to help you find it if it is out there.  Where have you searched so far?

[avm228]

I see from www.thegazette.co.uk that in July 1918 he was made a chevalier (knight) of the Belgian order of Léopold II:

https://www.thegazette.co.uk/Edinburgh/issue/13297/page/2754/data.pdf (beginning of list)

https://www.thegazette.co.uk/Edinburgh/issue/13297/page/2755/data.pdf (his name over on next page)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_Leopold_II

[jim1]

Assuming you don't have this he was in 169 Siege Bty. RGA who first went to France Oct. 1916.
Some good info from that other place:
https://www.greatwarforum.org/topic/131159-169th-siege-battery-where-did-they-fight/
As the above tells us 169 Bty. became part of 51/HAG Dec. 1917. HAG's went back to their old title of Brigades.
51/BDE RGA covering the period he won his medal is downloadable from TNA £3.50.
http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/1c186b73b36f4604adde284923658539
It may (or not) make mention of the award.
As it normally took a few weeks for it to get into the Gazette your probably looking at April/May for when it was actually awarded.

[MaxD]

Awards of the (Belgian) Croix de Guerre and the accompanying Order of Leopold were offered by the Belgians who invited the British authorities to submit a list of personnel who had given sustained exemplary service related to the war particularly in Belgium.  From a letter received from the Belgian MOD in response to a query -I  can tell you that the Belgian Government offered a large number of honourable decorations to the British military authorities in order to honour the British servicemen who distinguished themselves particularly during the battles in Flanders. It was however, up the British military authorities themselves to decide who eligible to receive an honourable decoration.' (credit GreatWarforum).
The list on which he appears contains about 218 names and would relate to a particular period of the war. As Jim says, the war diary may mention him but while it could have been for one single act of gallantry it was more likely to have been for as the Gazette puts it, for "distinguished service".


MaxD

[janet2]

Thank you AVM228 
         Jim1  also MaxD   for this great info  I realy appreciate it.
     I have searched  find my past / ancestry/   I didn't go into Forces war record's as they are to dear.  i have his medal card not a lot of help on that.

                        Thank you all Janet2.
                     

[MaxD]

Another possiblility is a local newspaper.

MaxD

PS The subscription sites (including FWR) wouldn't have anything because there is/was no centralised list of citations for such awards.  A medal expert elsewhere has records of 37000 foreign awards for which he has only 150 citations.