Walter Anderson?

[billsanderson]

Hello everyone. I’m trying to find ANY details of the WW1 army service of my wife’s uncle, Walter Anderson, from Liverpool. Walter was born at 42 Danby St, Everton, on 12th March 1889, son of James Anderson from Scotland (d 1895) and Margaret (d 1900), nee Bewsher. In 1891 they lived at 47 Rendall Street, Everton.

Walter went on to be a shipping clerk in the sugar works, where he was working in the 1911 census. After his parents died he went to live with his Bewsher grandparents in 68 Landseer Road, and this was his address when he got married to Martha Gamble on 29th August 1914. He had not joined up by then, nor had he in July 1915 when he witnessed his brother’s wedding: it seems likely that he was conscripted in late 1916/ early 1917. In the 1919 voter records he is listed as being away on military service. This is our only evidence that he served. After the war he and Martha, who lived throughout their marriage at 35 Baltic Street, Anfield, had two children (1921 and 1922), and he died in 1928 of a heart condition, aged 39.

The family has a photo of a man in sergeant’s uniform of the King’s Liverpool Regiment whom they believed to be Walter. However, on-line KLR records only show a private Walter Anderson who was killed in 1918. There are no medals still around, that we are aware of. His brother William Anderson was in the KLR (S/N 9271, Liverpool Scottish, later transferred to the Gordon Highlanders), but his medals and record show that he was a private, not sergeant. (There was a sergeant William Anderson but with a different S/N.)

Based on this very limited information, can anyone help me to find out where Walter served?

[KGarrad]

Welcome to RootsChat!

Nearly 70% of the Service Records from WW1 were lost in a WW2 bombing raid

Have you tried something like Ancestry or FindMyPast to see if any other records survive?

[MaxD]

The loss of service records KGarrad refers to and the lack of an identifiable medal record may well indicate service but not overseas.  His death at a relatively young age from a heart condition albeit 10 years after the war may indicate a less than fully fit man.  Supposition but a scenario that should not be discounted.

MaxD

[billsanderson]

I was directed here by a FB genealogy site, implying that I was more likely to find answers here than on general genealogy sites like Ancestry of FindMyPast, which I have indeed searched. I'm well aware of the WW1 records situation but it seems that a lot has been pieced together from other sources. I was told that this forum specialises in "roadblocks". Am I in the right place?

[rosie99]

I was told that this forum specialises in "roadblocks". Am I in the right place?

You certainly are 

The family has a photo of a man in sergeant’s uniform of the King’s Liverpool Regiment whom they believed to be Walter. However, on-line KLR records only show a private Walter Anderson who was killed in 1918. There are no medals still around, that we are aware of. His brother William Anderson was in the KLR (S/N 9271, Liverpool Scottish, later transferred to the Gordon Highlanders), but his medals and record show that he was a private, not sergeant. (There was a sergeant William Anderson but with a different S/N.)

Based on this very limited information, can anyone help me to find out where Walter served?

Maybe it is not Walter.  You can always post the picture here in case there is something you are not seeing

[billsanderson]

I can't see how it can be Walter as there's no matching KLR record. But then where did Walter serve? Hoping this is the place where the experts hang out!

[MaxD]

While Rootschatterers have indeed broken down roadblocks none of us can magic up records where they have been lost or don't come up on searches!

You have already seen that there are no records that can be him on Ancestry or FindMyPast. The only KLR Walter Anderson is the one you found who died May 1918.  A trawl of medal records at the National Archives gives the same result.  A trawl of the registers which hold records of soldiers which, because they served on after 1920, are still held by MOD came up blank on his name and date of birth.

I know I said it before but service that did not take him overseas makes a man essentially invisible, lost record and no medals.  No sign of him in the pension area either.  No sign in newspapers.

The photo certainly is a KLR man with what look like Sgt's stripes but again, as you've seen (or not seen) the records don't turn up a William Walter that fits.  He won't be the first man of whom no definitive trace can be found unfortunately.

I shall be the first with praise for a fellow member who can find him positively.

MaxD

[billsanderson]

Just to be clear that it's Walter we are looking for, not William. The health angle is again unclear. On the one hand he was given a desk job in the sugar works that may imply he was not that physically fit - there was also TB in the family, of which his dad died. On the other, the family story is that he died from whooping cough (pertussis), which in those days was a serious disease that could stretch the heart and lungs to breaking point. Walter's death certificate states "heart failure from mitral incompetence and aortitis" - no mention of pertussis.

[MaxD]

My typo - it was indeed Walter I have been trawling for, I have amended my post.

MaxD