James Loughrey

[Wodgemac]

Can anybody identify the Regiment please?

My Great grandfather, James Augustine Loughrey is in it. Nobody knew he served in the army, so it has come as a bit of a surprise.

He was born in Bangor, Ireland in 1882 and had his own grocery store there.

He moved to Manchester around 1913/1914 and eventually settled in Blackpool.

I know his brother John Malachi  Loughrey served in the Manchester regiment and was killed in 1917.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you

Richard

[CaroleW]

Can’t help with your query but in case you didn’t know - there is a tree on Ancestry with details of his parents & siblings plus his wife and children.  He died in 1943

[Wodgemac]

Thanks Carole.
I'm on Ancestry, I think it might be my tree.
Thank you for looking.

[guest189040]

The image does not show the cap badge very well but if you check its shape against the Manchester Regiment badge it does look similar.

[MaxD]

The badge is more like the Army Service Corps or Royal Engineers, the Manchester Regiment badge has a much more rectangular overall shape.

There is a medal record for a J Loughery in the ASC and another in the Royal Engineers, both of which have a generally rounded shape badge.  The Royal Engineer died in the war and came from Scotland.

 There are some others with very different badges and none with the Manchester Regiment.

There are so far no personal details to be seen.

Do you know who he worked for before the war?

MaxD

[guest189040]

The badge is more like the Army Service Corps or Royal Engineers, the Manchester Regiment badge has a much more rectangular overall shape.

There is a medal record for a J Loughery in the ASC and another in the Royal Engineers, both of which have a generally rounded shape badge.  The Royal Engineer died in the war and came from Scotland.

 There are some others with very different badges and none with the Manchester Regiment.

There are so far no personal details to be seen.

Do you know who he worked for before the war?

MaxD

The Op states that he had a Grocery Shop in Ireland.

This would give him the Logistical skills to make him more valuable to the Army than a straight cannon fodder infantry man.

[Wodgemac]

Thanks for the info.
Does the medal card show any other details like date or country of birth?

[MaxD]

No -  unfortunately medal records don't have personal information although sometime clues can be gleaned from them.  That James Loughrey was discharged in 1920 having served 18 years so had been serving since 1912.  His number says he served with a horse transport unit.

Just recapping - of the five James Loughrey with medal information, only two had cap badges resembling the ones in the photo and one of them came from Scotland (there is another record for him.).  One other J Loughrey served with the Royal Irish Rifles but cap badge is wrong and he was awarded a DCM which would almost certainly be known in the family.

Two points to highlight - some 60% of service records were lost to bombing in WW2 and a man who did not serve overseas would have no campaign medal record so many men have no record to be found at all.

MaxD

[Wodgemac]

Hi,
Just been told from my Aunty that she had a service medal with no ribbon of his,, which says he was in the Labour Corps.
Does that tie in with what we can make out of his cap badge.
I've asked her to get his Regt number off the medal of it's on it.
Not sure what medal it is though?
Regards
Richard