My great Uncle Machine Gun Corps WW1 - when did he join and where did they go?

[nicdigby]

I have found out my Gt Uncle Cecil Walter Digby died 30/09/18 and his memorial is at Tyne CVot, Blegium. His reg number was 114578 and he was a private in the Machine Gun Corps (Infantry).

I've been trying to find out exactly when he joined up and if I can find any details of the battles he was likely involved in or any photos of him - and wondered if anyone here who has done this before can help me pls?

 I have looked at this forum and at the National Archives but I am a beginner and am struggling! Ancestry has come up with a few records:

1) his British Army WW1 medal roll index card
2) A photo of his memorial at Zonnebeke, West Flanders
3) his listing in UK Soldiers who died in the Great War
4) WW1 pension ledger and index card

But none of these mention his join up date nor where he went.

B 1898. D 30/09/18. Cecil Walter Digby. From Peasbody Buildings, Pimlico SW18.

Many thanks

[crisane]

Hi
I think you have found all the records you are going to find as 60% plus of WW1 service records were destroyed by bombing/fire/water in WW2.
His service number is actually 114758, you transposed the 5 and 7

He  didn't receive the  silver star  medal which was awarded to officers and men of the British and Imperial Forces who either entered a theatre of war or entered service overseas between 5th August 1914 and 11th November 1918 inclusive.

Ignore this incorrect information and listen to the experts.

[nicdigby]

Thank you. You're correct about the reg number!

[youngtug]

There is the MGC/OCA . There is a facebook group for them; Machine Gun Corps Old Comrades' Association (MGC/OCA) 

[MaxD]

His Commonwealth War Graves entry tells us he was in 41 Battalion Machine Gun Corps:

https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/1629958/digby,-cecil-walter/

The Register of Soldiers Effects (Ancestry) gives us the ability to calculate his date of enlistment as Jan/Feb 1917.

There is another record on Findmypast which confirms the above and gives us a little more.  It is a medical record from Jan 1918 when he spent about a week in a field ambulance and then a rest station with pyrexia (fever) confirming he had been in the army for 11 months and in France for 2 months (ie since Nov 1917).  It also gives us the MGC company he was with before 41 Battalion.
 This was 199 Company which was one of the 41 Division's companies that on 1 March 1918 formed 41 Battalion.  He would have not been sent overseas until he was 18 so as he was born in 1898 he clearly spent some time after joining being trained first and then waiting his turn to go overseas.

Back tomorrow with thoughts about reading the war diaries to find where he was killed.

MaxD

PS Crisane - I have sent a PM

[crisane]

Hi
I think you have found all the records you are going to find as 60% plus of WW1 service records were destroyed by bombing/fire/water in WW2.
His service number is actually 114758, you transposed the 5 and 7

He  didn't receive the  silver star  medal which was awarded to officers and men of the British and Imperial Forces who either entered a theatre of war or entered service overseas between 5th August 1914 and 11th November 1918 inclusive.

Ignore this incorrect information and listen to the experts.

Just reposting this so you see my amendment to the information I gave.

[barryd]

https://www.amazon.com/Machine-Cambrai-Imperial-Britain-Coppard/dp/0118813919

They went wherever the Army needed a machine gun. There is a memorial to them near Hyde Park in London.

The above is the definitive book  on the subject written by a fellow machine gunner. Very expensive but well worth it. Some library may have a copy.

[barryd]

The statue is a little bit unusual but here it is!

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g186338-d15636575-Reviews-Machine_Gun_Corps_Memorial-London_England.html

[nicdigby]

Thank you all very much!