DLI in Guernsey?

[Ranolki]

Wow, he took on quite a handful didn't he!  This is all new to me, but definitely interesting.  Grower fits in with him coming from a farming family.  So he met Emma quite some time before they left.  I'm assuming she was a widow...

[Ranolki]

Ah, Thomas Samuel Albert Veal, died 1912...

[Andy J2022]

Like Ranolki, I can find no evidence that a DLI battalion was stationed in the Channel Islands during WW1. According to Wikipedia

"In 1914, the British garrison was withdrawn at the start of the First World War and the militia were mobilised. Jersey men served in the British and French armed forces. Numbers of German prisoners of war were interned in Jersey."

However, since there were German PoWs housed on the islands, there would also have been a military guard force, which might well have been made up from units designated for the defence of the UK mainland. I think it unlikely, for political reasons, that the British would have asked the French to carry out the task.
While Patsy may have joined the DLI, that doesn't mean that he would have stayed in the same Regiment throughout the war. Many of the DLI's 40 odd battalions were just cadres and so he might have been transferred to another Regiment which was forming a new battalion at the time, and gone with them to Guernsey.
Since the Visit Guernsey website invites questions about (among other things) its history, perhaps you could ask them your question.

[Ranolki]

That's very interesting to know (the lack of DLI in Guernsey).  As we suddenly have quite a lot of info about Patsy, I certainly will see if I can find more.  Thanks..

[stevej60]

Hi Ranolki,a possible explanation would be he was downgraded as unfit for frontline duties from the DLI
and posted to the Labour Corps,the DLI did send out cadre's of men for Garrison duties but I can't pin them down to Guernsey where in Durham did they live at the outbreak of the war?
regards Steve.

[stevej60]

Sorry forgot I had access to the records I see in 1901 the family were residing near Willington in Durham
Cecil victor's death registered still in Durham 1982.

[Happy Searcher]

Hi Ranolki,  Patsy [Alfred Jonathan] was sent to Guernsey to a convalescent hospital during WW1 24 Aug 1917.  He had been kicked by a horse earlier in the war and was troubled with his knee.  This is in his military record on FindMyPast.  Hope this helps.