26 November 2016

6th (Inniskilling) Dragoons - Other Rank PoWs 1914


After last week's small list of 10th Hussars PoWs, here's another list of cavalrymen captured by the Germans before Christmas 1914; this time men from the 6th (Inniskilling) Dragoons.

What I call the Princess Mary tin PoW lists are certainly incomplete but they're also a great starting point.  I augment the information I hold in these lists by looking at The Times casualty lists and also the Prisoners of War on Findmypast.  There are close to 2.7m indexed records in total and over 69,000 First World War PoW records.

2492 Private W H Barnett
Captured 30th October 1914; home address: 606 Harrow Road, London 
2511 Corporal A Bowling
Captured 30th October 1914; home address: 48 Salt Street, Manningham, Bradford
2503 Private G Dixon
Captured 30th October 1914; home address: 4 Imperial Terrace, Woodfield Grove, Sale, Near Manchester 
5637 Private G Downs
Captured 30th October 1914; home address: 19 Sutherland Steet, Leicester 
6453 Private F Eversoll
Captured 30th October 1914; home address: 5 Acacia Avenue, Cardiff 
140 Private J Ferrie
Home address: Mrs McEwan, 50 Albert Road, Townhead, Glasgow 
5705 Corporal C Jaggard
Captured 30th October 1914; home address: 2 Albert Street, Chesterton, Cambridge 
6576 Private J Plain
Home address: 9 Salisbury Road, St Stephens, Canterbury 
5732 Private S Ripley
Captured 29th October 1914; home address: 1 Back Butler's Buildings, Crossgreen lane, Leeds 
5653 Private George H Tudball
Captured 30th October 1914; home address:  20 Keightley Street, Birkenhead 

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19 November 2016

10th (Prince of Wales's Own) Hussars - Other Rank PoWs 1914


The list of 10th Hussars men who had become prisoners of war by December 1914 is tiny. It took the form of a two-page letter typed by Mrs E Mackenzie of the Tenth (PWO) Hussars Association and was sent to Sir Ernest Goodhart on the 19th December 1918. At the time of writing, at least six of the men were still being held in German camps.

At first glance, Corporal Addison looks to be the longest serving man here, assuming that is that the other men's numbers all belong to the regimental number series issued to the Corps of Hussars from 1907. That would place Corporal Addison as a 1907 enlistment, and all the other men a couple of years behind him, enlisting in 1909 and 1910.

On the other hand though - and this is where you need to be careful with line cavalry numbering - the numbers issued to all of the men except Corporal Addison could, in theory, have been issued to the 10th Hussars before 1907. This would make 4238 Sergeant Hawkes the longest serving man (enlisted 1899), with the other men enlisting between 1900 and 1906).

In actual fact, Lance-Corporal Arthur H Hawkes does indeed appear on medal rolls for the Queen's South Africa Medal and King's South Africa Medal and so he is the longest serving man in the list below.

909 Corporal Alfred H Addison 
4686 Private George R Bird 
6545 Private P Cairns 
5568 Private Joseph Cassidy 
5559 Private Arthur G Cater 
5590 Private H Grant 
4238 Sergeant H Hawkes 
5759 Corporal William R Miller 
5422 Private E Reeve

For more information on cavalry numbering and that crucial change from regimental numbering by regiment to regimental numbering by corps, have a look at my post on King's and Queen's Regulations, and in particular Army Order 289 of December 1906 which, for the modern day researcher, really is a vital document that should be pinned up somewhere where it won't be missed. Or alternatively, just bookmark this page.



Pictured above in about 1901, Prince Edward, HRH The Prince of Wales; Later King Edward VII, Colonel of the 10th Hussars.

I research soldiers! Contact me if you need help with your military ancestor.

12 November 2016

Leicestershire Regiment - other rank PoWs 1914


The following men all appear on a list of Leicestershire Regiment men who were captured on or before the 25th December 1914 and therefore missed out on Princess Mary's gift to her troops.

This list is compiled from a single source at The Imperial War Museum, London: B.O.2 1/256 which is a two-page undated typed list. 

The extract below is an edited version of the full transcription which typically gives date of capture and home address. The full transcription is available for sale as a download or CD for £20. Contact me if you would like to purchase a copy.

I also offer a comprehensive, fast and cost-effective military history research service. Follow the link for more information. 


7772 Private Joseph Arthur Allen 
6986 Private H Ball 
8051 Private L Bate 
8837 Private J E Beck 
7524 Private W Bent 
 7964 Private G Bevins 
9559 Private B Billington 
7277 Private H Board 
9530 Private H Botterill 
7059 Private T Cavner 
9675 Private F H Chambers 
6472 Private E Church 
6664 Private J W Clarke 
9769 Private J W Clarke 
8283 Private S C Clarke 
7186 Private F Cliffe 
6836 Private A Coleman 
6523 Private W Coleman 
6888 Drummer M Collins 
9253 CSM H Conner 
9902 Drummer G Craffey 
5276 Lance-Corporal R Cramp 
9718 Private J Dakin 
7783 Private W Dawes 
9703 Private G Dodge 
7299 Private A Durrant 
8937 Private R A Ellis 
7321 Private G Fairbrother 
7206 Private H Fall 
7987 Private H B Gilbert 
7593 Private J Goodman 
9498 Private H A Greenhalgh 
10458 G W Gregg 
9426 Private H Hall 
8593 Private J Harding 
8414 Private W Hardyman 
7050 Private H Hemmings 
17966 Sergeant C Hickman 
9613 Private W Holland 
8039 Private F W Hollingshead 
6979 Sergeant J C H Hubbard 
7047 Private S Hunt 
7994 Private G Hunter 
9104 Lance-Corporal A Iliffe 
7306 Private F King 
8759 Private G Lee 
9569 Lance-Corporal J Lines 
5324 Lance-Corporal E Lomas 
9719 Private H C Loseby 
7416 Private C Mann 
6564 Private T Marlow 
7731 Private G Marsh 
8706 Private G Mason 
5520 CQMS L McCarthy 
9673 Private J McGuire 
9155 Drummer G Millard 
9510 Private E Morgan 
7998 Corporal H Mott 
7195 Corporal F P Moylan
9321 Private J Murphy 
7491 Private G Narrowway 
6581 Private G Naylor 
6611 Private G A Newall
9543 Private P Noble 
7034 Private J O'Grady 
8537 Lance-Corporal H J Ormes 
9455 Private A G Pash 
7188 Private W A Phillips 
6622 Private R Randall 
9541 Private G H Sanders 
6570 Sergeant D Shea 
6992 Private G F Shepherd
7673 Private J Smith 
9644 Private J Smith 
7041 Private T L Stokes
7587 Private J Tinkler 
7319 Private G Todd 
9626 Private W H Turner 
7279 Private A E Vokins 
8884 Private E Ward 
6540 Private W Ward 
9739 Private L L Wells 
9704 Private William West 
 6462 Private J L Weston 
6630 Private H Wheldale 
8932 Private H Wiggings 
6990 Private A Williams 
9423 Private A E Woodford 
9765 Private W Wortley

5 November 2016

British Army service & pension records online


I'm going to flag this again because I think the links I posted could be useful.

Last week, over on my Army Ancestry Research blog, I published a list of infantry and foot guards regiments with links to those regiments' surviving service and pension records on Findmypast. I was quite surprised at how many records survive for some regiments and how few survive for others.  

The records cover a wide year range, from 1760 to 1920, although the majority will be for the period 1881 to 1918. Clicking on the British Army infantry and foot guards links I published will take you to the search results but you will need a subscription or pay-per-view credits to actually view the records. You'll also find some of these on Ancestry but Findmypast has a far more comprehensive and better indexed collection.

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