25 October 2018

2nd Life Guards - Other Rank PoWs 1914


There are just 17 men on this list of 2nd Life Guards other ranks who were captured in 1914. The data comes from a single source now archived at the Imperial War Museum. Item B.O.2 1/167 consists of a single-page typed list to Sir Enest Goodhart sent from the officer i/c 2nd Life Guards dated 7th January 1919. My full transcription of these men (not reproduced here) also contains the home address and/or next of kin address for the majority of the men.

For more information about these so-called 'Princess Mary tin PoWs' see my 1914 PoWs page. Any transcription errors are my own.


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2414 Corporal of Horse H J Anstice DCM, 2875 Trooper D Cameron, 2176 Trooper H Claxton, 2929 Trooper E Cooper, 2947 Trooper T G Dallimore, 2565 Corporal of Horse G H Hayward, 2667 Trooper F Hoskin, 2915 Trooper J H Hucker, 2443 Corporal E Kimberley, 6444 Trumpeter Thomas F Leng, 2778 Trooper J McClusky, 2575 Trooper G F Norridge, 2838 Trooper F E Read, 2925 Trooper C J Rowe, 3874 Pte Harry Smith, 2488 Corporal of Horse W Taylor, 2553 Corporal of Horse B C Tomlinson.

The full transcription is available for £15 as part of my Household Cavalry PoW collection. Contact me if you would like to purchase a copy.

14 October 2018

7th Dragoon Guards - Other Rank PoWs 1914


There is just a handful of men from the 7th Dragoon Guards who appear on my so-called Princess Mary Tin PoW list. The original source material is now catalogued at The Imperial War Museum in B.O.2 1/52; no details of the compiler or sender noted.

6671 Corporal P F Cosgrave
6857 Private C Lewis
6924 Sergeant G W Naylor
6576 Private John Plain
6287 Private Herbert Wright

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13 October 2018

18th Hussars - Other Rank PoWs 1914


There are 87 men on this list of 18th Hussars other ranks who were captured in 1914. The data comes from a single source now archived at the Imperial War Museum as B.O.2 1/162; a six-page hand-written letter to Sir Ernest Goodhart from the Colonel i/c Cavalry Records (Hussars) dated 7th January 1919 at York. My full transcription of these men (not reproduced here) also contains the home address and/or next of kin address of all of the men.

The full transcription is available for sale for £20. Contact me if you would like to purchase a copy.

For more information about these so-called 'Princess Mary tin PoWs' see my 1914 PoWs page. Any transcription errors are my own.


I research soldiers! 
Contact me if you need help.

909 Private A H Addison, 47201 Private William J Albon

3575 Private W Barclay, 47194 Private J Barnard, 47112 Sergeant W J Bart, 5129 Lance-Corporal W H Bates, 47207 Private John Beasty, 4635 Private A O C Bell, 7090 Private E H Bell, 4686 Private G R Bird, 32392 Private E Bridgeman, 3812 Lance-Corporal W Brown, 2279 Private C Burrage.

47163 Private J Cassidy, 6302 Private E A Castle, 47161 Private A G Cater, 6174 Private B Clarke, 
248 Private W H Clayton, 5292 Private F E Clegg, 5646 Private R Collingwood, 47184 Corporal D Cook, 6652 Private R Cooper, 8285 Sergeant W Curtis, 242 S/Sgt William E Cussons. 

942 Private D R Davies, 6675 Private J W Davies, 5202 Private R Dearden, 12820 Lance-Corporal S Donaldson.

47203 Lance-Corporal C Edwards, 4233 Lance-Corporal J Ethy.

47227 Private F Ford, 6451 Cpl Matthew Fowkes.

5631 Sergeant G Glover, 5043 Private Godfrey, 47176 Private J J Goodwin, 47188 Lance-Sergeant T B Goodyer, 47165 Private H Grant, 47166 Lance-Corporal A E Green.

47175 Private J D Harlow, 8402 Lance-Corporal S E Harrall, 238 Private A Hart, 7711 Private E Hatfield, 7962 Private T J Heatherington, 4566 Pte William R Henry, 908 Private D W Hepple, 4031 Private A Hill, 47212 Private T W Horberry, 47153 Lance-Corporal B G Howard, 2611 Lance-Corporal J Hoyle.

6640 Lance-Corporal E J Jordan.

2948 Lance-Corporal L J Keeling, 8524 Private O Keenan, 47197 Sergeant G H Kelly, 2978 Private W King, 133 Private J Kipping.

10419 Private W E Ling, 2903 Private H Lister, 2818 Private F Lowe.

6990 S/Sgt D W Macdonald, 2298 Sergeant G C Macey, 8435 Private W E Margetts, 11107 Private Charles Mayhew, 5759 Private W R Miller.

10295 Private J Parker, 3245 Bandsman H Perryman, 5122 Lance-Corporal E Pike, 6295 Private C Powell, 9823 Lance-Corporal T Price.

7593 Private B T Quick

47143 Private E Rawling, 47151 Private E G Reeve, 47132 Private R B Reid, 4584 Private G Richards, 3969 Private T W Riddle, 6573 Private C Roberts, 47164 Sergeant A Rolfe, 5136 Private T Ryan.

4649 Lance-Sergeant Harold Shaw, 47230 Lance-Sergeant Augustus L M Smith.

1074 Lance-Sergeant Henry F Tetley, 4568 Private F Torrence, 3177 S/Sgt F Townend, 3133 Private S E Tracey.

6985 Private F Vincent

10109 Private F R White,   5650 Private J Wood,  166 Private W Wright.

I research soldiers! 

Contact me if you need help.

12 October 2018

Finding Elsie's boy



It's always nice to hear a success story, better still to be instrumental in that success.

Earlier this week I had an email from the Royal Cornwall Museum who are putting together an exhibition based on a series of diaries written by a local Cornishwoman. Elsie, the woman in question refers to 'Charlie' going off to fight in the First World War, and the museum wanted to know if I could help identify Charlie. They knew his name and the fact that he enlisted in March 1915 and that later in the war he was wounded whilst serving with the 7th Battalion, Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry. Later, by now with the 1st Battalion, he was wounded again. Could I help identify Charlie?

The key to getting close to this was identifying his regimental number. Knowing he enlisted in March 1915 with a service battalion enabled me to advise the museum that his regimental number must have been between - approximately - 18600 and 19300.  The next step was to run some searches on my British Army Ancestors website which has 11.6m records and includes records in WO 372 (medal index cards) and WO 363 and WO 364 (service and pension records). The search is flexible and I advised the museum to run searches on his forename, regiment and number, using the wildcard * to obtain maximum results. The search looks like this on the site:



Here, typing Char* would identify men called Charles or Charlie (or Charlemagne) and 186* would identify all numbers beginning with 186. Cornwall* saves typing out "Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry" and would also catch mis-spellings like Duke of Cornwalls Light Infantry and other combinations. 

I advised the museum to run the same search for 187*, 188* 189* etc and to makes note of all the results. Three hours later I got a message back to say that they'd discovered who Charlie was. Actually, the exact words were, "Your site is incredible, and the information you provided has led me to my Charlie after weeks of searching for him! Thank you – the rather irksome mystery is no more!"

The Charlie concerned is this man, Charles William Haslam, who served with the 1st, 7th and 2nd Battalions of the DCLI.


I'm thrilled that a combination of my regimental numbers' knowledge, and my decision to invest in a website which provides a simple search across millions of British Army records has yielded such a fast and positive result. Now to find a photo of Charlie.

I research soldiers! 
Contact me if you need help.


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