East Surrey Regiment - PoW Other Ranks 1914

There are 119 men on this list of East Surrey other ranks who were captured by the Germans on or before Christmas Day 1914. In due course, all of these men - all those who survived, anyway - would be sent Princess Mary's gift to the troops; and this is the list of those men who were to receive that gift.

10730 Pte Thomas Hughes does not appear on this 6-page typed list which was sent to Sir Ernest Goodhart by the officer i/c East Surrey Section, Infantry Record Office, Hounslow and which is today catalogued as B.O.2 1/171by the Imperial War Museum. Nevertheless, Hughes was certainly a prisoner and has a report in WO 161 which can be accessed on Findmypast (and via The National Archives' website).  There may be other omissions too.

The image on this site is one that may be familiar to past readers of this blog and my Chailey blog, and shows 6738 Private Sabourin (middle row, far left) who was wounded and captured on the opening day of the Battle of Mons on the 23rd August 1914. The photo of him and other convalescents was taken at Chailey in 1915 after he had been repatriated.

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10678 Private H Baldwin
7664 Private C Barnes
10601 Private T A Barron
6674 Private A G Beckley
10441 Private E H Benford
5977 Private A J Bennett
6852 Private T Bennett
10509 Private G D Betts
5299 Private John G Blacklaws
8667 Private F Blay
10162 Private D Bloomfield
9053 Private H Bowyer
8003 Private G W Burge
8928 Private D J Burne
10709 Private J Butler
10431 Private H A Byford
9895 Private W H Cain
6060 Private W Cannell
7998 Private R Casey
7544 Private W Casey
7190 Private W J Castle
10346 Private W Chamberlain
10168 Private G Clark
8178 Private J Clark
8430 Private G Clarke
9300 Private T K Collis
9953 Lance-Corporal Harry Condon
9065 Drummer William Condon
10591 Private A E Cook
8242 Private H Cook
10781 Private B Cornwall
8742 Private A Cotsford
5395 Sergeant A G Craven
10761 Private F Dawes
7716 Private P Donovan
8716 Private E J Durham
8993 Private E Elliott
7753 Private E Ellis
7680 Private A English
7743 Private J Evans
10319 Lance-Corporal Ewyer
10238 Private H Farmaner
5522 Private W J Finn
8904 Private H B Frost
10425 Private A E Fullex
10468 Private W Gatland
10475 Private A G Giles
9357 Lance-Corporal W G Goodyear
7219 Private D Gosnell
9759 Private H E Grant
6660 Private H Halfpenny
10210 Private P Harding
6098 Private A C Hardy
6992 Private H Harris
9382 Private G Harvey
8418 Private W E Hawkins
10079 Private M R Healy
8240 Lance-Corporal D J Hearn
8025 Private H E Holland
10561 Private S G Hooper
8099 Private L Hubbard
10216 Private J S Humphrey
7736 Private C A Irvin
7844 Private S G Joanes
10412 Private J R Johnson
9333 Private A Jones
7610 Private C Jones
10634 Private R W Jones
8133 Private T Jones
9326 Private H E Kawson
10197 Private F King
10508 Private W A Lewis
7502 Private W R Lloyd
9001 Private A Lock
8112 Private W Marke
9516 Private W J McFarlane
7684 Thomas M Moore
7859 Private R Morgan
10623 Private J Munday
10031 Lance-Corporal W R Neale
10918 Private Harry Newton
10729 Private J Oakley
7959 Private M O'Connor
10329 Private W Parry
10081 Private F J Press 
7751 Private H Priggen 
10550 Private F Purdy 
10087 Private T Richfield 
6738 Private C Sabourin 
10102 Private Frederick S Samworth 
10312 Private F Sayers 
8117 Private G Searle 
7867 Private C T Sherlock 
8276 Private H E Shipling 
8182 Private Albert Sills 
7916 Private J W Smith 
8659 Private W J Sorrell 
7706 Private H Stanton 
7712 Private E Sullivan 
9849 Private H D Taylor 
7910 Private W J Telford 
10462 Private H C Thomas 
5585 Private J Tripp 
8783 Private A Trower 
8160 Private Albert Turrington 
8245 Private W Tutin 
8572 Private G Vary 
7698 Private H J Vince 
10621 Private H W Wales 
7930 Private P Walker
8496 Private W J Wallington 
10590 Private E Wallis 
10027 Private W Walter 
10717 Private C W Ward 
10710 Private F Warren 
4130 Private C Westlake 
10341 Private E Wood 
7892 Private H S Wyatt 
7501 Private I Young

Silver War Badge roll on Ancestry

This post really belongs over on my Army Ancestry blog, but as I've already posted there today about the Imperial War Museum's marvelous new Faces of the First World War project on flickr, I'll write about the SWB rolls here.

Pictured above is an extract from the Silver War Badge Roll for the East Surrey Regiment, and an old favourite of mine, Charles Sabourin.  Charles lost his right leg at Mons on the 23rd August 1914 and, taken prisoner by the Germans, was repatriated to England in early 1915, then spending several months convalescing at Chailey in Sussex.  You can read more about Charles Sabourin - and see a photo of him - on my Chailey 1914-1918 blog.

The Silver War Badge roll is probably the most comprehensive of all the WW1 medal rolls and now you can search them on Ancestry - but only if you have a premium membership.

Typical information you'll get from these rolls will be the man's name, number, regiment, battalion, date of enlistment, date of discharge, cause of discharge and sometimes, the man's age or his date of birth.  The badge number is always given and the rolls tend to be organised in badge number order. The East Surrey roll above does not give the battalion or the man's age. However, the London Regiment extract below, gives both.

With a bit of care, it is also possible to use the information on the SWB rolls to determine enlistment dates for a soldier you are researching.  Care should be taken however, because although the man's date of enlistment may be given, the regiment he was discharged from may not necessarily be the regiment he originally joined.

However, looking at the East Surrey Roll we see the following numbers and enlistment dates:

8505 on 1st February 1905
7487 on 15th September 1902
9733 on 6th November 1908
10864 on 29th April 1914
10536 on 1st October 1912
6738 [Charles Sabourin] on 31st October 1900
8860 on 7th August 1906...

As it happens, all of these numbers are spot on for The East Surrey Regiment for the dates given, the majority of these men presumably having gone out with the BEF in August 1914 and, like Charles Sabourin, being wounded - or falling sick - shortly afterwards.

So all in all another great resource from Ancestry but it's a pity that more and more of the military stuff on their site seems to be falling into the premium rate category.  I'm lucky that I can afford to subscribe at that level and I personally still think that it's a bargain, but then again I'm a heavy Ancestry user and now that these SWB rolls have appeared, I shall be an even heavier one.

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

East Surrey Regiment - 1st & 2nd Battalions

This post will look at army service numbers and the dates on which they were issued to men joining the regular battalions (1st and 2nd Battalions) of the East Surrey Regiment.

There are over 37,000 East Surrey Regiment service and pension records (for this regiment - and its antecedents) in various War Office series held at the National Archives. Clicking on the link will take you to the results on Findmypast but you will need a subscription or Pay-Per-View credits to actually view the records. Some of these records can also be viewed on-line on Ancestry although Findmypast has by far the most comprehensive service record collection.

Use the regimental numbers and dates on which these were issued, below, to determine parameters for when your own East Surrey Regiment ancestor would have joined up. Note though that these numbers are only for regular enlistments. Special Reserve and Territorial Force battalions operated completely separate regimental number sequences.

The regiment was born in July 1881. The 1st Battalion, East Surreys had previously been the 31st (The Huntingdonshire) Regiment of Foot. The 2nd Battalion, East Surreys had previously been the 70th (Surrey) Regiment of Foot.

My data for this regiment begins the year after it was formed, in 1882. What follows is a snapshot of numbers and dates from a far larger database. From October 1902 numbers were generally, but not always, prefixed with the letter L/. I have omitted this prefix from the series below.

83 joined on 7th January 1882
773 joined on 16th February 1883
1302 joined on 13th May 1885
1827 joined on 11th October 1886
2052 joined on 9th September 1887
2332 joined on 26th March 1888
2538 joined on 1st January 1889
2966 joined on 10th April 1890
3341 joined on 21st January 1891
3970 joined on 29th December 1892
4396 joined on 10th August 1893
4784 joined on 6th June 1894
4929 joined 17th May 1895
5059 joined on 20th July 1896
5451 joined on 29th October 1897
5605 joined on 29th October 1898
5806 joined on 13th January 1899
6271 joined on 30th January 1900
6902 joined on 26th January 1901
7181 joined on 4th January 1902
7664 joined on 12th January 1903
8104 joined on 12th Januar 1904
8632 joined on 9th October 1905
8806 joined on 7th July 1906
9347 joined on 20th November 1907
9545 joined on 13th February 1908
9774 joined on 6th January 1909
9910 joined on 4th January 1910
10134 joined on 5th January 1911
10355 joined on 4th January 1912
10600 joined on 1st January 1913
10787 joined on 7th January 1914
10918 joined on 3rd August 1914

The following day, Britain went to war with Germany. As with regular enlistments into the King's Royal Rifle Corps, The Royal Sussex Regiment and The Buffs (East Kent Regiment) during the First World War, The East Surrey Regiment maintained the number series above for men who, during wartime, still wished to enlist in the regiment as career soldiers for 7&5 (Seven years with the colours, five on the Reserve). Men joining up for wartime service only were given numbers from a separate series prefixed with the letter G/. So to continue with the regular numbering:

11012 joined on 23rd November 1914
11039 joined on 29th December 1914
11079 joined on 15th January 1915
11124 joined on 1st February 1915
11176 joined on 13th March 1915
11235 joined on 23rd April 1915
11251 joined on 18th May 1915
11269 joined on 3rd June 1915
11325 joined on 9th September 1915
11369 joined on 3rd December 1915

My data for regular East Surrey enlistments currently ends at this point but I'd be happy to augment the series above if anybody can add to this.

It is important to make the distinction between numbers issued from the regular L/ prefix series and numbers issued from the wartime G/ prefix series. For instance whereas G/11554 was issued on 11th August 1915 to a man joining up for wartime service only, the same number (but with an L/ prefix) would, as can be deduced from the series above, have been issued to a man joining up for regular service between October and December the same year.

The photograph that I've use to illustrate this post with, comes from my Chailey 1914-1918 archive and shows L/6738 Private Charles Sabourin of the 1st East Surrey Regiment recuperating at Hickwells, Chailey. Charles is seated in a wheelchair having lost his right leg as a result of a wound sustained on the first day of fighting at Mons - 23rd August 1914. A Boer War veteran who had enlisted on 31st October 1900, the bitterness he felt as a result of his wound, subsequent spell as a POW, and then repatriation, is evident in the entry he left in his nurse's autograph album. He wrote:

Pte C Sabourin
1st East Surrey Regt
Wounded and captured at Mons

I would like to meet the German
who fired that shrapnel. I would
certainly treat him.

Charles Sabourin is one of those rare cases who has papers in both WO 363 and WO 364. These documents are also now available on-line.


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