Seaforth Highlanders - PoW other ranks 1914

There are just 37 Seaforth Highlanders recorded on this 'Princess Mary tin archive' listing. These are men who were captured by the Germans on or before Christmas Day 1914. I transcribed this collection from original lists held at the Imperial War Museum and have been publishing edited versions on this blog for some while. The men listed here all appear under reference B.O.2 1/261 and B.O.2 1/262.  

B.O.2 1/261 is a single-page typed list of Seaforth Highlander Prisoners of War, sent on 8th January 1919 by Infantry Ofice, No 1 District, while B.O.2 1/262 is a two-page typed list of Seaforth Highlander Prisoners of War, sent on 25th December 1918 by the Seaforth Highlanders Association. Many of the names appear in both lists, some with alternative home addresses.

All of the men listed here were captured whilst serving with the 2nd Battalion and other information recorded, but not published here, gives home address and in some cases, next of kin. Three of these men died whilst incarcerated.

You can read more about this collection on my 1914 Prisoners of War page. 

7099 Private William Barton 
8159 Private William Bell 
7686 Private G Brown 
1343 Private Harold Bruce 
547 Private James Buchanan 
7656 Private Thomas Clarke 
8133 Private A Crawford 
9717 Private R Crawford 
520 Private Robert Davidson 
8738 Private H Day 
7590 Private Martin Fechlie 
3/7917 Private C McD Flynn 
9105 Private H Fraser 
9023 Private Hamish Fraser 
8797 Private John Fraser 
7739 Private William Fraser 
7740 Private Frank Hammil 
7699 Lance-Corporal Andrew Horsbrugh 
Private James Kemp 
1022 Private G Macfarlane 
10670 Private Alexander Macintosh 
9293 Private J McCook 
8295 Private J McCulloch 
9180 Private D McDonald 
1022 Private G Mcfarlane 
972 Private J McIver 
9205 Private Malcolm McLean 
631 Private George McPherson 
772 Private William Monteith 
948 Private T H Poole 
830 Private S H Ring 
647 Private W Shields 
9176 Corporal A Ure 
9503 Private F Venables 
7817 Corporal A Watson 
8274 Corporal J F Watt 
7884 Private R Young

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Every roll tells a story

The following list of Northumberland Fusiliers men wounded in action was published in The Times on the 6th February 1915. Apart from knowing that these casualties were reported to the War Office on the 6th December 1914 (because The Times tell us so) what else can we glean from this information?

8049 L-Cpl Joseph Atkinson 
892 Pte H Brown 
145 Pte H Causon 
682 L-Cpl S Cooper 
767 Pte W Craze 
8732 Pte E Deeming 
1491 Sgt J Drayson 
8755 Pte T Forrest 
3519 Pte J Foster 
8184 Pte B Ginn 
2013 Pte J Glynn 
2303 Cpl J F Jordan 
2199 Pte J E Langford 
219 Pte C E Loughman 
3616 Pte Tom Lumb 
554 L-Cpl J Marlow 
9636 Pte J Purdy 
9597 Pte B Ryley 
1068 Pte W Schofield 
1096 Pte P Shoosmith 
545 Pte T E Smith 
8663 Pte C E Turton 

There is broad range of regimental numbers here and below I have sorted these into the order in which they would have been issued. The Northumberland Fusiliers reached the number 9999 on the 2nd December 1903 and them commenced a new number series beginning at 1. 

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Assuming that all of the men here were regular, career soldiers, here's that same list organised in the order in which these regimental numbers would have been issued.

8049 L-Cpl Joseph Atkinson 
8184 Pte B Ginn 
8663 Pte C E Turton 
8732 Pte E Deeming 
8755 Pte T Forrest 
9597 Pte B Ryley 
9636 Pte J Purdy 
145 Pte H Causon 
219 Pte C E Loughman 
545 Pte T E Smith 
554 L-Cpl J Marlow 
682 L-Cpl S Cooper 
767 Pte W Craze 
892 Pte H Brown 
1068 Pte W Schofield 
1096 Pte P Shoosmith 
1491 Sgt J Drayson 
2013 Pte J Glynn 
2199 Pte J E Langford 
2303 Cpl J F Jordan 
3519 Pte J Foster 
3616 Pte Tom Lumb

Lance-Corporal Joseph Atkinson's number dates to June 1901 whereas Privates Joseph Foster and Tom Lumb were recent recruits from 1913.

In 1904, King's Regulations regarding regimental number series were revised so that infantry regiments could number to 19,999 before they needed to apply to commence a new series beginning from 1.

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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

Bedfordshire Regt wounded, November 1914

I've been transcribing - for some while now - non fatal casualties reported in The Times newspaper for 1914. I expect to complete this task this year and will then augment the data with other 1914 data.

The men listed below all served with the Bedfordshire Regiment and were all reported as having been wounded. Their names were notifed to the War Office on the 27th November 1914 and they appeared in a casualty list published in The Times on the 5th January 1915.

I publish this small sample here because it serves as useful spotlight on the British Army at this particular time. I have not anlaysed this list of wounded men in particular depth but I can tell, by looking as far as 6927 APte Arthur Mabbott, that there are a lot of men from the Special Reserve in this list. I have indicated this by noting (3rd Battalion) next to their names, although this detail does not appear in the official casualty lists.

It is important to note the difference between regular soldiers and men of the Special Reserve. Whereas the former were career soldiers, the Special Reserve were men who had enlisted for part-time soldiering only, albeit they would have known that they would be sent out as drafts to the regular battalions if they were needed.  It is also important to remember that the regular 1st and 2nd Battalions adopted a completely different regimental numbering sequence to the 3rd (Special Reserve) Battalion. So whereas 6313 Joseph Knightley, for instance, must have enlisted as a career soldier in July 1898, 6237 Pte William Levitt and 6381 Pte J Smith had both enlisted in 1910.

Such important distinctions are not generally noted in casualty lists, although the simple addition of a 3/ prefix to the special reservists' numbers would have made it very obvious what these men's origins were and when they had enlisted.

What this list says to me though is that already, by November 1914, the Bedfordshire Regiment had suffered significant losses and had already taken in large numbers of men from the Special Reserve. These men too, were now returning back to England as wounded soldiers.

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4677 Pte Arthur Worbey 
5366 Sgt G Hodge 
5373 Sgt E Hutchinson 
6037 Pte A Mills 
6108 Pte Alfred Richardson (3rd Battalion)
6137 Pte Arthur Holt (3rd Battalion)
6234 Pte S Webb 
6237 Pte Roger William Levitt (3rd Battalion)
6313 Pte Joseph Knightley 
6381 Pte J Smith (3rd Battalion)
6388 Pte John T Bates 
6494 Pte Arthur Green 
6512 Pte Albert S Fitch 
6707 Pte Harry Darlow (3rd Battalion)
6712 Pte W Waller 
6779 Pte A Abbott 
6827 Pte Charles Harley 
6849 Pte J F Randall (3rd Battalion)
6858 Pte Charles Gregory (3rd Battalion)
6916 Pte Abel Clark (3rd Battalion)
6927 Pte Arthur Mabbott (3rd Battalion)
6991 Pte G Thompson 
7017 Pte B Wood 
7030 Pte J Keep 
7066 Pte F Gooding 
7171 Pte S Evans 
7174 Pte A Butler 
7216 Pte F Coppin 
7289 Pte W Webb 
7398 Pte H Gray 
7412 Pte E Carter 
7451 Pte Arthur H Haile 
7570 Pte J Goodwin 
7612 Sgt P Chandler 
7656 Pte A Turner 
7730 Pte J Fensome 
7936 Bandsman E Clarke 
8306 Sgt P Folkard 
8355 L-Sgt W Gale 
8388 Bandsman E Fynn 
8398 Pte W Millard 
8441 Sgt C Guerin 
8458 Sgt E Endersby 
8469 Pte F Wright 
8509 Pte E Keogh 
8548 Pte F Crew 
8555 Pte E H Reid 
8591 Sgt G Roper 
8692 Pte C Smith 
8742 Pte J Marney 
8812 Cpl A Smith 
8841 Dmr A Pearcey 
8874 Pte F Richardson 
8922 Pte C J Hooper 
8939 Pte I Afford 
8963 Pte W Shaw 
8978 Pte J Hornett 
8981 Pte A Chandler 
8982 Sgt F Bulley
 9024 Cpl J Newby 
9035 Pte J Ellis 
9047 Pte F Braybrook 
9074 Pte T Gardiner 
9097 Pte A Jeeves 
9134 Pte H Cooper 
9135 Pte H Gear 
9220 Pte G Webster
9231 L-Cpl H Halls 
9260 Pte G Harlott
9264 Cpl W R Brown 
9267 Pte Frank Bird 
9278 Pte J Eccles 
9294 Pte S Webb 
9299 Pte A Chennells 
9326 Pte W Robinson 
9337 Pte Edward Boxall 
9349 Pte J King 
9385 Pte A Beard
9397 L-Cpl G Taylor 
9419 Pte C Wright 
9445 Pte E Larman 
9459 Pte G Ellis 
9475 L-Cpl T Sharpe 
9503 Pte O Denton 
9544 L-Cpl E Pepper 
9581 Pte W Papworth 
9594 Pte J Goodhead 
9595 Pte J Sharp 
9598 Cpl F Robinson 
9648 Pte A Skinner 
9655 Pte E Parker 
9690 Pte H Osborne 
9712 Pte D Lydle 
9726 Pte A Gilbey 
9744 Pte G Butler 
9756 Pte A Tomlinson 
9759 Pte S Simons 
9804 Pte G Cope 
9808 Pte P Clark 
9819 Pte Arthur Richardson 
9826 Pte S Rumbles 
9837 Pte S J Folwell 
9867 Pte W Mardling 
9869 Pte A R Maydwell 
9891 Pte A Mee 
9951 Pte H Wright 
9973 Pte R Franklin 
10017 Pte W G Watson 
10030 Pte A Woodcock 
10031 Pte G Brown 
10041 Pte J Reid 
10042 Pte A Fitzjohn 
10048 Pte W White 
10081 Pte H Denton 
10144 Cpl P Sandilands 
10145 Pte T J Harris 
10171 Pte W Austin 
10188 Pte G Stringer 
10374 L-Cpl T Allen

Image courtesy of The History Place

Casualty lists 1914

I'm mid-way through a project to transcribe non-fatal casualties of 1914; a somewhat depressing task which nevertheless is not without its rewards as I inch slowly forwards, one day at a time.

The names below are a small sample of wounded men whose names appeared in The Times newspaper on 2nd November 1914, all of these men reported to be recuperating at the 1st Eastern General Hospital in Cambridge.

Enlistment dates for all of these men could be approximated by using the information published elsewhere on this blog.  So, for instance, go to the Devonshire Regiment page to see that Private Gage must have enlisted in 1902 (and was therefore probably a reservist by 1914), and to the Royal Scots page to see that, coincidentally, Private Gemmell must also have enlisted in 1902.

Private Grace of the Northumberland Fusiliers has a low number because the regiment had reached 9999 by 2nd December 1903 and had then started a new number series from 1 from that date. Private Grace's number therefore dates to late December 1903 or early January 1904. He too was probably a reservist and probably originally enlisted for a period of three years with the colours and nine years on the reserve meaning that when he was recalled to the colours in August 1914 he probably hadn't worn khaki for seven years or more. 

7055 Pte J Gage, Devonshire Regiment 
8237 Pte G Gemmell, Royal Scots
195 Pte P Grace, Northumberland Fusiliers 
7619 Pte A Gray, Scots Guards
8524 Pte C Griffin, Middlesex Regiment 
4755 Pte H Hadfield, King's Royal Rifle Corps
14270 Cpl L Hale, Royal Fusiliers 
8913 Pte W Hancock, Middlesex Regiment 
13996 L-Sgt Alfred W Harper, Royal Fusiliers 
10512 Pte A Harrison, Loyal North Lancashire Regiment
609 Pte W Harrison, Lancashire Fusiliers
7064 Pte W Harvey, Wiltshire Regiment
6713 Pte J Hayes, Connaught Rangers
7984 Pte A T Heart, Coldstream Guards
5130 Pte W Hindon, Wiltshire Regiment

The regimental numbers for The Royal Fusiliers and Loyal North Lancashire Regiment reflect the change in King's Regulations in 1904 which noted that number sequences would now extend to 19,999 rather than 9,999. You can read more about this on my 2009 post which dealt with the all important King's and Queen's Regulations and how these impacted on regimental numbering over the years.

I have borrowed the photo on this post from WW1Photos.org and specifically, the section which deals with wounded men. There are a number of photos published here from the 1st Eastern General Hospital, Cambridge and this is one of them.

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