What this is about

To mark the centenary of the Great War, I am researching the WW1 histories of my ancestors. This blog documents my progress.
To read a summary of what I've discovered so far, select an ancestor/family member from the list on the right-hand side.

Monday 5 December 2016

Grandad's KSLI connection borne out


I'm extremely lucky to have been given an original list of members of the Home Guard for Withington (which I hope to transcribe and put online).

Grandad is listed in this book, which gives his previous military experience as 'KSLI, Great War' (although the year of his birth is incorrect).

This provides us with more proof that Grandad was with the KSLI at some point in WW1, and I have updated his page accordingly.

Friday 7 October 2016

Horace Davies

I've added a page for my maternal great-grandfather, Horace Davies; a long-overdue representation of my mum's side of the family!
Click here, or on the link on the right, to lean about Horace's possible contribution to the war effort.

Thursday 15 September 2016

Updates to Frederick Jones and Walter Price

Some long overdue updates!

I have discovered Great-Uncle Fred listed in the 1919 editions of the Absent Voters Lists. The entries not only give his regiment and service number, but also the date of his demobilisation.

However, far from making things clearer, this actually muddies the waters, for, while this has led me to find a medal card for an FS Jones with the same service number, the regiment is completely different.

I'm only partially certain that this is 'our' Fred Jones, as the AVLs could be quite inaccurate, and it could also be a huge coincidence, so as of yet proof is not conclusive. The information is presented on his page.

Regarding my Grandad, I have found a nice sketch of the lock at Landrecies, that the 9th Devonshires had to get past during the battle of the Sambre.

Wednesday 10 February 2016

Grandad - major questions answered!


A visit to the Herefordshire Archives and Records Centre has yielded some fantastic results in the shape of the Absent Voters Lists!

The lists for 1918-1919 confirm that Grandad was indeed conscripted into the 3rd KSLI, that he was posted to the Devonshires at the end of October 1918, and that he was subsequently posted to the 1/5th DCLI after the Armistice - demobbing November 1919.

Grandad's page has been updated as a result.

(Note that, while this latest update answers a lot of questions, I have still detailed the research I carried out beforehand in the hope that it will be of use to other amateur researchers!)