Can anyone help with information about my Grandfather, Henry Lewis. My mum is 83 and would really like to find out more about his military service. I have his medals, 1914-1915, 1914-1918 and 1914-1919, but know nothing of his WW1 service.
When my son was a pupil at Duke of York's Royal Military School, he took these medals in as part of a history project, and was told that his Great-grandfather had been an "old contemptable", I believe this meant that he was already enlisted prior to the outbreak of WW1, is this correct?
My mother believes that he was wounded during WW1 (he kept a bloodstained set of webbing and told her he had been hit by shrapnel, he also suffered breathing difficulties for the rest of his life as a result of being gassed) is there anyway of verifying any of this information?
Henry is a bit of mystery, he was born on 18th November 1892 in Swansea. He was orphaned at a young age and spent time in an orphanage/workhouse in Mumbles, before being rescued by his maternal Grandfather and brought to Evesham at the age of eleven. He married Florence Price of Offenham in 1926 and died on 9th November 1970.
Any information would be greatly appreciated, especially by my mum.