Worcestershire Regiment

Greetings,

I am a complete beginner as to where you go to start researching army records, so any help would be gratefully received. I have recently discovered that my paternal grandmothers youngest brother died on 24/04/17 and rests in the Temple-Le-Gerard cemetry.

I would like to know more about his story, I know the 1st/8th was a territorial battalion but why did a clerk (1911 census) from Paignton end up joining the Worcesters rather than his local Devonshire regiment? We are going to France in August and detouring to visit the cemetry and I would like to get as much information as possible beforehand.

I have noticed on the CWGC website that there are a number of men from the battalion buried in the same row (including a couple of officers) all with the same date of death. Am I right assuming that this was because they were all killed on the same action (would this be recorded anywhere?) or justgiven the same date as their bodies were recovered on that day?

Again, any help would be gratefully appreciated.

Thanks

I should think it means they were all killed on the same day. In some battles thousands of men could be killed in a morning. I think we have lost all notion today of what mass killing in war really means.

You should start your search for him on ancestry.co.uk to find his medal card and details of his death maybe. You might find records for him on Find My Past.co.uk also.

I do believe you can apply to Kew for his army record if it is still in existence (many First War records were destroyed in bombing raids during WW2).

You could also look at the worcestireshire regiment site to get some idea of where he was deployed during the war.

Thanks for the reply irosk1,

I have access to ancestry and found his medal card. That gives him 2 regimental numbers 242048 and 5692 which adds to the confusion a bit. The casulaty list on ancestry (same as this website) differs from the CWGC as it shows him dying on 17th May not April, and being in the 2/8th not the 1/8th.

I know there are records at Kew but I that will have to wait as I live 200 miles from London, and the page relevant to the battalion on here is still under construction.

I thought there may be other sources available on here, and from reading other posts I am going to contact my cousin who still lives in Paignton to get him to track down any local newspaper records reporting his death that may be on microfiche in the library.

One bit of information ancestry provided is that he enlisted in Exeter. Why were the Worcester Regiment recruiting in Devon? or what he conscripted.

More questions than answers!

Hello,

Just an update which may be of interest/help anyone looking into researching a WW1 soldier.

the Western Times reported on 11th May 1917 that Albert had been 'killed in action' . Found the article on www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk. The Western Times was a South Western regional newspaper that had a page allocated to news from individual towns in Devon. The 'Paignton' section on 11th May reported the deaths of two soldiers, the other one being a private in the Royal Fusiliers. The information on Albert only mentioned his parents, whereas the other entry contained parents details, date of death, Regiment, where he was buried and length of service! This could be due to the different social standing of the families involved or just lack of detail.

The date of the newspaper does seem to resolve the conflicting date of death reported. The CWGC date of 17th April would fit but not 17th May as reported on ancestry (same as this website). I have also found out that the local newspaper, the Paignton Observer and Echo microfiche are free to search at Torquay library and that may provide more detail.

As ever, if any 'experienced' researchers can point me in the right direction with regard regimental/military records, that information would be gratefully received.

Cheers

flatcapmon wrote:
> >
> One bit of information ancestry provided is that he enlisted in Exeter. Why
> were the Worcester Regiment recruiting in Devon? or what he conscripted.
>


It does appear this was not unusual for conscripts or volunteers to join the Worcestershire Regiment even though they had no connection to Worcestershire.

68601 Alfred Thomas Kelleway was enlisted into the Worcestershire Regiment from Portsmouth which came under the control of Winchester in Hampshire.
The Worcestershire Regiment had detachments in Swindon, Wiltshire and Ryde on the Isle of Wight and also in Devon.

So as you can see the spread of the Worcestershire Regiment was far and wide and I can only sumise it was to make up for lost numbers in the regiment

PHOTOS
Visited the cemetery at Templeux le Guerard a couple of weeks ago and Gillemont farm where Albert and many of his comrades from C and D companies were killed during the taking of and subsequent unsuccessful defence of the farm on 24th April. The farm is situated on high ground just outside the village of Bony, the access road runs by the side of the large American cemetery which we also visited.

The area is very quiet and peaceful and it is hard to imagine what it looked like in 1917 when all around you now are miles of wheat fields and sleepy villages. Thanks to information provided by the Regimental museum, Capt Stacke's book and CWGC records, it has been possible to piece together what happened on what was an attempt to secure high ground during the German tactical withdrawal to the Hindenburg line. The battalion suffered 160 losses, including Captain Plaistowe, Albert's D company commander. The farm was retaken and held the next day by two companies of the 1st/7th battalion.

Records show that Albert and his comrades were initially buried near where they fell and then exhumed and reburied in September 1919. I have taken photos of a number of 'Worcestershire' headstones, if someone could tell me how to do it, I will link them to the respective names on the websites 'Roll of Honour'.