Worcestershire Regiment

I wonder if you can help me. I am trying to trace my boyfriends great great grandfather William Thomas Smith. From his marriage certificate in 1912 it states his occupation as Private 1st Battalion Worcestershire Regiment. I have had a look on national archives but due to the common name is there a way I can go forward with this.

Thanks

Donna

Hello Donna,
welcome to the Forum. You have set yourself some task. William is by far the most common 1st name in the Worcesters and Smith. well, say no more. However there is light. Of the 107 William Smiths in the regiment , there were only two possible William T Smith's. He has to have a number below 13300. You might have helped by giving the date of the marriage and his date of birth. The two in the frame are 7393 W. T Smith and 11351 W. T. Smith. By far the most likely is 11351. Not only is he recorded as being in the 1st Battalion, he won a Mons Star in that Bn.. He later transferred to the Hampshire Regiment. You could try for his service records, that will definitely clinch it.
Regards Mike

Thanks Mike,

I will give you the details in case these are of any help.
He married in 24th Oct 1912 to an Amy Jane Ling. The residence at the time of marriage is 37 Icknield Square. His father was Frederick Smith and his occupation was Bricklayers labourer.

Both William and Amy were '21' years of age. This is the only information we have at present which gives us an indication of his date of birth. We presume that he was from Birmingham but we aren't 100% sure.

Will the records on ancestry be able to help us?

Thanks Mike and all

Donna

Hi Donna,
The extra details you have now sent do help. They cut out William Thomas Smith 7393. This man joined the regiment in 1902. Which of course means if he was your man he joined when he was 11 years old. Now we did take them young but not that young !
Any records you find on Ancestry will help, of course. The problem is you only have about a 1 in 20 chance that his records will be there. You have a 1 in 3 chance that they are at Kew in London but these are not on line, yet.
Regards Mike

Thanks Mike for your brilliant help on this. Obviously at the moment I am unable to attend Kew in person. Is there any other way these can be obtained?

Thanks for your help again - it is truly appreciated.

Donna

Hi Donna,
We are always pleased when we can help in the remembering of any Worcestershire Soldier. Your thanks are a pleasant addition to the reward of helping. There are paid researchers at kew, you can contact them through the National Archive website. You can also contact private researchers who work there. You will be given an estimate of the cost before they start. I have seen some of the results and they can come up with some stunning information. If you dont have any luck, I will be up there in January and for a donation to The Regimental Archives at Norton Barracks, I will look him up for you.
Regards Mike