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General => Armed Forces => World War One => Topic started by: coops741 on Tuesday 22 August 06 08:48 BST (UK)

Title: 15 Bn middlesex Regt
Post by: coops741 on Tuesday 22 August 06 08:48 BST (UK)
hi all wondered if you could piont me in the right direction

im looking for any details about my great great uncle, its a bit of a long shot as the only details of him i have is a letter he sent to his sister the day before he left for france (the day after his 17th birthday) the letter is in quite a state and has no date on it

what do have is a partial Regt No 21064 /03 last two digist are a guess

his name was John Wright and served with the 15 Bn Middlesex Regt (i know this was a reserve Bn with 5 Brg)

the story is he never came back from france ive looked on the CWGC site and the medal roles but had no luck

can anyone give me any more avenues to go down

thank you very much ;D
Title: Re: 15 Bn middlesex Regt
Post by: saddles on Tuesday 22 August 06 09:00 BST (UK)
Cant find anyone named John Wright in the 15th btn, but the
13th shows 2 possibles with the same number.

Mike.
Title: Re: 15 Bn middlesex Regt
Post by: saddles on Tuesday 22 August 06 09:01 BST (UK)
One and the same man obviously, came up twice in the Soldiers Died
CD.

Mike.
Title: Re: 15 Bn middlesex Regt
Post by: harribobs on Tuesday 22 August 06 09:01 BST (UK)
i can confirm that he didn't come home

pte john patrick wright (paddington middlesex) , service number G/21064, 13th battalion middlesex regt was killed in action 18/8/1916

chris
Title: Re: 15 Bn middlesex Regt
Post by: coops741 on Tuesday 22 August 06 09:12 BST (UK)
thanks for your speedy replies, its a start i take reserve Bn were there to fill in the gap of the other Bn's
i know hes brother inlaw (my G grandfather) jion the Middlesex at Mill hill

just another question for you all

my great grand father Thomas halsey jion the middlesex, and the RFA and finished 22 years sevice in the R Eng
he has 3 different numbers

01.08.1905 >20.10.1914 Middlesex regt
L10338
01.02.1915 >24.02.1919 Royal field Artillery
93561
26.10.1920 > 11.12.1927 Royal Engineers (mill hill) 
No 1861424

i take it this is one for each regt not like army service numbers today( 1 for the whole army)
Title: Re: 15 Bn middlesex Regt
Post by: harribobs on Tuesday 22 August 06 11:45 BST (UK)
yes to both questions  ;D

the reserve battalions supplied drafts to the rtest of the regiment

and each regiment issued it's own service numbers although i suspect the last one (seven digits) may have been a permanent one
Title: Re: 15 Bn middlesex Regt
Post by: coops741 on Tuesday 22 August 06 12:41 BST (UK)
thanks thought so, could you tell me how i could get any more information about hime on the web as this is the only info i have
Title: Re: 15 Bn middlesex Regt
Post by: liverpool annie on Tuesday 22 August 06 15:56 BST (UK)

Hi Coops !

In Memory of
Private J P WRIGHT
G/21064, 13th Bn., Middlesex Regiment
who died age 18
on 18 August 1916
Son of Henry and Alice Wright, of 16, Howell St., Paddington, London.
Remembered with honour

Bernafay Wood British Cemetery Montauban

Bernafay Wood British Cemetery is in the Department of the Somme, 10 kilometres east of Albert and 2 kilometres south of Longueval on the D197, in the direction of Maricourt.

Montauban village was taken by the 30th and 18th Divisions on 1 July 1916 and it remained in Commonwealth hands until the end of March 1918. It was retaken on 25 August 1918 by the 7th Buffs and the 11th Royal Fusiliers of the 18th Division. The Bois De Bernafay is a pear-shaped wood close to the east end of Montauban village. It was taken on 3 and 4 July 1916 by the 9th (Scottish) Division. On 25 March 1918, in the retreat to the Ancre, the same Division was driven from the wood but recaptured it for a time. On 27 August 1918 it was finally regained by the 18th Division. The cemetery was begun by a dressing station in August 1916 and used as a front-line cemetery until the following April. It contained at the Armistice 284 burials but was then increased when graves were brought in from Bernafay Wood North Cemetery and from the battlefields immediately east of the wood. Bernafay Wood British Cemetery now contains 945 burials and commemorations of the First World War. 417 of the burials are unidentified but there are special memorials to 11 soldiers known or believed to be buried here. Other special memorials commemorate 12 soldiers buried in Bernafay Wood North Cemetery whose graves were destroyed by shell fire
Title: Re: 15 Bn middlesex Regt
Post by: coops741 on Tuesday 22 August 06 16:02 BST (UK)
thank annie
your a star, found out he joined up at Mill Hill and died at the age of 17 years like many of that time signed up with a false age

thank again
Title: Re: 15 Bn middlesex Regt
Post by: liverpool annie on Tuesday 22 August 06 16:04 BST (UK)


EDIT ... I didn't see your other post ... !! :-\


There's 2 medal cards for Thomas .... !! looks like they're both the same !! if you don't already have them - you can download for 3 pounds 50 !!

Medal card of Halsey, Thomas W

4th Middlesex Regiment
L/10338
Private
4th Middlesex Regiment
L/10338
Private
Royal Field Artillery
93561
Driver
Royal Engineers
1861424
Driver
Date
1914-1920

http://www.rootschat.com/links/0qt/

Medal card of Halsey, Thomas W

4th Middlesex Regiment
L/10338
Private
4th Middlesex Regiment
L/10338
Private
Royal Field Artillery
93561
Driver
Royal Engineers
1861424
Driver
Date
1914-1920

http://www.rootschat.com/links/0qt/

Annie  :)
Title: Re: 15 Bn middlesex Regt
Post by: liverpool annie on Tuesday 22 August 06 16:13 BST (UK)


And here's John Patrick's !!

Medal card of Wright, John P

Middlesex Regiment
G/21064
Private
Date
1914-1920

http://www.rootschat.com/links/0qu/

Annie  :)
Title: Re: 15 Bn middlesex Regt
Post by: coops741 on Tuesday 22 August 06 17:30 BST (UK)
thank you very much for all your help
its greatly appreciated


thanks again
Title: Re: 15 Bn middlesex Regt
Post by: boincha on Tuesday 14 November 06 20:32 GMT (UK)
I've just started tracing a great Uncle in preparation for a trip to the battlefields next year. He is Oliver John Perry who was in the 13th brigade Middlesex regiment. One of the few things I know so far is that he was killed in action on 18.8.1916. and is buried in Bernafay woods cemetry. He died on the same day as John Patrick Wright so presumably they were both engaged in the same action that day - they probably knew each other?
How do I find out what the particular engagement was that day?
I would also like to find out how he won the Military Medal - which I think is a galantry medal?
Title: Re: 15 Bn middlesex Regt
Post by: coops741 on Tuesday 14 November 06 21:23 GMT (UK)
I've just started tracing a great Uncle in preparation for a trip to the battlefields next year. He is Oliver John Perry who was in the 13th brigade Middlesex regiment. One of the few things I know so far is that he was killed in action on 18.8.1916. and is buried in Bernafay woods cemetry. He died on the same day as John Patrick Wright so presumably they were both engaged in the same action that day - they probably knew each other?
How do I find out what the particular engagement was that day?
I would also like to find out how he won the Military Medal - which I think is a galantry medal?

its strang that we they were both our uncles, john is also in Bernafey wood cemetry, i believe that there is a small b+b(old train station) near the cemetry which was use as a casualty clearing station at the time as for you question you could try the links below, also the national army museum in chelsea

 the military medal is ineed for galantry and one of the highest awarded to the ordinary ranks i think that was normally noted in the times (like the VC)

http://www.1914-1918.net/msex.htm
http://www.britishwargraves.org.uk/newsite/units/Middlesex_Regiment.htm
http://www.firstworldwar.com/today/bernafaywoodcemetery.htm

about a week ago i was given the last letter that john wrote to his sister it discribed his 17th birthday in shoreham day before he left for the front

if youve got any information about the unit they were both in that you find maybe we could share our information

regards

coops741
Glen Cooper
Title: Re: 15 Bn middlesex Regt
Post by: boincha on Tuesday 14 November 06 23:04 GMT (UK)
Thanks for prompt reply. I will keep you updated on anything I find out and I will seek out John Patrick's grave when I visit Bernafay.
Oliver John would have been slightly older than John Patrick - he had a three year old daughter (my aunt) when he died. She died last year and left behind a number of items he had sent to her from France, including letters; a dolls dress and a lengthy and quite good poem about life "on the front". (not quite Wilfred Owen but still very evocative). She kept everything for 90 years along with his medals which were always displayed in a case on the wall in her house. They always fascinated me as a child so I am really looking forward to finding out about this man that she never knew herself.

thanks
boincha
r
Roger Kibble
Title: Re: 15 Bn middlesex Regt
Post by: boincha on Wednesday 15 November 06 18:34 GMT (UK)


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From British Battalions on the Somme, by Ray Westlake.

I had this info from someone on another site  (RootsChat.com). It details the last movements and last action of our two uncles

Boincha    Roger

13th (Service) Battalion. 73rd Brigade, 24th Division: Arrived Saleux by train (25/7) and marched to billets at Molliens-Vidames. Entrained at Hangest-sur-Somme for Vecquemont (31/7) and from there marched to Corbie. To Happy Valley (2/8), trenches at Arrow Head Copse (17/8). Attack towards Guillemont (18/8) - advance on right of Trones Wood Road checked by cross fire. Withdrew to La Briqueterie. To the craters in front of Carnoy (19/8)...........

Looks like he was killed in the attack on Guillemont. Bernafay is the next wood to the west of Trones Wood, not far fom the action, so I would think an immediate burial.


Steve.