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England (Counties as in 1851-1901) => England => Lancashire => Topic started by: kevshe on Tuesday 08 November 11 23:10 GMT (UK)
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Does anybody know how to look up a military record? Does a military record include next of kin etc.
I am trying to find out about a William Fitzpatrick, Manchester Regiment 2nd battalion, number 185.
He died 22/04/1915 in France and Flanders. This is all the info i could get from ancestry.co.uk of which i am a member. How do i get more info than this?
Thanks
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Hi Kevshe
Service Record can contain information on next of kin but not always.
Not all service records from WW1 exist - about 60% were destroyed during WW2 so you have a 1 in 3 chance of finding the ones you are looking for.
Unfortunately, I can't find William's records. Perhaps someone else can but it looks like they are gone.
In the absence of any service records - there are a few little bits of info you can piece together...
MEDAL CARD
His medal card will tell you what medals he was entitled to and often the date he went overseas (entered theatre of war). Sometimes cards have a next of kin address on but not often. The medal card for William Fitzpatrick is here... As you are a member of Ancestry you will be able to access it.
http://www.rootschat.com/links/0gp2/
It tells you he was Private in the Manchester Regiment. He first entered theatre of war1 on 2/1/1915 and that he was Killed in Action. Theatre of War 1 (up to 31 Dec 1915) stands for France. (After that it stands for France and Belgium).
He was entitled to all three of the WW1 medals (British, Victory and 1914-15 Star)
There are some code numbers written next to these which refer to the original medal rolls. There may be a little more information on these - but they are not available online and need researching in person at the National Archives (Kew, London)
COMMONWEALTH WAR GRAVES
As he was killed in action you will also find information on the commonwealth war graves site wwww.cwgc.org
His entry is here http://www.rootschat.com/links/0gp3/
This gives similar information. It sometimes gives next of kin but not in this case.
It gives his regiment - Manchester Regiment - and the fact that he was in the 2nd Battalion. (This Battalion info is important - especially if you want to research further by looking for the War Diaries of the 2nd battalion or other regimental histories)
It says he was buried at Chester Farm Cemetery and the grave reference is I. A. 13B. (one of 92 men from 2nd Manchester who died April - July 1915)
Click on the Chester Farm Cemetery link on the site and you can learn more about where it is and who was buried there.
SOLDIERS DIED
This is another source of info for soldiers who died which sometimes has slightly more info. As a member of Ancestry you will be able to see William here http://www.rootschat.com/links/0gp4/
It gives his birth place as Oldham, Residence Rochdale and that he enlisted in Ashton-under-Lyne (Lancashire)
FURTHER RESEARCH
You could see if you can find a report about his death in a local paper - possibly Rochdale, Oldham or Manchester. Some papers used to put a photo and a little bit about the soldier.
You could find out a little more about what his battalion were doing around the time he died by looking at regimental archives eg
http://www.tameside.gov.uk/archives/manchesterregiment
or War Diaries (possibly at Tameside - or at National Archives) It is unlikely you will find him mentioned by name.. but you may find out what battles the battalion were involved in etc
You might also want to read up on the 2nd Battle of Ypres which started on 22nd April 1915
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Battle_of_Ypres
Hope that helps a bit
Milly
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William Fitzpatrick Killed in action
Birth Place: Oldham, Lancs
Residence: Rochdale, Lancs
Death Date: 22 Apr 1915
Death Location: France & Flanders
Enlisted: Ashton-Under-Lyne, Lancs
Rank: Private
Regiment: 2nd Battalion Manchester Regiment
Service Number: 185
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thanks milly and derik. very useful links and interesting info too - eg. i had no idea that so many records were destroyed. thanks again, kevshe
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.... i had no idea that so many records were destroyed.
If the Luffewaffe hadn't destroyed 60% of records in 1940 our own civil servants would have destroyed 98% in the 1970s - only keeping a 2% 'representative sample' - and probably less. The 'burnt documents' were thrown into a corner and forgotten about, and so were still around when we entered the age of interest in all things genealogical. Even then it took the Friends of the National Archives, the church of LDS and the Lottery Fund to take on the task.
PIN26 is an example of what normally happened - http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/displaycataloguedetails.asp?CATLN=3&CATID=10323&SearchInit=4&SearchType=6&CATREF=PIN26
Ken
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the WW1 service records were being culled before WW2 broke out,service records were only kept in case a soldier applied for a disability pension,all the records for those who died in the war,would have been destroyed eventually,because they were no longer needed
mack