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General => Armed Forces => World War One => Topic started by: shanew147 on Tuesday 24 April 12 19:43 BST (UK)
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I'm looking into an ancestor of a colleague. William Henry Dormer born 1897 in South County Dublin. He is believed to have served with the South Irish Horse. The only record I've located so far is a medal card which fits... Could someone decode the details or suggest where to search for further details on William ?
William H. Dormer
Corps/rank/reg no.
S. Ir. H. / pte / 1142
C of Hrs / / 74090
Medals/Roll/page
Victory / CY/141 B / 3102
British / " / "
15 Star / CY 2 B / 787
Theatre of was first served in 1.
Date of Entry therein : 22.11.15
remarks : AS/CC/460
B.104-117 04[?] 4-12-23 (1915 Star)
Also included is an address which fits the area his family lived.
There's a medal card for another William Dormer without the middle initial with seemingly similar service..
p.s. William survived the war and married later in Dublin.
thanks,
Shane
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Shane theres pension records for a William H Dormer pre ww1 records he was a cavalryman on Ancestry about 40 pages! was in a bit of trouble every now and again!!
Family wise I think mum lived in Wilsden
His number was 3043
He definately served in Dundalk
EDIT Dont think this is your man see next post
Ady
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Did he have a brother called George?
Theres a George Dormer enlisted in South Irish Horse number 1143 (next bloke after this William) in 1914 discharged in 1915 due to sickness
He is on Silver War Badge Roll
The Cavalryman whos record is on ancestry definately from london area.
Ady
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thanks for that I'll check it out further...
at first glance though it doesn't seem to fit - the Dormer family I'm chasing were based in South County Dublin.. dont think they moved. I thought William Henry Dormer would be an uncommon name!
William parents were Edward and Margaret, and he did have an elder brother named George born 1890. William and all his siblings were born in Co. Dublin but his father was born in India - so think there may be a military connection there at some point further back
Shane
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Yes the record on ancestry(theres two sets both pre war end about 1902) so they are red herrings and id disregard
the two Medal Index Cards 1142 and George 1143 to SIH show they both enlisted together at same time so at least you have an enlistment date.
Ady
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thanks for the references - have located the details for George 1143 from the Silver War Badge record and Medal card. He signed up 5 Sept 1914, so presumably William H. signed up the same day.
S.
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Hi Shane,
William had another brother, Edward Errington (called Eric) Dormer SIH number 1172, was born in Dublin in 1895, passed away in 1975, at the age of 80. Drop me an email and I'll give you the full SP on him, the above information came from Eric's granddaughter Tracy. ;)
All the best
Doug
www.southirishhorse.com
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thank you.
I've pm'd you my email address
Shane
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G'day guys,
The gentlemen you are talking about are my Great Uncles, I am told that their father (Edward) marched the three eldest brothers of the Dormer family down to the recruiting office on the first day of the war in 1914 with one of their cousins along for luck.
Shane, you were right about the Indian connection with Edward. His father joined the 3rd Battalion 60th Regiment in Dublin in 1855, and they then moved out to India where Edward and two sisters were born. On a side note Billy Connolly's Great Grand father (Doyle from Hollywood) joined the battalion at the same time and went out to India too.
My Grandfather was Arthur Dormer William's little brother.
Max
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Just joined this forum because I came across this thread. The "W. Dormer" referred to earlier was my grandfather William Russell Dormer. He was I believe a cousin of Eric.
My grandfather joined the SIH in 1916 as a private, and was in the cavalry on his horse "Napoleon". In August 1917 he was retrained as an infantryman when the squadrons were dismounted, and was captured on March 21 1918. Sent eventually to a POW camp in Sclayn in Belgium, he and his fellow prisoners finally walked free after the Armistice and wended their way back to the Allied lines, running into the Canadians on the way.
Because he had not joined up in 1914 he was not eligible for demob immediately after the Armistice and was sent to Damascus as part of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force for some time until his demob became permitted.
Some of the letters he wrote back to his parents while on his return to Dun Laoghaire (Kingstown as it was then) are in my possession, and if you read between the lines you can see just how affected he had been by his experiences.
RRTB.
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I've been looking through the details of my grandfather's WW1 things again this evening and I noticed a reference to W.H. Dormer who turns out to be my grandfather's cousin. My grandfather's father was George Abraham Dormer who was married to Kathleen. They lived in Kingstown. I was unaware that George had a sibling who was the parent of William Henry.
RRTB
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Best to start a new topic on the relevant board rather than on this old WW1 post.
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Thanks Jim, but all I was actually doing was adding that little bit of info. It looks like the OP isn't actively connecting with this thread any more anyway, which is why I didn't start a new thread.
RRTB