RootsChat.Com
General => Armed Forces => World War One => Topic started by: derien on Saturday 07 January 17 16:26 GMT (UK)
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Hi , I wonder if anyone can offer advice on where is the best place to find info on a ww1 soldier , in free searches , ive found a lot of places where they offer searches but would like to know which would be the best . thanks troy
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Hi Troy..If you post his details such as date and place of birth plus any regimental info you have you will get help on here.
Carol
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First World War army service records (other ranks, not officers) are online at www.Ancestry.co.uk (http://www.Ancestry.co.uk) and www.Findmypast.co.uk (http://www.Findmypast.co.uk). They may also be on Fold3, which is owned by Ancestry, and is a dedicated military site. Records of the Household Cavalry are online at www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/help-with-your-research/research-guides/household-cavalry-soldiers-service-records-1799-1920/ (http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/help-with-your-research/research-guides/household-cavalry-soldiers-service-records-1799-1920/) There are free indexes on www.familysearch.org (http://www.familysearch.org) but not digitised images of the documents.
Other sites may have useful additional material, but ONLY Ancestry and Findmypast have the main collections of service records, and only about one third of them survive. For anyone who died in the war, start with the Commonwealth War Graves Commission www.cwgc.org (http://www.cwgc.org) which is free, and to help you understand the context of records when you find them, www.longlongtrail.co.uk (http://www.longlongtrail.co.uk) is incredibly useful.
Good luck
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wow ! That was quick , Thank you treetotal , I have his name George Thomas , I think he started off in the 8th regiment royal welsh fusiliers , he died at ypres and his name is on the menin gate memorial , he died I think on the 2nd of march , his number was 15680, im thinking of trying to see if I can get his war record but it might of been destroyed in the second world war , I know when he was married but was hoping it would tell me where he was born and his age , that part of the family are all but gone now , no-one to ask , my gran re-married in 1919 and left his photos etc at the old house ( he was a bit of a bad lad) tho he wrote a letter from the trenches to apologise , but I have no idea if my gran wrote back to him , tho she was a very gentle lady , I have no idea of his life before they married , but I think he might of signed up at porth south wales , any help would be appreciated been searching for years :)
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Hi,
Can't see that a Service record has survived however this could be of interest -
GEORGE THOMAS
Rank PRIVATE
Regiment Royal Welsh Fusiliers
Battalion 10th Battalion.
Birth place - DOWLAIS, GLAM.
Enlistment place - PORTH, GLAM.
Death - 2 Mar 1916
JJ
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Thank you both mean_genie and jjen , the information is great and I think jjen that could be the right George , so I will delve in deeper thank you both
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I know when he was married but was hoping it would tell me where he was born and his age
CWGC has his age at death - 40 years. Therefore born c. 1876
http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/1626153/THOMAS,%20GEORGE
Hopefully now you have his date and place of birth you should be able to locate him on the 1911 and work back from there. :)
JJ
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Troy, here are some census records for you.
1881 (http://search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/sse.dll?_phsrc=wnR6392&_phstart=successSource&usePUBJs=true&gss=angs-g&new=1&rank=1&gsfn=Thomas&gsfn_x=0&gsln=George&gsln_x=0&msbdy=1876&msbpn__ftp=Sisters,%20Glamorgan,%20Wales&msbpn=5365&msbpn_PInfo=7-%7C0%7C0%7C3257%7C5250%7C0%7C0%7C0%7C5365%7C0%7C0%7C0%7C&msfng=Francis&msmng=Jane&cpxt=1&cp=11&catbucket=r&MSAV=1&uidh=yke&pcat=ROOT_CATEGORY&h=5748945&dbid=8059&indiv=1&ml_rpos=2)
1891 (http://search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=uki1891wales&indiv=try&h=264381)
1901 (http://search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/sse.dll?_phsrc=wnR6390&_phstart=successSource&usePUBJs=true&gss=angs-g&new=1&rank=1&gsfn=Thomas&gsfn_x=0&gsln=George&gsln_x=0&msbdy=1876&msbpn__ftp=Rhondda,%20Glamorgan,%20Wales&msbpn=1652141&msbpn_PInfo=8-%7C0%7C0%7C3257%7C5250%7C0%7C0%7C0%7C5365%7C1652141%7C0%7C0%7C&cpxt=1&cp=11&catbucket=r&MSAV=1&uidh=yke&pcat=ROOT_CATEGORY&h=32437353&dbid=7815&indiv=1&ml_rpos=2)
1911 (http://search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/sse.dll?_phsrc=wnR6390&_phstart=successSource&usePUBJs=true&gss=angs-g&new=1&rank=1&gsfn=Thomas&gsfn_x=0&gsln=George&gsln_x=0&msbdy=1876&msbpn__ftp=Rhondda,%20Glamorgan,%20Wales&msbpn=1652141&msbpn_PInfo=8-%7C0%7C0%7C3257%7C5250%7C0%7C0%7C0%7C5365%7C1652141%7C0%7C0%7C&cpxt=1&cp=11&catbucket=r&MSAV=1&uidh=yke&pcat=ROOT_CATEGORY&h=203444&dbid=2353&indiv=1&ml_rpos=1) (married to your gran)
His birth is:
Births Jun 1875
GEORGE Thomas Neath 11a 672
His parents were Francis George and Mary Richards.
Thomas married Mary Price in 1901:
Marriages Jun 1901
GEORGE Thomas Neath 11a 143
Hope that helps your search.
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He has come up before on this Forum
At the very end of this thread someone called Danzine posted a photo which they had labelled as being him. I queried the cap badge but Danzine did not engage in the query. Is this photo known to you?
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=491220.36
In this thread you state died 4 4 1916. Two posts later Hiraeth says he is 15680 George Thomas RWF. The death date is different. Is this your identification that your George Thomas is the RWF casualty or do you have family held documents/medals etc i.e conclusive identification not 'possible' ones?
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=331489.msg2115798#msg2115798
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James
That family is surname George.
Unless I have missed something the query is George Thomas
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Haha, *facepalm*
I'm so, so sorry. That'll teach me!
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I'll 'report' this post asking that your/mine posts above be deleted. Hopefully no else will refer to them meanwhile. Cross fingers.
edit: request they be deleted logged.
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Can't believe I made such a schoolboy error there. My fault for not reading the surname as being put first. :D
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Don't know if it's been mentioned but Soldiers Effects states NOK as wife/widow Mary.
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Troy
I have seen some more of your threads now and see how the identification comes about. The SDGW info that he was born Dowlais clashing with the N Wales info threw me.
Am I right that your objective is to identify details for him pre the 1901 census where he is shown born Carnarvon (sic) Town. (in 1911 shown as Dowlais) and, given that census etc are inconclusive, that you are seeking military records that may assist this objective?
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Out of interest he was at The Bluff 2/3/1916 in support of the 2/Suffolks who were tasked with retaking the Bluff & surrounding trenches captured by the Germans the previous month.
This position is about 3mls. S.E. of Ypres.
P.2. are the German Div's. they were attacking. Now occupied by the 124R. 27th. Div.
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hi everyone , I have put the little sad message icon , because of the help I have received , for so long I have searched for George Thomas and got nowhere but today so many of you have come up trumps thank you all , :'( I have just found that another person discussed this in the past and some of the details are on there , posts between "MR_Tomcat,and a few others including danzine" had a lot of the details , he was private george Thomas , 10th bat welsh fusiliers and I did get the date wrong of his death , he was married to mary Williams and lived school st , and on his marriage certificate it says he came from n. wales , and whats more on the thread I read abt half an hour ago they had photos and the soldier on his own pointing a gun was one I had received a copy of not so long ago that was found in my grandmas diary, I am still not sure because the people on the kink talk of a "huw williams " he might of been a relative of my gran mary . the information I see on here alongside that is fantasic !thank you all so much