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General => Armed Forces => World War One => Topic started by: Deer243 on Wednesday 17 April 19 23:03 BST (UK)
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I have been keen to find out for some time what (if anything) my Gt Grandfather was doing during WW1 with the main problem being that his service record (if it existed) to have been one of those burnt and lost.
His name was Charles Henry Dillon (1886-1951), born and died in Manchester. He worked as a shipping clerk.
Fortunately a C H Dillon is listed as working for a coal merchant in Manchester City Battalions Roll of Honour (published 1916), it seems likely this is the right man.
He is listed as having attested under the group scheme. Charles was single and being born in 1886 means that he would have been in group 12 of the scheme (I think). I cannot find any service records to match him. I can see 13 medal index cards in the name of a "Charles Dillon" which I cannot rule out and could be for "my" Charles.
It seems likely to me that as Charles was in the group attestation scheme that he would have served in WW1, albeit later on when the conscription rules were changed. Therefore, it seems likely that one of these 13 index cards is the right one.
Would anyone be able to help with trying to match up my Charles Dillon with an index card or other form of record to show what he might have been doing in WW1?
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I find only one Charles Dillon of the Manchester Regiment. He was 302946 Pte Charles Dillon of 16 Battalion (which was one of the Manchester City battalions). They landed in France on 6 November 1915. He would have joined them overseas after the end of 1915 as he has no Star. (The battalion received reinforcements in January and no doubt others later.
All the above shows is that a Charles Dillon did serve with one of the city battalions in the right time frame, there appears to be no other evidence.
MaxD
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It could be worth trying to find Charles on the 1918 Absent Voters Lists - these show name, address, service number, and regiment or corps.
You might be lucky and find him at his parents' address or his address from the 1911 census.
(I can't do a lookup as I don't have a current subscription to paysites which have the Lists - sorry!)
Hope this helps
Philip
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Thanks both for the replies.
I am going through service records on Ancestry at the moment to see if I can rule out any of the Charles Dillons on the medal index cards. Only managed to rule out two thus far.
Unfortunately the absent voters list for the area he lived in have not survived, I looked into that a few years ago without any luck.
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As I'm sure you know, Ancestry has the medal cards that come from the National Archives and a simple search of the latter is much quicker. That is what throws up only one Charles Dillon in the Manchester Regiment (taking your info about the Manchester City Battalions as being your man).
MaxD
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As I'm sure you know, Ancestry has the medal cards that come from the National Archives and a simple search of the latter is much quicker. That is what throws up only one Charles Dillon in the Manchester Regiment (taking your info about the Manchester City Battalions as being your man).
MaxD
Perhaps I have misunderstood and over complicated the situation. Whilst the roll of honour my Gt Grandfather was in was entitled as being for the City Battalions I thought that under the Derby Scheme they were not assigned to a regiment/battalion when they attested and so might have been assigned to any regiment when they finally got called-up?
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I had made the assumption that a man would only appear on the roll of honour if he had already been called up in which case the Manchester 16 Bn man looks right.
You are I think assuming that a man might be on the roll even if he had not yet been called forward.
Frankly I don't know which of the 2 assumptions is the most valid although naturally I'd lean to the former!
MaxD
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The book is split into a main section and appendix.
The appendix (which my Gt Grandfather is in) describes itself as listing "Names of Men who have attested under the Group System".
On the other hand the main body seems to refer to those who have joined-up as it gives their regiment and unit.
So unfortunately not quite as clear cut.
I have just finished going through the Ancestry military records by matching these where possible to the index cards and I ruled out anyone who actually joined prior to the Derby Scheme and anyone else who I could clearly identify as not being my ancestor.#
This leaves five possibilities as follows:
Dillon, Charles. Corps: Manchester Regiment. Regiment No: 302946. Rank: Private.
Dillon, Charles. Corps: Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment. Regiment No: 306529. Rank: Private....
Dillon, Charles. Corps: Royal Army Medical Corps. Regiment No: 31662. Rank: Private.
Dillon, Charles. Corps: Royal Field Artillery. Regiment No: 2720. Rank: Driver.
Dillon, Charles. Corps: Royal Scots. Regiment No: 45773. Rank: Private.
From this it does indeed seem probable but not certain that the Manchester Regiment Charles is my ancestor. I will see if I can research the service numbers perhaps to try and rule any out for being too early?
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Weekly Casualty List, 21 January 1919, on BNA (and elsewhere)
OCR text...is this the War Office Daily List of January 15th (No. 5772) in Ten Parts?
MANCHESTER REGIMENT.—Barlow 54668 H. (Oldham); Dillon 302946 C. (Manchester); Foulkes 251823 P. (Bradford)....etc
Trying to find out why exactly he is on there is difficult without full access!
But, C Dillon, 302946, was a prisoner of war
https://grandeguerre.icrc.org/en/File/Details/1369422/3/2/
more info about him on PA 23232
https://grandeguerre.icrc.org/en/List/1369422/698/23232/
and PA 25997
https://grandeguerre.icrc.org/en/List/1369422/698/25997/
Doesn't look like your man?
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Excellent find, thank you!
I put his name and service number into Google and came up with a spreadsheet of Manchester Regiment POWs that someone very kindly has put together from the POW records.
Unfortunately the spreadsheet includes this man and gives his address as: 377 Collyhurst Rd, Manchester which is some way off from where I would expect him to live and more conclusively gives the DoB as 1892 (my ancestor was 1886). So unfortunately it's not him.
Thanks for finding the POW record though, that has ruled out one other possibility.
I have been having a look at the regiments of those that are listed as having joined up in the book and they are very diverse ranging from the Service Corps, RAMC, the Seaforth Highlanders and of course the Manchester Regiment. So unfortunately I can't rule out the more distant regiments.
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jonw65 - good spot indeed. With the POW spreadsheet my suggestion certainly eliminated.
MaxD.
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For the remaining ones it might be worth trying to cross-check with the available details on the Pension Ledgers & Index Cards.
I did a very quick search and Charles Dillon 31662 RAMC comes up as 'North West'. Unfortunately the full image is only available on Fold3, which is a separate subscription.