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General => Armed Forces => Topic started by: dicko99 on Monday 11 September 23 14:16 BST (UK)
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Hello there,
My grandfather (who I never knew) was born in 1899 in Hammersmith, London. I know very little about him but I've just found him in the 1921 census serving as a rifleman in the 1st battalion of the Rifle Brigade in Cawnpore, India.
I've tried search on Ancestry for more records but nothing matches with great certainty. Can anyone recommend the best way to find out more information?
TIA,
Richard
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Service records for people serving after 1920 are mostly still with the MOD.
See: https://www.gov.uk/get-copy-military-records-of-service
These records are slowly being transferred to The National Archives.
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Service records for people serving after 1920 are mostly still with the MOD.
See: https://www.gov.uk/get-copy-military-records-of-service
These records are slowly being transferred to The National Archives.
Thanks for that, I've submitted an FOI request via the National Archives so we'll see what comes back.
R.
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1920 he is on an absent voters list for Hammersmith. (ancestry)
William Thomas Dickens 549 Kings Road S/45735 1st. Rifle Brigade
ADDED
Is this the correct one there seems to be more than one by the same name
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1920 he is on an absent voters list for Hammersmith. (ancestry)
William Thomas Dickens 549 Kings Road S/45735 1st. Rifle Brigade
ADDED
Is this the correct one there seems to be more than one by the same name
That must be him, his mother and a sister are at that address in the 1921 census.
R.
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He was a PoW in Lamsdorf camp in 1918, Captured on 27 May.
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He was a PoW in Lamsdorf camp in 1918, Captured on 27 May.
Shaun,
Is there a record of that on-line somewhere? As I said, I know almost nothing about his life.
R.
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Red Cross PoW record: https://grandeguerre.icrc.org/en/List/2407579/698/34251/
For some reason the Germans had him down as Northumberland Fusiliers
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He seems to be listed more than once...
https://grandeguerre.icrc.org/en/List/5283352/698/35140/
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He seems to be listed more than once...
https://grandeguerre.icrc.org/en/List/5283352/698/35140/
Good find. Darmstadt.
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Part of his service record is on Find My Past
Go to Military and look under William Dickens born Kensington age 19
It gives a service number of 402573.
Then I think two files have been mixed up during filming or by human error.
The service number 402573 is crossed through and 127683 stamped on the record.
The second number belongs to another William Dickens age 45 when he signed up WWI, who was a groom. Is it perhaps his father who was 40 in 1911 and I know on one census his occupation was a Groom.
So you will find DECEASED stamped on some records anyway one of them was discharged 29 March 1919 transferred to the reserves given a 20% disability due to lung problems from bronchitis, pleurisy and exposure and was in the General Hospital in Calais. Address 549 Kings Road.
His father was not listed on the 1921 census.
It is a very confusing file.
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Part of his service record is on Find My Past
Go to Military and look under William Dickens born Kensington age 19
It gives a service number of 402573.
Then I think two files have been mixed up during filming or by human error.
The service number 402573 is crossed through and 127683 stamped on the record.
The second number belongs to another William Dickens age 45 when he signed up WWI, who was a groom. Is it perhaps his father who was 40 in 1911 and I know on one census his occupation was a Groom.
So you will find DECEASED stamped on some records anyway one of them was discharged 29 March 1919 transferred to the reserves given a 20% disability due to lung problems from bronchitis, pleurisy and exposure and was in the General Hospital in Calais. Address 549 Kings Road.
His father was not listed on the 1921 census.
It is a very confusing file.
Thanks for that. As you say, I think nearly all the records pertain to William Dickens Snr. He is listed as a bugler in the 1891 census. I don't know his death date. In the 1921 census he isn't listed with his wife at 549 Kings Road but she calls herself 'Wife' rather than widow.
The lung problems are interesting too as my Mum says William Dickens Jr wasn't a well man when she knew him and said that his lungs had been damaged by gas during WWI. However, I'm a little dubious of this seeing as we now have him serving in India in 1921. That said, he was dead by the age of 56 and one of the causes listed was bronchitis.
R.
Edit: I've just found William Snr's death date listed in the military records on FindMyPast, 14 Jul 1920.