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General => Armed Forces => World War One => Topic started by: grannypammy on Friday 09 May 25 15:05 BST (UK)
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Christopher Barry a WW1 soldier
was Irish but no idea which regiment he joined up to or where from.
Any help would be much appreciated
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He's from a mounted unit, based on the ammunition bandolier, so probably not Infantry. He's a lance corporal and has two good conduct stripes indicating he had been serving for at least 6 years. The initials on his left shoulder would tell us his regiment or corps but unfortunately they are too unclear to read. At a guess they might be RFA standing for Royal Field Artillery, but equally they could be RE for Royal Engineers, or indeed several of the cavalry regiments. The badge above the stripe of his right arm could be significant, but again it's too indistinct to make out what it is.
As you may know, around two thirds of all the service records from WW1 were destroyed in a fire during WW2, but even so there are around 100 records of one sort or another, inc luding more than 40 medal index cards, for C or Christopher Barry, which have survived. Many of these will be duplicates or refer to the same man, but even allowing for this, without further collateral information it's going to be hard to find out more about his service.
Do you have any further details about his date of birth or where he came from in Ireland? For example there was a Sergeant Christopher Barry born 11 Jan 1879 of Franzeska Street, Dublin (although he is possibly too old to be the man in the photo) and another born in St Christopher's, Dublin in 1884, connected to 132 Cork St, Dublin (possibly the address of his next of kin?). However both of these men were in the Royal Dublin Fusiliers, an infantry regiment, so unlikely to be wearing a cross belt.
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Andy was just about to Post my suggestion the same but got called away by my C O into the garden.
Returned to find your Suggestion posted while I was out.
There was a Gunner 72930 Christopher Barry went Overseas 11 September 1914 so he was obviously a fully trained Soldier pre War and able to go first.
He was awarded the 1914 Mons Star along with the British War Medal and Victory Medal
Your Relative was Lance Corporal obviously before the War and been serving for a few years previously.
He survived the War
But we haven't anything else to go on to Help Us.
(https://i.postimg.cc/zXbVJSKx/30850-A000098-02084.jpg) (https://postimages.org/)
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Thank you for your much valued information I am very grateful to receive any information that adds to Christopher's WW1 history.
I recently found this photo inside a WW1 christmas card dated 1917 along with letters from his sister Frances dated 1917 and another from his brother William dated 1918, also a field service post card dated January 1918 from Christopher all addressed to my grandmother. The home address on the letters are Lower Glengariff Parade, Dublin it appears the family were living there in the 1901 and 1911 Irish census records, these details would suggest he was born 1892/3
My idea is to forward the letters,
field card and photo to an interested museum or group but i have no idea who to contact or even if snyonr would be interested in this small piece of WW1 history.
Thank you again I will add your information to my grandmother's sweetheart history
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While I agree with Alamo that the RFA soldier he has identified is a possibility, I think some caution is required. The man whose medal index card is shown above ended the war as a gunner, that is the same rank as a private in the infantry, yet we know that your Christopher was a Lance Corporal or Lance Bombardier at some point in 1916-17 and had two good conduct badges. While it is possible that he was demoted to gunner before 1919 when the medal rolls were being drawn up, this seems at odds with his earlier good conduct. I would keep an open mind at this stage, as we are not certain he was actually in the Royal Artillery.
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Thanks Almo and Andy you both have given me lots to think about.
The letter from William Barry ends with a PS.
THE DARDANELLS
WILL RING ONCE MORE
WHEN THE FUNNEL COMES
AT CHRISTMAS
dated 7 December 1917
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I might be completely wrong on this so treat with caution.
His lanyard appears to be white. If so, that would suggest he was in an artillery unit.
It might be that it is also simply a lanyard for a clasp knife. I say that because I have no knowledge of when lanyards became a 'colour-coded' item of dress. Does anybody have any accurate knowledge that might help confirm/refute my suggestion ?
Good luck with your research.
Simon