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Messages - Nobby Nobby Boy

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1
World War One / Re: Hitting a brick wall...
« on: Wednesday 21 March 12 19:03 GMT (UK)  »
I'll take your advice and stick a post up on The Great War Forum concerning his Tank Corps service.

I've read somewhere that the Tank Museum in Bovington have lots of the Tank Corps records, so might also try there.

Thanks also for letting me know that it was a TC and not TO - I didn't realise that the prefix could've meant something!

2
World War One / Re: Hitting a brick wall...
« on: Wednesday 21 March 12 17:47 GMT (UK)  »
His medal card.

3
World War One / Re: Hitting a brick wall...
« on: Wednesday 21 March 12 17:15 GMT (UK)  »
Cheers for the info. I will have to have a day trip down to Kew and see what I can dig up (providing my translation of 1910s handwriting is up to standard! It appears to be TO/101 B22)

Hopefully once I've found what I need about his army service, I can focus on his Mercantile Marine service.

Do you happen to know where I can find information on the movements and actions of particular battalions?

Thanks again,

Chris

4
World War One / Re: Hitting a brick wall...
« on: Wednesday 21 March 12 15:39 GMT (UK)  »
Quote from: barryd on Wednesday 21 March 12 12:40 GMT (UK)
"His mother going to France to get him back home" is most probably not true. The records of my 3rd Cousin 2 times removed Joseph Smith Routledge did survive. He was under age in France so his father wrote to the War Office enclosing his birth certificate which is included in his service record. He was brought back to Britain but not released, send back to France later and was killed 2 SEP 1918, Neuville-St. Vaast area, France, 3 Heavy Battery, Royal Garrison Artillery.  

I think you're right. I can't quite imagine a mother being allowed to go to France, during wartime, to collect her son like a naughty school boy.

It's most likely that the same thing occurred with my family writing to the War Office with the information but the story has been spiced up through the generations.

I've read articles about boys as young as 14 fighting a dying before anyone could try to bring them home. Such a shame.

5
World War One / Re: Hitting a brick wall...
« on: Wednesday 21 March 12 15:33 GMT (UK)  »
Ady,

Both Regiments are listed on his Medal Index Card, but only one reference for the Medal Roll books, so I can only assume that the entry would list both periods of service?

Luckily, I live in Hampshire so a trip to Surrey is not more than an hour in the car.  The Medal Roll Books will definately have his entry in it - is that right?

From what I have looked into so far, it does not seem that locating his service with the Mercantile Marines is going to be possible but I will be very happy if I can find the information on the time he spent on land during (and after) the war.


6
World War One / Re: Hitting a brick wall...
« on: Wednesday 21 March 12 12:04 GMT (UK)  »
Thanks a lot for looking into that Ady. It would make sense that he would enlist in a Dundee regiment as I presume he lived there at the time (being practically a schoolboy).

I think the theory about the Mercantile Marine Service being between initial enlistment and transfer to the Tank Corps makes sense as he wasn't 18 until July 1917. That said, if someone had joined up underage, would they note the service attained that wasn't technically legal?

I don't mean to sound ignorant, but why would someone transfer to the Tank Corps after the war? Or were the soldiers still on active service until the signing of the Versailles Treaty in 1919?

If I was to go to Kew to search for his records, can you tell me what I'd need to know to be sure I would find his papers? And are these records definately all still intact or were some also destroyed in the Second World War?

Researching the service for these men is amazingly addictive. I've been thinking about it all day trying to find any links I can to his story!

Cheers for the contnued help!

Chris

7
World War One / Re: Hitting a brick wall...
« on: Wednesday 21 March 12 07:51 GMT (UK)  »
Ah, I had initially though that the two BWMs would be because he served in the two regiments. It didn't occur to me that one would be joined with the Mercantile Marine medal.

I don't seem to be able to find anything about his services in the Navy (was the Marcantile Marine War medal even Navy?) - I couldn't locate any medal rolls similar to the ones for Army medals.

Am I right in thinking that he would've served in the Black Watch before being recruited for the Tank Corps when it was formed in 1917?

Due to his age at the time of the war (15 in 1914), I can only assume that his Army Service predates his Mercantile Marine service. Unless, they had different ages of enlistment...?

Ideally I'd like to find out the Battallion he fought with in order to have a (rough) idea of where he may have been in France/Belgium.

8
World War One / Re: Hitting a brick wall...
« on: Wednesday 21 March 12 07:44 GMT (UK)  »
Quote from: CaroleW on Tuesday 20 March 12 23:11 GMT (UK)
It doesn't look as though his WW1 service record has survived.  Over 60% were burnt during the WW2 blitz

I had heard that this may be the case...
I'm guessing that if the records were lost then there is no other way of finding out his service?

9
World War One / Hitting a brick wall...
« on: Tuesday 20 March 12 22:55 GMT (UK)  »
Hi all,

I am trying to locate as much information as possible on my Great Grandfather who fought in the Great War as I am planning a trip to the battlefields of France and Belgium in the summer and would love to know where he was and when. 

Name: Robert Hamilton
Born: 9 July 1899 Dundee, Angus
Died: 1980 Poole, Dorset

Royal Highland Regiment (Black Watch)
Rank: Private
Regimental number: 200697

Tank Corps
Rank: Private
Regimental number: 319169

He was awarded the Victory Medal once, and The British War Medal twice (seems strange?) and the Mercantile Marine War Medal.

There are stories of him enlisting under age and his mother going to France to get him back home, only to re-enlist when he was old enough!  I have also heard from one of my grandparents that he drove one of the very first tanks.

If anyone could help me in my search I'd be most grateful.

Thanks all

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