Ormskirk during WW1

[jeffH]

My Great-Grandfather was a member of the Army Service Corp during WW1 serving May 1915 to Jan 1920. In July of 1915. He married his first wife in Ormskirk in July of 1915 and this is given as his address on their marriage certificate.

Does anyone know why he might have been in Ormskirk two months after enlisting in the Army? Were there any military bases or training camps there during the war? Or perhaps a military hospital or Red Cross hospital?

Neither he nor his wife had any family connections in Ormskirk (or Lancashire) that I know of. Both were Welsh and my GGrandfather had only been back in the UK 6 months after spending 6 years in Canada.

Any assistance greatly appreciated.
Thank You
Jeff

[manmack]

what was his name jeff,mack

[jeffH]

Mack,

My Great Grandfather was Sgt William James Harries. On the absentee voters list of 1918 his rank is given as Sergeant and his regimental number as R4/106935. I know from my Grandmother he did some time in France and from post-war photos we can make out the ribbon for the 14/15 star on his uniform.

The regimental number and service dates I have appear on his WW2 atestation forms (he served in the Canadian Veteran Guard). I have not been able to find a MIC with regimental number R4/106935. I know he was awarded the trio so I guess his MIC went missing or the medals are on a MIC with a different number.

The closest MIC I have found which appeared to be that of my Great-Grandfather was for a Sgt. William Harris T4/SR/0255. I've had a look-up made of the medal rolls and this man served Apr 1915 to Jan 1919 so it's a bit of a hard sell.

Thanks for you interest,
Jeff

[Kevwood]

Hi, is this not him then.

He would maybe have a different number if he left and rejoined.

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documentsonline/details-result.asp?Edoc_Id=2722534&queryType=1&resultcount=4

Kev.

[jeffH]

Thanks for checking Kev. For a while I thought that was him too but the BWM/Vic medal roll has that William J listed as a William John, not James.

jeff

[robbo46]

Hi Jeff
there was a big Army  camp in Litherland, not far from Ormskirk the RWF, was base their, I'll dig out what I have on the camp

[kattyia5]

Hi Jeff
there was a military base there  HMS Ringtail. 

[BurscoughLad]

Hi folks,

I have been trawling some old posts and thought it might help to put my two penn'orth into this one.

HMS Ringtail only came into being during WW2. It was on the outskirts of Burscough - about 3 miles north of Ormskirk.

However, there was a military camp at Lathom during WW1, where the cavalry horses brought in from Canada were acclimatised and trained with their new British riders. It was called the Lathom Remount Depot.
Lathom is only about 3 miles north of Ormskirk but adjacent to and to the east of Burscough.

Hope this helps

[Lal]

I hope the original poster sees this because it's likely his reltive was part of the Royal Ordnance Depot at Burscough. That was set up in WWI and only closed in the 80s. He says he was part of the Service Corps, which was separate from Ordnance, but he could well have been attached to oversee movements of munitions?