Sabalouskas Medal Card

[li91mo]

I have managed to find a WWI medal card for what I think is my great grandfather.  Is there any way I can used this information to find out more information about him?

The medal card is in the name of Anthony SABALOUSKAS, who served in the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment as a private with the number 29238.

It is mentionned that he was awarded a Victory medal with roll number H/2/1D1B14 and page number 1915.  He was also awarded a British medal with the same numbers.

As he was awarded the British cross, I assume he must have been a British citizen.  He was born in Lithuania (Russian Empire).

Any help or information on this would be very much appreciated.

[neil1821]

His entitlement then seems to be the British War Medal and Victory Medal.
The fact he was entitled proves that he served abroad in a theatre of war with the British Army. It doesn't necessarily follow that he was a naturalized British citizen, although it's perhaps more likely than not (the Gurkhas for example are not British citizens, but an integral part of the British army).

How old was he at the time, and what's the earliest reference you have to him being in Britain?

[li91mo]

Thanks for the reply!  I have found him on both the 1891 and 1901 English Censuses. I think he was born in around 1885.  So he would have been around 19 at the start of the war.

There is a story I have heard from family members that he was a POW at some point in WWI

[neil1821]

There is a story I have heard from family members that he was a POW at some point in WWI

Well is there anything else on the medal card that may give us a clue? If so, post it here and we'll try to decipher it.

[mmm45]

Just had a look an Ancestry at it..Its a post 1916 card entitled to BWM and Victory Medal
Nothing else annotated.

Do you have access to his local papers of 14-18 there may be mention of him? Surname S service records arent online but should(!!???) be by end of year so may just have to wait out to glean more info.Ill check Soldiers died to see if we can narrow his battalion down by crunching some service numbers!

Ady

[mmm45]

SDGW lookup gives me a block of numbers suggesting He was 9th Batt LNL Regiment
29237 Pte Arthur Spooner was 9th batt and a casualty he got the number before your relation
other casualties from 9th were 29231,29232,29239.

Ady

[li91mo]

Yes as mmm45 said, there is no other infromation on the medal card I have.

My great granddad had 11 children.  One was born May 1915 and then the subsequent one was born in October 1916.  So it is possible that he was at home just before the war started and then returned around January 1916  (Of course I am assuming I am not about to unearth any skeletons in the cupboard!).  The family is pretty certain he served in the war.  Incidently I tried searching for naturalisation records for him on the National Archives site, but didn't come across anything.  There are lots of versions of the surname but Sabalouskas is similar to what I have seen previously and they lived in Manchester, so I think the medal card is his.

What information can be found on his local papers?  Where can they be found?

Thanks again for all your help

[mmm45]

Id start by finding his address 1914 or thereabouts and then find the nearest public library to that address and ask which papers would have covered the area in 1914-1918.

They usually have them on microfiche and things they would contain are enlistment lists,casualties either dead or wounded and prisoners of war plus obituaries for the casualties.There are also in some papers photos of men who enlisted so you may be lucky.

It takes time and if you cant get to his local papers you may have to pay a researcher to do it for you.

Its a pretty rare name so i think you have the right card.

Ady