Charles and Bill Sadler

[forester]

Re. Charles, I can't see any MICs that fit with artillery connections, so he may have had a break in service.

It would be handy to see the two MICs that I dug out last night........ any takers 

Phil

[Shining Light]

Hi Scrimnet and Forester

Sorry no more photos.  Looking at Charles' photo now I see that, yes, he is not young and he would have been 18 when he joined for WW1.  According to my sources when the WW1 finished Charles was in the Territorials and when WW2 broke out he joined up again in readiness but did not serve as he was working on essential work building airports etc.  He served in the home guard as a Captain.  He was a member of the British Legion.  I don't know if that will help find him.

Looking at Walter's uniform it is easy to see now that he was not serving somewhere cold in his shorts!  I would like to buy the Medal cards mentioned by Forester but checking the BMD I find there are four Walter William Sadlers born since 1880 and more than that for Charles William so is there anyway I can check that this entry is the right Walter or Charles by his birth date and place of birth?

Would where you come from make any difference to what regiment you were in, meaning, if you were from Essex would you be in the Essex Yeomanry? or from Middlesex and be in the Middlesex Regiment?  Can I find out where each regiment was fighting e.g. were the Middlesex Regiment somewhere in the East rather than in Europe?

Sorry if these questions are a bit silly, but being a mere female I don't know much about this stuff!!  Thanks for your patience and help.

Shining Light

[eyman]

Dear Shining Light

I don't know if the info I have will assist you!

The Charles W Sadler who served in the Essex Yeomanry was a regular cavalary soldier serving pre-war: D/7629, 5th Dragoon Guards, later 1st Dragoon Guards and then 1/1st Essex Yeo. He proceeded overseas on 15 August 1914 and earned the 1914 Star and bar trio - the famous "Mons Star".

While it is just possible that he is the Charles William Sadler who was born in March 1896, note that he would have enlisted soon before the war broke out (unless he lied about his age on enlistment).

Returning to the cavalryman, he appears in a roll of regulars serving with Essex Yeo in January 1918 and is shown as HQ, 8th Cav Bde [Cavalry Brigade] 17.8.17  - which I assume to be the date he was posted to HQ, 8th Cav Bde. Finally the medal index card shows that he was discharged to class B of the Army Reserve on 7 December 1919.

Are they the same man? Possible but not certain. The unit matches. We know he had a WW1 trio. It would be interesting to see a blow up of the medal ribbons to see if we can spot the rosette on the ribbon of the star. If his service continued into the 1930s, one might expect to see a long service medal ribbon - either regular army long service & good conduct medal or perhaps an efficiency medal if he was in the TA (can anyone tell from the uniform whether he was regular or TA?). I'm not sure whether I can see a fourth ribbon but there might be one lurking there.

As for his brother, the Essex Regiment number indicates service with the 4th Bn (TF) in 1917 or later  when 1/4th Bn was in Palestine. However it is common to find men with 4th Bn numbers who had proceeded via the 2/4th or 3/4th Bn to Essex R Bns serving in France. Again, one cannot be certain that they are the same man but the Middlesex link seems persuasive.

I hope this helps

Ian

[Shining Light]

Hi Ian

I have just found your reply after not looking at this site for a long time - I don't recall getting notice that you had replied or I would have done earlier.

The Charles William you mention sounds like it could be my grandfather as the story my Father told was that Charles joined the cavalry and did lie about his age.  I thought he couldn't have lied to join when war broke out as he would have been eighteen, but if he did join before the war then that would explain the story.  Did you get all the information from the medal card?  I have tried to find his miltary papers but he doesn't seem to have any regimental number like some of the others on the medal cards.  What is the D7629 and could I find his record's using that?

I have attached a blow up of Charle's uniform which I hope might tell us a bit more about him. 

Regards
Shining Light

[alan o]

They appear to be the 3 usual WW1 medals - 1914-15 star, Great War medal and the Victory Medal.  The photo dates to post 1920 but you gathered that already.