2nd. Tyneside Scottish 1914-18

[bykerlads]

Thanks for contributions- v. usefull.
Does anyone know to which regiments the few surviving Tyneside Scottish soldiers were transfered after the battallion was disbanded in ?1916. This info. would help us identify which Medal Card record belongs to "our" Joseph West.
Are the Service Records for the Tyneside Scottish still extant at Kew? I know that many records were burnt in WW2 but am unsure if this applies to the T/S's.

[Michael Dixon]

Bykerlads,

 A bit like FreeBMD,  Ancestry has been progressively putting the service records of WW1 soldiers ( 1914-1920) on line.   I think the operation is almost complete.

 Last year I spent three days in Kew sifting through the records of Tyneside Irish battalions of NFs.   My targets were eight soldiers. Not one record of those eight survived the WW2 bombs. ( I was able to read the "War Diaries" of particular battalions, but I rarely came across a name of a non-commissioned soldier)

Michael Dixon

[Tynesider]

There were only three Joseph Wests that served in the Northumberland Fusiliers, one a sergeant in the first TS battalion (20NF), one served 8th battalion, the other a later reinforcement with a service number 316310, later of the West Kents.

Its very much the luck of the draw when it comes to the burnt records, they weren't saved byregiment least of ll battaion. In my experience, few TS records survive and most of those are from the addition of the pension records.

[bykerlads]

Thank you, Michael and Tynesider- every bit of info helps.
I'm sure most people share my view that we should, with hindsight, have asked our grandads a lot more about "what they did in the war"- they were probably reluctant to say much about their dire experiences. Joseph used to say that he had survived simply because he had managed to get the post of batman to a general and stayed mainly behind the lines ( coincidentally this what another of our grandads also used to say, so I suspect it was a kindly way of deflecting our childish interest in matters unsuitable for our ears!)

[bobfog]

I had a relative in the Tyneside Scottish.
L/CPL James Cowie B Company 20th Battalion Northumberland Fusliers.
I have the letter from the war office dated 5th March 1917 informing his mother of his presumed death.

[bykerlads]

Thanks for the post- especially poignant today when we are thinking of all those ( Tynsiders and others ) who did not return from the service of their country.

As a point of interest, where did your man live ? - ours lived in Byker. Was he  of Scotts origin? Our Joseph was Newcastle/Irish but his wife's family were strongly Scottish.

[bobfog]

He lived in Pegswood near Morpeth.
He was killed on the first day of the assault on 01.07.16 aged 20, his mother got the letter in March 1917.
His grave is at Thiepval with so many others of the regiment.

[bykerlads]

I have mentioned in my previous posts the special memorial to the Tynsiders, at La Boisselle, nr. Thiepval- if you have not been there I do recommend a visit- it is easy to find and the Thiepval memorial is of course stunning beyond words. The lads were just mown down on the first day of the Battle of the Somme- the losses were huge-it was a miracle that our Joseph survived at all.

[jackski]

Hi
I'm not up on military matters, so apologies if this is not relevant, but my great-uncle was Frank Harper Webster, 46109, Private in Northumberland Fusiliers. Killed in action 5/6/17
Not a Tyneside man. Born and bred in Huddersfield in Yorkshire.
Jacky