WW1 War grave

[finpat]

My grandfather Richard Coleman was killed serving with the 7th battalion south Lancashire regiment on the 10 June 1917. He has no known grave so I am trying to find out if possible where and how he died so as I can try and find a likely cemetery he may be in any help you can give will be most grateful.

[genjen]

Hello,

You probably know that Richard Coleman's name is on the Menin Gate in Ypres. This means that his body was never found or identified and therefore, sadly, you won't be able to find him in any cemetery.

Jen

[finpat]

Hi there
I was hoping by finding out what they were doing on the 10th June I may be able to at least know where he was killed and if there is a cemetery near then he may be in there in the unknown graves.
Fin

[genjen]

If you post a separate query in the WW1 threads, I'm sure someone will be able to tell you where his regiment was at that time.

Jen

[halhawk]

I found a website for the Museum of the South Lancashire Regiment - it gives little information, but does give an address (below).  It might be worth writing to see if they can help.


Peninsula Barracks
Warrington
Cheshire
WA2 7BR

[finpat]

Thanks for that I will give it a try.

[weste]

I sent for a death cert from ww1 for granddad's nephew as he was missing presumed dead.  He was mentioned on the thiepval monument to the missing. His death cert was interesting, athough a date was given on the commonwealth war graves site ,when the cert came it said it had been some time since the officer had been seen and so that's why the cert was issued.  It said presumed killed somewhere in france or belgium.  I had got the medal index card entry and address where he had been living prior to joining up.  I also managed to get 2 photos of him from newspaper , walsall archives had 2 indexed books which listed entries for him in newspapers and i managed to get copies of the newspaper photos although one was bit grainey like some are. The phos where the following april when he had been dclared missing presumed dead the previous july.  One of the papers carried cameo type photos and was entitled the toll of the brave and i think the one book's author was satterwaite. aAlso the longlongtrail site may give info of where his unit was.  I am going to try for a war diary next.

[jds1949]

The war diary for the 7th Battalion South Lancs is available from the National Archives:

Piece reference WO 95/2081 - 56 Infantry Brigade: 7 Battalion South Lancashire Regiment

Unfortunately it has not yet been digitalised, but I believe that you can order a copy of the relevant pages here:

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/search.asp

Enter: South Lancashire Regiment in the word or phrase box

Year range: 1914 - 1920

Department Code: WO 95/2081

Just follow the links.

jds1949

[Sloe Gin]

I checked this out using Geoff's Search Engine and found 11 other men from the South Lancs Regiment who died on that date.   Of these, one is buried at Bedford House Cemetery, one at Vlamertinghe New Cemetery, and 9 at Wytschaete Military Cemetery.  So Wytschaete looks the most promising.