Compassionate discahrge?

[FS]

My paternal grandmother died in 1916 leaving 4 children. The oldest (my father) was 12 the youngest under one year. My grandfather was in the army. Would he be allowed compassionate leave/discharge in these circumstances? I have found his medal list which stops at 14/6/15. Does that indicate he was no longer serving after that date? The family seemed to break up after then. My father never spoke of his father and the two youngest brothers I have only discovered details of recently.  My grandfather did not die until 1955.

[neil1821]

I have found his medal list which stops at 14/6/15. Does that indicate he was no longer serving after that date?

What exactly does the medal card say?
It "stops" at 14/6/15 could mean a couple of different things

[FS]

Right, I now know a little more. (Yes, I know a little knowledge is a dangerous thing!!)

My grandfather was not discharged in 1915. He was sent to Gallipoli (Theatre 2B) in a Labour Corps having previously been in 1st East Lancs Regt. The details of the earlier posting is overwritten but I can't at present interpret it fully. It does show he was in the army in 1914 possibly July ie before the war started.
The final entry under remarks seems to be Cl Z 13.5.19 which I take to be his discharge date. Therefore there was no compassion shown to him, that is if he asked.

His 1st East lancs army number was 11805 which changed to 467757 when he joined the Labour Corps. can anyone help with hir Army Record?

[Redroger]

Sorry to pour cold water on the research, but approx 2/3 of WW1 other ranks' service history were destroyed in the London blitz in WW2. Those that remain are in the National Archives.

[km1971]

If his record is not on Ancestry it is likely it was lost during WW2 bombing. The Labour Corps was not created until 1917, so he went to Gallipoli as a member of the East Lancashire Regiment.

According to this - http://www.1914-1918.net/eastlancs.htm - the 1st Battalion did not go to Gallipoli. so where does that information come from? During WW1 the same number could be used by a number of battalions within the same regiemnt. If you can get to Kew you can look at the medal roll for the 1914-15 star to discover his East Lancs' battalion.

An expert in the Labour Corps on a site such as the Great War Forum may be able to tell you when he was transferred from his number.

He was discharged to Class Z Reserve in 1919. this meant he had to be prepared to be recalled if fighting broke out again.

Ken

[FS]

The Medal Card has the Labour Corps entered below the !st East Lancs entry but no date is given for the change.

The Theatre of War and Date of Entry therein has been written over. The uppert entry is for Theatre 2B (Gallipoli) with a date of 14-6-15. The overwritten entry is hard to see but I think it is Theater 3 (Egypt) and the Date is ?-7-14.

FS

[Redroger]

But WW1 did not start until August 1914 so far as the UK was concerned? However he could have been in Egypt when the war started.

[corisande]

If you gave us his full name, date of birth and address, you might get some more help

[corisande]

As regards medals (this is broadly speaking to avoid the pedants - you can get exact details from Long Long Trail

1. A soldier got the 1914 star if he was in a battle zone in 1914

2. A soldier got 1915 star if he was in a battle zone in 1915

3. A soldier got Victory Medal and War Medal if he served abroad during the war at any time


Therefore it was important that the army kept a record of when a man served in a war zone. As you know 14/6/15 is when he landed in Gallipoli

There seems to be some evidence that he landed somewhere in 1914, if he did he would have the 1914 star. Normally the MIC only records the first entry into a war zone.

You should do a bit of research on Labour Corps, basically as the war wound down, men were transferred to Labour Corps to do "useful" work while waiting demob.

Do not be put off by the destruction of the records, with his details someone can check. Look upon it as 1 in 3 surviving.

Even if you cannot get the service record, as long as you can get the war diary it will give you a day by day account of what the battalion was doin.

A quick read of the East Lancs info on Long Long Trail show  that
6th (Service) Battalion
Formed at Preston in August 1914 as part of K1 and attached to 38th Brigade, 13th (Western) Division. Moved to Lucknow Barracks, Tidworth but by January 1915 was in billets in Winchester. Moved to Alma Barracks, Blackdown (Aldershot) in February 1915.
Sailed from Avonmouth on 16 June 1915 and landed on Gallipoli 7 July 1915.
I suspect that your June date may be when the battalion arrived in Alexandria or Mudros before going on to Gallipoli.

East Lancs enlistment numbers and dates are here
http://armyservicenumbers.blogspot.com/2009/06/east-lancashire-regiment-1st-2nd.html
Your man's number points to Autumn 1914 enlistment