WW1 227th Siege Battery Royal Garrison Artillery - war diaries

[Rootle]

Thats good to know. I have had the NA scan documents for me previously and as long as you know EXACTLY what it is you want/need it's not too bad.

[JustinL]

Hello Robin,

What rank was your great-grandfather? In my experience of infantry and artillery war diaries only the officers are ever mentioned by name.

What makes you think he may have started out in the 28th SB?

The Great War Forum really is the place to go to move your research forward. There are some very knowledgeable people, who are very willing to help a novice.

Justin

[Rootle]

Hello Robin,

What rank was your great-grandfather? In my experience of infantry and artillery war diaries only the officers are ever mentioned by name.

What makes you think he may have started out in the 28th SB?

The Great War Forum really is the place to go to move your research forward. There are some very knowledgeable people, who are very willing to help a novice.

Justin

Hi Justin,

The Victory Medal Roll has him listed as Bombardier in the 28th whilst the SWB Roll has him later listed as a bombardier in the 227th where i THINK he may have been promoted to Gunner. I Know that it's rare for rank & file to show by name in war diaries but i have been led to believe (family rumors) that my great grandfather was wounded by a recoiling artillery shell, resulting in the loss of his leg and being pensioned off. As i am unable to find pension records for him and his enlistment papers only cover his time in the militia i think the war diares maybe my last, albeit slim, hope of finding out what actually happened.

And you're right.....for a novice like myself this site is a goldmine!

Robin

[jds1949]

As has already been said it is unlikely that your man would have been mentioned in the war diary. However he may well have merited a mention in the local paper - as you seem to have his SWB information you should have his date of discharge which should give you a date range to check. If you live in the same locality as your great grandfather then might I suggest you try your local library and see if they hold copies of the relevant newsapers, many do. These will probably be on microfilm and it will be a time consuming search, but it may well be your best chance of finding what you want.

jds1949

[Rootle]

Thanks JDS!

I have ventured down this path before but i haven't had much luck. I wasn't entirely sure that the discharge date would actually be reflected in the paper listings. I remember reading somewhere previously that one of the national papers published a full list.

robin

[JustinL]

Robin,

Are you sure that it is the same man in both batteries?

Does the SWB roll not state when he was discharged? With such a severe injury, he was presumably discharged fairly soon afterwards.

What was your great-grandfather's name?

Justin

[Rootle]

Robin,

Are you sure that it is the same man in both batteries?

Does the SWB roll not state when he was discharged? With such a severe injury, he was presumably discharged fairly soon afterwards.

What was your great-grandfather's name?

Justin

Hi Justin,

his name was Ernest Watson - no: 29784

The number is the same on all three medal rolls and the index card so i assume i'm right in thinking that it has to be the same man.The SWB roll does give a date of discharge and i guess you would be right to suggest that he would have been discharged rapidly but that goes on the assumption that a)the rumour is accurate and b) it wasn't a relatively 'minor' injury that resulted in something worse over time. Either way i do need to check to see if there is a published record of it ..... as soon as i can figure out where to look haha.

Robin

[Rootle]

I have just noticed/realised that his discharge date is 6th Feb 1919 yet the war was over in late 1918....any idea as to how this is possible?

robin

[JustinL]

Hello Robin,

I dug out the SWB list myself yesterday and also noticed that Ernest and every other man on the page had been discharged on that date. On the page before, the SWB recipients had been discharged the day before.

That is very peculiar, unless perhaps these men had been wounded just before the Armistice and were in hospital at the time. They would no longer have needed an SWB to demonstrate to the wider public that they had served King and country, and it may have lightened the burocracy to discharge them all on the same date. However, this is all pure speculation on my part.

I have no idea how quickly men were discharged following a serious injury.

I would urge you to join the Great War Forum http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/index.php and pose the question to the real experts. I'd be interested to hear what you discover.

To address your original question, have you thought of hiring a private researcher? It would surely cost less than £500. If your ggf was injuried in the weeks running up the Armistice, the researcher would not have to spend too much time looking through the war diary.

Justin