WW 1 any help welcome

[chas1]

Hi,
The family talked about my grandfather in WW 1, ie/my grandmother and father, however as most of the records were destroyed in WW 2 nothing can be researched. When I spoke to N/A they said I knew more than they did.
What I was told was that he was a terrier in the 1/1 Royal Horse Artillery (Worcestershire T/A), and served in France and that they were the first terriers in action. He was blinded in a gas attack and was treated at the 3rd Southern Hospital TF, which was in the Cowley Road, Oxford; this was useful as he was an Oxford man, born in St Thomas Parish, Charles William Beauchamp born 1880. He did recover his sight but was unable to return as driver, he was retrained as a farrier, promoted to bombardier and posted to Mesopotamia. After the armistice the battery were sending men to UK for demob, but that the remains of the battery were sent to support the White Russians, and as he was the senior NCO he was made sergeant. The only record is for a Beauchamp William, RFA, A/S'gt, 123021, RFA/253 B, Page 30535, I assume that may be my grandfather. I did see his decorations which included the territorial medal, as far as I can recall there were 4 medals, these disappeared after my grandmothers death.
So any info would be much appreciated,
Chas
   

[jds1949]

The Medal Index Card for William Beauchamp [No Charles] RFA A/Sergt. 123021 shows entitlement to just the Victory and British War Medals - no 1914 or 15 Star and no Territorial Medal - so I suspect that was not your grandfather.

Researching men who served in the Artillery is always more difficult because of the ways in which the units in which they served were deployed; with no battalion structure like the infantry they are a lot harder to trace.

You might try here for some good ideas:

http://www.1914-1918.net/

It's also worth trying the local paper for the time, which should be available at you local library - assuming you live in the area. If not try your local library for access to the British Newspaper Archive, many have subscriptions for public use of that website - with the added advantage that you can do a surname search on that site. Local papers frequently carried stories and information about local men, especially if they became casualties.

jds1949

[gortonboy]

just a thought,,,,but if he continued to serve after WW1,,,I think the cut off year is 1920,,,,then his records will still be with the ministry of defence?

see      http://www.veterans-uk.info/service_records/army.html