Samuel Elijah Prestidge, Northamptonshire Regiment, regimental no.20864

[annesthreads]

I've been looking for service records for the above. I've found the records for his death and the fact that he's listed on the war memorial at Thiepval, but I can't find his name in enlistment or service records. I'm new to military records - should I be expecting to find him in the indexes on Ancestry and Find my Past? Thankyou.

[CaroleW]

Over 60% of WW1 service records were burnt during the WW2 blitz.  If you have been unable to locate them on the sites you mention they will have been part of those destroyed

[CaroleW]

There is a Medal Roll Index entry for him - do you already have it?

http://www.rootschat.com/links/01hjm/

[annesthreads]

Over 60% of WW1 service records were burnt during the WW2 blitz.  If you have been unable to locate them on the sites you mention they will have been part of those destroyed

Ah, that will be why! Thankyou. I'll stop looking! And yes, I've found the medal record, thanks.

[jim1]

According to the Roll he was in the 2nd. Batt. On the day he was killed he was involved in the attack on the village of Contalmaison France.
The attack on the 7th. brought many casualties & by the end of the day the Batt. had to retire to a position between Birch Wood & Peake Wood where they entrenched.
On the 8th. a second attempt was made but again they had to fall back due to heavy machine gun fire from the village (intel. said the village had been evacuated by the Germans by this time) & heavy artillery fire from Mametz wood.
Your man was one of 20 OR's to perish during this attempt.
At the end. of the 8th. July the Batt. were relieved & moved back to Lonely Copse just South of Lozenge Wood.
Map 1 shows the first attack on the village. Map 2 shows the  initial advance.

[annesthreads]

Jim - thankyou so much for this. He was a friend's grandfather and they've never managed to discover more than the basic information.This will mean a lot to her. Thanks again.

[Stebie9173]

Based on his number his date of enlistment would have been 12 October 1915. I would probably expect him to have been sent to the Western Front in March or April 1916.


Steve.