WILLIAM REAY (b 1899 Cumbria), DLI & Kinmel Park

[Goldhain]

Hi, I’m trying to track down the WWI service history of William Reay, who was born in 1899 in Cockermouth, Cumbria. He is believed to have served with the Durham Light Infantry and trained at Kinmel Park Camp, Rhys, Wales. He is also believed to have returned to the hospital at Kinmel Park after having been gassed, perhaps on the Somme.
He received the medals, “Pip Squeak & Wilfred”, but we no longer have these or his service number. However, there is a photo in uniform from that time but that is puzzling in that the cap badge appears to be of a Welsh regiment, not the DLI!
The medal card index on Ancestry shows a number of William Reays in the DLI but one of them is stated to be of “Welsh Regiment, Durham Light Infantry”. Can anyone throw any light on this entry, please?  Or does anyone know of any links between the DLI & Kinmel Park or have any other information or tips for further research for me, please?
Thank you, Pippa

[Goldhain]

Sorry, typo - Kinmel Park Camp is in Rhyl, Wales

[Gwil]

If you are absolutely sure he received a trio of medals i.e “Pip Squeak & Wilfred” then he cannot be the one you have found in the medal cards as Welsh Regt/DLI (65023 Welsh Regt/91553 DLI) as that particular one only had a pair of medals i.e a 'Mutt & Jeff'

http://www.greatwar.co.uk/medals/ww1-campaign-medals.htm


Having said that his year of birth (1899) does not lend itself to having a 1914 or 1915 Star unless he went overseas under age.

There is no relationship between DLI and Kinmel Park. The scenario for the one in the medals you have found would be that he was called up to a Training Battalion (with a Training Battalion number), posted to Welsh Regiment & to France then later posted to the DLI.

In fact if you look at the service records for Richard Gordon Young who started off as TR/4/29853 in 64th Training Battalion (which was at Kinmel) you'll see he eventually*** transferred to 65073 Welsh Regt 18th Bn in France. He didn't actually make it to the 18th Bn though because at the Infantry Base Depot in France he transerred on 20 4 1918 to 1st 5th DLI 91603  ( He was KIA 25 7 1918)

In the Medal Rolls for DLI the block roughly 91540 to 91608 are all 1st 5th Bn who were firstly Welsh Regt 650xx men. Both Reay and Young are in that block.

Here's the file on Ancestry for Young. I'm confident that looking for other records in that DLI block will confirm the pattern.
http://interactive.ancestry.co.uk/1219/31240_210331-00537?pid=1494805&backurl=http://search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/sse.dll?_phsrc%3DFTC85%26_phstart%3DsuccessSource%26usePUBJs%3Dtrue%26indiv%3D1%26db%3Dbritisharmyservice%26gss%3Dangs-d%26new%3D1%26rank%3D1%26gsfn%3Dreginald%26gsfn_x%3D1%26gsln%3Dyoung%26gsln_x%3D1%26MSAV%3D2%26MS_AdvCB%3D1%26cpxt%3D1%26cp%3D11%26catbucket%3Drstp%26uidh%3Da63%26pcat%3D39%26fh%3D19%26h%3D1494805%26recoff%3D%26ml_rpos%3D20&treeid=&personid=&hintid=&usePUB=true&_phsrc=FTC85&_phstart=successSource&usePUBJs=true


** Training units got quite complicated with change of designations

[Goldhain]

Wow Gwil, thank you for your speedy and informative reply with helpful links!

I'm checking how many medals there were - I didn't see them myself.  I agree that it doesn't seem likely that the William Reay I'm interested in was serving overseas as early as 1914/15, so, like your Reginald Gordon Young, probably didn't have one of the Star medals.

The scenario you set out and illustrated so well with RGY's service record, sounds entirely plausible and would certainly explain the training at Kinmel Park and the uniform anomaly.  I note that this William Reay's regiment numbers are both just 50 before RGY's.  I've not had a chance yet to check out the pattern of transfers from Welsh Regiment to DLI myself but have no reason to doubt what you say!  Do you know if all of the service records salvaged have now been digitised, or is there still a chance that this William Reay's record could still be made available?

Do you, or anyone else, know if it would be expected that a soldier who had trained at Kinmel Park but had been gassed while serving with DLI, should subsequently return to the hospital at Kinmel Park for his recuperation?

Also, does anyone have any tips for sources of military hospital records or other sources for DLI information perhaps?

Thank you, I'm feeling much more optimistic that this Medal Roll could belong to the right William Reay!  BW, Pippa

     
 

[Gwil]

I'm checking how many medals there were - I didn't see them myself. 
   
 

I may be misreading this but it sounds as if the medals are somewhere in the family. If that is so then his number and unit will be on the rim.

[Goldhain]

Yes, I could really do with those inscriptions but, sadly, the medals are no longer in the family (we don't know where or when they were disposed of) but the soldier's son saw them in his youth and I am checking with him whether he definitely remembers there being the full set of P,S&W or whether  it could have been just M&J! There is no one else left to ask now...Thanks for your interest and help, Pippa