Help wanted: Medaille d'Honneur Vermeil (RAMC 34th Field Ambulance Battalion)

[unlikely_librarian]

My 2 x great-grandfather, Thomas Simpson, had quite a long military career about which my family sadly knows very little. I will give what details I've managed to find out below in the hope that somebody may be able to offer more details or point me towards a place for further research.

I am especially interested to learn more about the Medaille d'Honneur en Vermeil, which Wikipedia tells me was "awarded only for the most intrepid acts to the bearer of two silver grade medals".

Thomas enlisted in the Royal Army Medical Corps in August 1914 and served as Sergeant-Major of the 34th Field Ambulance Battalion (service no. 36588). According to a local newspaper clipping, in four years he saw active service in Gallipoli, Egypt, Belgium and France. He was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal in recognition of his service in France and Flanders, as well as the Medaille d'Honneur en Vermeil.

Prior to WWI, Thomas had served approximately 16 years with the Medical Staff Corps, including as a corporal in the Boer War (service no. 9772).

Year and place of birth: 1873, Tipton (later lived in Wordsley, near Stourbridge).

What's surprising to me is that Thomas was very much a working-class chap (in civvy life he was a warehouseman at a glassworks and later a shopkeeper) so to have risen to the ranks of Sergeant-Major seems quite an achievement.

[jim1]

There probably isn't much more you can add to what you already have.
34/FA was in the 11th. Div. landed at Suvla Bay Aug. 1915 & evacuated in Dec.
July 1916 arrived in France.
From here you can trace their movements from the War Diary but they would
have been wherever the 11th. Div. were.
LLT says this:
http://www.rootschat.com/links/01tim/

[cath151]

Not sure what clippings you have but there are a couple of interesting articles about /containing Thomas.
On FindMyPast or British Newspaper Archives
Fulham Chronicle 29th October 1915

Stratford upon Avon Herald  21st January 1916  page 6

Cathy
Also one with photo
Daily News  27th October 1915

[unlikely_librarian]

There probably isn't much more you can add to what you already have.
34/FA was in the 11th. Div. landed at Suvla Bay Aug. 1915 & evacuated in Dec.
July 1916 arrived in France.
From here you can trace their movements from the War Diary but they would
have been wherever the 11th. Div. were.
LLT says this:
http://www.rootschat.com/links/01tim/

Thank you — you've given me a way to trace his movements, which is fantastic!

[unlikely_librarian]

Not sure what clippings you have but there are a couple of interesting articles about /containing Thomas.
On FindMyPast or British Newspaper Archives
Fulham Chronicle 29th October 1915

Stratford upon Avon Herald  21st January 1916  page 6

Cathy
Also one with photo
Daily News  27th October 1915

Thanks for looking Cathy, alas this is a different Thomas Simpson (my grandfather never lived in Fulham) but it does offer a bit more insights into what active duty might have looked like for him.

[Rena]

Congratulations for successful research.   You seem to doubt his rise in the army ranks, describing him as a lowly warehouseman.  Having known many warehousemen I know all of them had goood memories and knew their subject.

The awful fact about war is that men can rise swiftly up the ranks due to deaths.   In other words they "step into dead mens shoes".

[unlikely_librarian]

I wasn’t doubting his rise through the ranks so much as finding it surprising – my entire family is as working class as they come (and proud!) and it seems to me that class divisions were difficult to overcome in military ranking.

Your explanation about “dead men’s shoes” makes sense though.

[Rena]

I wasn’t doubting his rise through the ranks so much as finding it surprising – my entire family is as working class as they come (and proud!) and it seems to me that class divisions were difficult to overcome in military ranking.

Your explanation about “dead men’s shoes” makes sense though.

Some men (whether from the upper or working class)  are born leaders and some may have had practice at leading because they were the oldest sibling or oldest boy in the family. 

Co-incidentally my grandfather was in the Royal Army Medical corp as a stretcher bearer and was upgraded to "Sergeant"  receiving the equivalent of a sergt's pay.   He was eventuallly gassed and invalided out of the army..

After the war he worked in our town as a "Labourer" for a wonderful local  Quaker company. 

In those days education cost parents money and his parents were poor.  My grandmother taught him how to read and write.  According to the family he and his company were mentioned in Despatches but I've not found him so I expect the ambulance station where he worked in WWI would have had a general mention.

[jim1]

The ability to read & write was the only qualification needed to become an NCO.
There were also NCO's who received Commissions due largely to Officer casualties.
So an ordinary soldier could rise through the ranks if he had what it took.