Research A Soldier

enfield

If you contact Jean Prendergast on Facebook she has all the information on Cork men. There are no McConnell's in the 'Great Sacrifice' (book of Cork men who died in WW1.)
Cheers.
Tom

johnny_doyle

Foghladh wrote: »

I'm afraid I can't help you with your Montagu Finslay but it would appear he's not the RAF Lieutenant on the passenger manifest. You seem to have found a Scottish fighter ace instead! Maxwell Hutchinson Findlay. He was born at Grasslaw Farm near Stonehaven Aberdeen in 1898 which is the address given on the shipping list. http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/scotland/findlay3.php

Not what you're looking for but interesting nonetheless. Apparently he was stationed in Afghanistan around that time which would explain that trip from India

nice find. Looks like he was Royal Navy Air Service before RAF hence no Army medal index card.

arnhem44

Thanks lads for all your help and for eliminating the Finslay/Findlay document.The most likely case is he was transferred out of the SIH before he went to the front,well that's if he did go.The bank staff in all these reports seem to have moved around quite a bit from bank to bank and don't normally seem to be from the town's themselves.Did they have a policy that a local could not work in their local bank or banks and would have to serve somewhere else?.Hubert McConnell I haven't looked at much,I have a list of names as long as my arm at the moment to go through but I have downloaded the MGC MIC and SWB roll.Again with Hubert it would seem he also transferred out of the SIH and the enlistment date would be right so it's safe to say that Hubert from the bank is most likely the one with the Machine Gun Corps.

johnny_doyle

A Montague Finsley was showing up in GenesReunited 1901 census, born 1900 Felixstowe, Suffolk. Double checked on Ancestry which shows this one as a Finley. Can't find any record re birth, marriage or death for him or parents.

arnhem44

Thanks johnny,he really is somewhat of a mystery man isn't he.

johnny_doyle

he's doing my head in for sure. Most times there's a name variation that you stumble upon but this one is just not revealing anything so far.

arnhem44

The trouble here might be that the newspaper may have misspelt his name,I have come across other names to be misspelt or to have a variation used when it was printed.My search has drawn up a blank on Montagu Finslay so far as have others that I have searched for.Some of the names that I got from the paper have been just that,a name and nothing else.It's at times quite difficult to match them to any military service when some of the names are so common.It is also such a shame that the Irish census records don't go back another generation or forward for that matter,this would help so much in locating the family and where they were during those years and what there backgrounds were.

R.Dub.Fusilier

anyone looking for information on the new numbers issued to members of the british army after can look at this usefull link. the site in general contains very good information.

http://www.northeastmedals.co.uk/mm/army_service_numbers.htm

johnny_doyle

the 1920 renumbering got me a few years back when looking into John Miranda.

Couldn't make sense of his 7144229 number at the time and had assumed it was an army prison number.

R.Dub.Fusilier

johnny_doyle wrote: »

the 1920 renumbering got me a few years back when looking into John Miranda.

Couldn't make sense of his 7144229 number at the time and had assumed it was an army prison number.

i have done some research into the Rangers mutiny in India , in fact it was this research that got me interested in irish involvement in WW1, and the new numbers confused me a bit at the time . i always thought it was a shame that John Mirandas body was not brought home to ireland or england.

johnny_doyle

I believe there was no family traceable to obtain permission to repatriate his body.

His brother Joseph was a sailor and had served in the BA during WW1 and just after. He got into trouble having "been convicted by the civil authority" and discharged from the army. Not sure what happened to him but keep looking every so often in the hope that additional records come online..

arnhem44

Hi again lads,can someone please help on these one's for me as my Ancestry doesn't cover this part of their records.There's a WW1 U.S. Draft Registration card for a Michael Coughlin born Clonakilty,Co.Cork and lived in Mendocino, California and also for an Edward J.Murphy covered in the Ohio Military Men 1917-18 who was also from Clonakilty,could someone please give me the details on those cards if it's not to much trouble.:)

enfield

Murphy Edward Jay 3 Apr 1875 W relative lives Marion OH Grand UT
Coughlan Michael John 5 Dec 1882 W Nevada CA
Coughlan Michael Morris 11 Jan 1873 W Nevada CA

arnhem44

Hi Tom,thanks for the help.Those cards are a little let down,I really thought they would of contained more information on the people but every little helps,cheers.

enfield

Hi Brendan.
The original cards would have more info, but in most cases there is a charge to have them sent to you. I had to get one from NY one time, the cost would be one dollar, but I had to do it in New York. They would not do it over the net, nor could they cash Irish cheques. I was very messy but I got there in the end when a lad went into the building and paid a dollar cash and emailed me an image.
Cheers.
Tom.

arnhem44

Hi Tom,thanks for the reply.The American records do seem somewhat awkward to access and I've never had much success finding info on any lad who served with these forces through Internet searches.It's a pity the records are restricted so much as I would imagine there is a wealth of information to be found on men who served that people these days may not know about.

enfield

The problem is that each State has their WW1 records, they are not all together in one location. Which would be so much more user friendly. Maybe with 2014 coming up they might do something to make access easier.

arnhem44

Hi Tom,I found another couple of names today,I was wondering where would one start to look to find out if they went on to serve after filling out these cards.

enfield

Brendan. I have a list of some of the USA casualties. There are 35 names on each page and I only have 2,200 pages of these, and that is not them all.
I have no info on survivors, nor have have I access to their records.
Regards.
Tom.

Ahorseofaman

Hi
I'm looking for advice on how to find info on a great granduncle of mine .His name was Christopher Barry of the RMF ( 2nd batt) service no is 10142 and he was killed on 9/05/1915.He received the DCM for the action during which he died but I'm finding it difficult to find any more info.Any help would be appreciated .
Great forum btw.
I found him on the 1911 census http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Cork/Cork_No__5_Urban__part_of_/Railway_Place/399850/
and have confirmed it is him from family and also here http://www.cwgc.org/search-for-war-dead/casualty/584872/BARRY,%20C
a

R.Dub.Fusilier

I have attached medal index card . it would also seem Christopher was mentioned in dispatches.

R.Dub.Fusilier

here is his DCM info

Ahorseofaman

very interesting Dub and thank you.I was under the impression he had won the dcm at Aubers and died doing so,but no one at this stage really remembers the details.So that info is appreciated.

johnny_doyle

there was a thread on the Great War Forum re Christopher Barry a while back :

http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=118015

williamwhitley

Johnny,

William Whitley Royal Army Medical Corps from Dublin,William Whitley 61981 RAMC, was my Grandfather. There is Information regarding him and his siblings on our family tree. Contact wwhitley19@gmail.com

johnny_doyle wrote: »

re the William Whitley found on the 1911 census for Dublin, there is a family tree entry on Ancestry that match the family. However, there's a link to an army record indicating that this William Whitley joined the RDF in 1914 but was discharged in Nov 1914 as "unlikely to make an efficient" soldier. He had a brother who enlisted in the ASC in 1914 and who was also discharged with the same comment.

Whilst it is possible that he could have re-enlisted later I don't think this William Whitley is the RAMC MM man.

This William Whitley married Catherine Evans in 1915 and had 7 children, 2 of whom served in WW2. One in the RAF who survived and another who served in the Cameronians but died in 1944

http://www.cwgc.org/search/casualty_details.aspx?casualty=2191293

Having been through 1911 Irish census, DublinHeritage, Ancestry, GenesReunited, FamilySearch, Rootschat, National Archives etc with variations on spellings (Whiteley, Witley, Whitly) there just doesn't seem to be any info about this MM winner.

Nothing about him on the following re 90th Field Ambulance RAMC
http://www.ramc-ww1.com/index.php?cPath=274_443_143

I've left a query on the above website to see if they have any info re 61981 Whitley.

Seachnasaigh

R.Dub.Fusilier wrote: »

here is his DCM info

Hi R.Dub.Fusilier , just wondering where the page you posted comes from as I have family that served with the Munsters and was looking for information on them.

R.Dub.Fusilier

Seachnasaigh wrote: »

Hi R.Dub.Fusilier , just wondering where the page you posted comes from as I have family that served with the Munsters and was looking for information on them.

i got the info from ancestry.uk

Oryx

I wonder if anyone could help with identifying this uniform? The soldier is a Whelan from Wexford who was killed in Oct 1914. We just dont know what regiment he was with, so any help would be great.


TIA

R.Dub.Fusilier

The uniform is the Royal Irish Regiment . I would guess its from 1900 give or take a few years.

R.Dub.Fusilier

There was two Michael Whelans killed in 1914 from the Irish Regiment listed in "The Wexford War Dead" maybe enfield or one of the other lads can help you with more info.