TRACING MEDALS FROM LOYAL N LANCS

[Guest aroldo]

I am new to this forum, and my first project is to trace the record of some medals which I found when clearing my late mother's effects. They belonged to her grandmother's second husband, William Smith, who was in the Loyal North Lancs Regiment during the Great War; he was a survivor. The medals are the General Service, and the Victory, and are engraved on the rim, Pte W Smith LN LAN R with the number 4815. I have tried the Queens Lancashire Regiment, who charged me a search fee but gave up saying it was too time consuming because there were quite a number of battalions raised during the war, and my medals did not indicate which one. I have no idea which battalion William served in or when he enlisted, and I would appreciate any advice from forum members as to what should be my next step.

[Chris_Baker]

Easy, apart from his very common name which will make the search a little longer.

Look him up in the medal index cards at the National Archives at Kew, and then look up the medal rolls that will be indicated on the card. This will give you the battalion(s) with which he served, and - given his low regimental number - probably a date of first disembarkation as well.

You should also look for his service records but with a name like William Smith it will be a long process.