William Noel Shelvey

[keith]

Remembering today my great uncle William Noel Shelvey 8th Bn Leicestershire Regiment killed today in 1916 in the area of Bazentin-le-Petit. In the picture he is on the right, with I believe his best mate Herbert Berridge ( both are from Morcott in Rutland )who also was in the 8th Bn Leicestershire regiment. Herbert was killed on the 25th september 1916. both are on the Thiepval memorial

I do not believe that they joined up at the same time but their service numbers follow each other William 18372 and Herbert 18371 , any ideas ?

Keith

[dave ricketts]

Keith,

What grounds have you got for suspecting them of not joining up at the same time? My research would suggest that they probably did - in the first half of 1915, I reckon.

Dave

[keith]

Hi Dave

Basically yes in the first half of 1915, But I have a book called Rutland and the Great War and it has a write up on most of the men killed from Rutland.

It has Herbert down as joining up May 14th 1915 and William joining up on March 3rd 1915.

I wonder if they were put together some time in traning and they got their service numbers then ?

keith

[dave ricketts]

Keith,

That is a bit of a mystery. The only cases that I am aware of where the number did not increase as time went by for the Leicesters is in the formation of the 9th Battalion, as the recruiting system and Glen Parva Barracks could not cope so everyone enlisted and went home for a few days. You will notice that the 9th Battalion, in the 14XXX range, are pretty alphabetical.

Sorry I can't help you any further,

Dave

[jim_davies]

Keith,

In own experience "Rutland and The Great War" like many sources compiled from family sources isn't neccessarily accurate. There are a number of lads with the wrong date of death (months wrong as opposed as days),misleading dates/places of birth as well as suspect service histories.

Perhaps Herbert's entry should read 14 Mar 1915.

You may want to try the copies of the Stamford Mercury held at the town's library. Many of the local villages' are included and from my recollection there are weekly lists of volunteers for many of them up until about Nov 1915.

Jim

[keith]

Hi Jim

Thanks for the reply.

I have had a look at the names in the book and with each name I have done a cross reference with the book ,CWGC site ,soldiers died CD and the local war memorial if possable . As you say some of the names are spelt different and date or year in one or two cases are different.

There are a few more to go looking for that are in the book or on war memorials (and some that are not on, 2 women for starters ) but can not find yet. So when time lets me I will have to start looking at the local papers.

I have built a database of all those I have info on and those I am still looking for.

Keith

[jim_davies]

Keith,

I'm trying to do something similar for Stamford's fallen in the war, and appear to be having some similar problems to yourself regarding being unable to find certain men.

Which Rutland lads are you looking for, I might had come across them in my Stamford search. I've gone through the Stamford Mercury up until mid 1916, so they might be there...

Good luck,

Jim