Help to Identify R. Sussex Regt Battalion

[carb79]

Given the weather outside I thought that I would wade through The Times again and have found a second entry for Beech amidst a long list of RSR wounded in the 25th Aug 1916 edition. My assumption being that these are men wounded on and around 7th July during the action around Ovillers and which was the date of Beech's second wound. Of course with this batch the Bn number is not listed and I have not found any KIA listed in the same edition. I will sample check MIC, SWB rolls and service records and I have found at least one possible match in Rutter's history. Is there a better way of identifying if the other men listed are all or mostly 7th Bn RSR?

Regards, Steve

[Jim Hastings]

Hi Steve,

Think I'd go the MIC, SWB, Medal Rolls and Service Docs route too, although I'm often luckier with the MICs as they often put "2 Sussex" / "2nd R Suss" / equivalent and that makes it a bit easier

Like your idea of tracking the wounded through the Times ... another project planned for my 2nd Sussex boys, especially since I'm very interested in the 1914/15 period

Good luck with your hunting

Jim

[carb79]

Thanks Jim,

This way of doing it takes a lot of patience, tea and biscuits, there are no short cuts!. I find the best search term to use is 'in the ranks' (from Losses in the Ranks). That means you need to wade through all the lists. Its worth a name and number search to start with, that does work sometimes though I think that the search facility struggles to read densley packed text from the pages.

I'm looking through October 1916 now for what would be the final entry. Having looked through July and August 1916 casualty lists, it's impossible to ignore the scale of slaughter, with regular lists of 3000 plus names, some with 5k or over 6k of names in one edition showing Killed and wound, missing POW etc, and on an almost daily basis. It's very thought provoking.

Steve

[Jim Hastings]

Thanks Steve, I'm going to try it first with the 2nd Sussex casualties for 10th and 14th Sept 1914; 30/31st Oct 1914 and 9 May 1915 as I have known wounded names for those dates and see what comes out.

I have the patience and bags of tea (although quack said no more biscuits ), so will dig deep and see what I get. Later will try same for Loos and High Wood (how emotional will those two be??!!

Cheers again

Jim

[Stebie9173]

The Times issues I've found for 1st Northamptons (2nd Brigade with 2nd KRRC, for people other than Jim who knows already!) are:

17-9-1914: Times of 12-11-1914 (wounded) and 14-11-1914 (killed)

9-5-1915: Times of 11-6-1915 (killed) and 12-6-1915 (wounded)

25-9-1915: Times of 23-10-1915 (Killed) and 27-10-1915 (wounded)

9-9-1916: Times of 17-10-1916 (killed and wounded)

The Royal Sussex Regiment men probably won't be far away from those..... (though late 1914, very early 1915 lists are all over the place, and not in any sort of chronological order).

I tend to look for service records for the rarer names in those lists referring to Service Records etc. and work towards the Smiths at the end....

e.g. No. 182 (records show "S.R.R.S. x G.S." prefix!) Ernest Henry Shawyer wounded (shell-shock) with 7th Battalion on 7-7-1916. Admitted to 37 Field Ambulance then to 12 Divisional Rest Station 7-7-1916, 141 Field Ambulance 9-7-1916, rejoined 17-7-1916. Then he was KIA 1-8-1916, unfortunately.

A very similar evacuation to Fred Beech in fact (I'm a lucky guesser on picking examples to check....). I think there are also some 1/5th Battalion men mixed into that list as well.

Incidentally, I suspect you won't find his October 1916 casualty listing since he was evacuated ill (Pyrexia of Unknown Origin - trench fever, etc.), though if it was a result of gas then that could be listed as a wounding.

Steve.

[Jim Hastings]

Hi Steve,

As ever a goldmine of info, thanks very much!! Plan to have a look this evening / tomorrow evening to see what I can find.

Hope all is well and a Happy New Year to you

Cheers

Jim

[carb79]

Steve,

Thanks for the info. I had found a 1/5th man but none yet for the 7th. Thanks for the tip on PUO, I've googled and understand that now. Looking for his third entry was always a long shot and I could'nt see anything for him so I may drop that now. Still, its turned out well and all the good advice from this forum has helped. After his time with RSR Beech had an interesting time in the RAF, Egypt, possibly on to Baghdad and then Afghanistan/Northwest Frontier after that before demob in 1919.

Regards, Steve