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Rifleman Alfred Voss


Anthony Bagshaw

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Hi Guys,

Came across this unfortunate young man a few days ago and wondered if anyone knows his story or even has a photograph of him?

Would be interested if anyone could enlighten me.

I have CWGC and SDGW info already.

Thanks

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Hi again,

Alfred died of wounds whilst serving with the 9th Battalion KRRC and is buried in Boulogne Eastern Cemetery.

Does anyone know what the Battalion was doing around the time of his death?

Also, as he came from Leicester does anyone have any idea which newspaper his death would have been reported in?

Hope someone can help

Cheers

Anthony

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi Anthony

My next door neighbour has the same surname and his mother lives in Leicester just a few streets away from this guys address. He is trying to find out if he is related and if he comes back with any info I will pass this on to you

regards

Steve

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Thanks Steve,

It will be interesting to see if there is a photo of him anywhere. Might be worth a look in the local paper?

If you do come across anything do please let me know.

If i happen to come across anything on Rifleman Voss i will let you know!

Sorry for the very late reply to your post, one i missed and only found whilst logging into my account! oops.

Thanks again

Anthony

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Anthony:

This one(Alfred Voss) through me off while searching the 1901-couldn't

find him. Did a reverse search and came up with this:

Alfred( put on the 1901 census as Arthur)Voss:

Hope this helps!

gordon

Name Age in 1901 Birthplace Relationship Civil Parish County

Arthur Voss 42 Leicester, Leicestershire, England Head Leicester formerly St Mary Leicestershire

Arthur Voss 1 Leicester, Leicestershire, England Son Leicester formerly St Mary Leicestershire

Eunice Voss 6 Leicester, Leicestershire, England Daughter Leicester formerly St Mary Leicestershire

Frank E Voss 15 Leicester, Leicestershire, England Son Leicester formerly St Mary Leicestershire

Gladys M Voss 8 months Leicester, Leicestershire, England Daughter Leicester formerly St Mary Leicestershire

Harriett F Voss 37 Leicester, Leicestershire, England Wife Leicester formerly St Mary Leicestershire

John G Voss 13 Leicester, Leicestershire, England Son Leicester formerly St Mary Leicestershire

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Gordon,

thank you for that info. I have got his name wrong, it is Arthur!! CWGC and SDGW give his name as Arthur.

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Anthony:

Glad to be able to help you out!

Something just didn't add up when I was first searching(love a puzzle)-

I had to get in and dig farther.

gordon

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Here's the 1901 census image

Steve

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Stephen,

thank you for that.

I can't make out a house number or street name, is there any chance of posting it for me please?

Thanks

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Anthony

It's 41, Cranmer Street and looking at Streetmap, it looks like it's still there.

Steve

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Anthony

Not sure if you're interested, but I dug a little deeper and found the family in the 1881 census.

John George Voss, 57, is a Framesmith. Living at 59, Havelock Street, Leicester with him are his three sons, George (34), a debt collector, Arthur (22), a Framesmith and Ezra (20), a Shoe clicker.

Steve

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Anthony

From memory, I think the local paper would be the Leicester Mercury. There is also a recent publication entitled "Leicester and the Great War" of which I have a copy. I will take a look through it at some point this week - there may well be mention of Voss on account of his age.

Ed

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Stephen,

fantastic, thank you. I am trying to piece together the family history of Rifleman Voss and every little piece i get is very interesting to me.

Ed,

Thank you too. Very kind of you to offer the look up, i really hope there is something on him. Can i ask where i could get the book from? If there is anything on him i think i will buy it!

Thank you again to you both.

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Just out of interest did you buy his medals

Steve,

No, but did see them on a dealers website a few weeks ago, they disappeared before i could enquire for them. Do you mind if i ask why?

I'm asking for info on Rifleman Voss as boy soldiers really interest me. It's sad to think that really they were just children.

Regards

Anthony

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hello, I have been researching my Great Uncle Joe 9th Batt KRRC Hooge 1915 and would like to know what year your GU Arthur died. I don't have Joe's number to hand, but it is in the low area as is your GU Arthur. I have details of 9th Batt and the area of Hooge they were involved in, he went out in May 1915 and was heavily involved at Hooge during June/July/August & September. I have a few pencilled letters from the trenches, one referring to losses of 30th July actoin. I also have as near as possible the trench area they came out of on 25th September 1915 the day GU Joe was killed. Do you know if they would have been in the same action, or did your GU Arthur die in a different action, earlier or later?

Regards

Lynne

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Lynne,

Arthur died of wounds on 17th December 1915. It is possible that they served together although it would be very hard to prove as a 'register' wasn't kept of who fought in what battle.

It's also difficult to say when Arthur was wounded, unless the local paper has an obituary of him (something i'm working on though).

Arthur went to France on 14th July 1915. When did your Great Uncle land in France?

I don't know much about the 9th Battalion KRRC as i am a Notts & Derby man myself but boy soldiers are an interest to me.

Would be good to know any movements of the Battalion from 14th July 1915 until Arthur's death on 17th December 1915

Anthony

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Hello Anthony,

My GU Joe was in action during June and, I believe, went straight to the Hooge area. He was 19 when he died on 25.9.1915 at Loos (Bellawaarde distraction battle in preparation for the big Loos attack). He was in C Company 9th batt KRRC 42nd Brigade 14th Light Division. He started as a Private and in the August, he states his rank as being Lance Sgt. I believe these promotions passed up very quickly during the war period due to high loss of upper ranks. The 7th/8th and 9th Batt KRRC were heavily involved around the Hooge Chateau/Crater areas during most of this period, and came through the first episode of flamethrowers.shortly before his death. Also involved were the Sherwoods Ox & Bucks 9th Rifles and the Scots. On the 8th August, a letter states the losses for the previous week. His letters do not really detail action or conditions, but in those days they were not allowed to. Their actions seem to be in the area south west Bellawaarde from Railway Wood to Hooge. I have some diary entries from the Royal Green Jackets Museum which seem to confirm this. The RGJ Museum Curator is very helpful and it may be that they have further diary entries for the December period. The Companies of Regiments were merged into each other, almost on a daily basis, so pinning them down exactly can be very difficult. However, I know now that GU Joe was killed, probably during the first attack out of the Railway Wood trenches.

Would you like copies of what I have from RGJ Museum.

Regards

Lynne

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Would you like copies of what I have from RGJ Museum.

Lynne,

that would be great thank you.

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