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The Great War (1914-1918) Forum

A Military Medal Citation


Hugh Pattenden

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Hi,

I was wondering if anyone knows where I can go to try and find out why the following man was awarded the Military Medal (ar anything about him). I understand that MMs were gazetted without citations, and I was wondering if there was any other way of ascertaining why he was decorated.

29725, Private W. H. Papworth, MM, 4th Battalion, The Bedfordshire Regiment.

He was killed in action at Moeuvres on 27th September 1918 aged 31.

As ever,

Many thanks,

Hugh

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Hugh:

Found this from the 1901:

gordon

Name Age in 1901 Birthplace Relationship Civil Parish County

Alice Maud Papworth 20 Cambridgeshire, England Daughter Cambridge Cambridgeshire

Arthur Harold Papworth 8 Cambridgeshire, England Son Cambridge Cambridgeshire

Edwin M Papworth 5 Cambridgeshire, England Son Cambridge Cambridgeshire

Harriet Jane Papworth 45 Cambridgeshire, England Wife Cambridge Cambridgeshire

Henry Richard Papworth 45 Cambridgeshire, England Head Cambridge Cambridgeshire

Richard Papworth 79 Histon, Cambridgeshire, England Father-in-law Cambridge Cambridgeshire

William Henry Papworth 13 Cambridgeshire, England Son Cambridge Cambridgeshire

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Hugh

All is not neccessarily lost. Start with the Battalion war diary, sometimes MM winners do get mentioned or you may be able to glean sufficient information from it to establish what he had done to deserve it. Also check the Brigade and Divisional War Diaries. Commanding Officers had to submit recommendations up the chain of command. The man's local newspaper might have also published an account of his award, if you can find out where he lived.

Terry Reeves

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Hugh,

I have always found the local newspapers of the times a mine of information regarding citations for MM's

Good hunting,

Fred W

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Many thanks all.

Part of the problem, however, is that I am unsure as to when his MM was gazetted. Is there a trick to getting results out of the London Gazette online search engine?

Hugh

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Hello Hugh,

Certainly William Henry Papworth of Cambridge. His MM gazetted 11.2.19 but don't have edition number etc. I don't have a citation or note of award but the Cambridgeshire Times may assist. Some citations exist for the 2nd battalion the Bedfords only.

Papworth's MM came up for sale (but not his BWM or VM) at Christies in November 1983.

For some reason I have a reference to Ramsey, Hunts for him but couldn't tell you why. Certainly he isn't on any of the Ramsey memorials.

All the best

David

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