Demob

[J T Gray]

I've had the luck/frustration (luck because without there'd be nothing, but frustration because of what might be there if not for incendiaries in 1940...) of having some postcards sent by my grandfather during WW1.

He was taken prisoner, almost certainly on March 21st/22nd 1918, and made it back to Great Britain via Leith where he'd arrived on New Years Eve/Day (don't have the card to hand... )

A series of cards then cover his travails in getting away from Warley Barracks - he was still "cannot get away just yet" until late August 1919. Yet according to a book on his regiment - the 11th Essex - returned to Warley from Germany for demob in April 1919.

Given that he'd spent eight months in a POW camp, has anyone any idea why the army hung on to him for so long?

Any assistance greatly appreciated,

Adrian

[SMG65]

Adrian

When was he called up?

Maybe he was made to serve three years.

A relative of mine was transferred to the Royal Munster Fusiliers after his unit (12 DLI) demobbed in March 1919 until his three years were up in Feb 1920.

SEAN

[J T Gray]

Hi Sean, Thanks for the suggestion.

Call up date unknown, I'm afraid. However he sent a postcard from Folkestone in April 1917 saying "Will be over there by night", so I suspect as that's the earliest card we have that that's when he went over first - so call up sometime in early 1917? That might make 18 months, but not three years... Most peculiar!

Funnily enough the chap my grandfather was named after served in India in the 2nd European Bengal Fusiliers, then HM 104th Fusiliers - which became the Royal Munster Fusiliers a few years after he left.

Adrian