42054 Pte T.R.Manford, Croix de Guerre, 1st West Yorks, Kia 1918.

[Old Owl]

Hi All,

Some months ago I purchased a BWM/VM pair with Belgian Croix de Guerre to 42054 Pte Thomas Richard Manford, 1st Bn West Yorkshire Regt., who was killed in action on 17th Sept.,1918.

He was age 20 when killed.

His Belgian Croix de Guerre was gazetted in the London Gazette dated 12/4/18.

According to the CWGC he was the son of Richard and Mary Amelia Manford, of Hardwick Cottages, Hardwick Road, Streetly, Birmingham.

I wonder if it is possible that someone could help me identify the reason for him being awarded the Croix de Guerre or has any biographical information relating to him. other than that from the census etc available on Ancestry..

TIA,

Robert

[Old Owl]

15 minutes ago, Dragoon said:

Hello, a picture of his grave is on this thread...

Chris

Hi Chris,

Many thanks for this--very helpful.

Robert

[Dragoon]

I have no idea why but I tried to edit it and it disappeared , 

Here it is again...

 

[Dragoon]

London Gazette entry..

 

 

data(0).pdf

[Old Owl]

6 minutes ago, Dragoon said:

London Gazette entry..

 

 

data(0).pdf 135 kB · 1 download

Many thanks Chris,

Robert

[ForeignGong]

Hi Robert

War diaries and local newspapers sometimes have reference to foreign awards.

[GraemeClarke]

Morning,

 

Ive researched him and have this

 

     Thomas was born in Ryton, Shropshire, the son of Richard and Mary Amelia (née Wedge) Manford of Chesterton, Shropshire and later of Hardwick Cottages, Hardwick Road, Streetly, his father being a shepherd.

     At the time of his enlistment in the 2/5^th Battalion, West Yorkshire Regiment at Walsall in January 1917 Thomas was employed by Mr. G. Smith, a farmer of Great Barr, residing with his parents in Pheasey Farm Cottage, Great Barr. He was drafted to France in April 1917 and at some stage transferred to the 1^st Battalion in the regiment.

     In April 1918 Thomas was awarded the Belgium Croix de Guerre by the King of Belgium himself, his citation reading,

     “For conspicuous bravery in carrying urgent messages under heavy counter attack.”

 

he is on Aldridge and  All Saints Church, Streetly War Memorials and on the Shenstone roll of honour.

 

Regards,

 

Graeme

Edited 28 October , 2019 by GraemeClarke

[ForeignGong]

2 hours ago, GraemeClarke said:

In April 1918 Thomas was awarded the Belgium Croix de Guerre by the King of Belgium himself, his citation reading,

     “For conspicuous bravery in carrying urgent messages under heavy counter attack.”

Hi Graeme

Where did you get this info please?

I will add it to my database.

 

Peter

[GraemeClarke]

Hi Peter,

 

Ive been researching Walsall and area RoH for the past 30 years or so, so its a long time ago that I researched him. cannot recall where I got all the info from but as the picture was from the Walsall Observer, i would imagine that it was from there.

 

What database is this, a personal one ? Ive researched all the award winners from the area and have pictures of most.

 

Regards,

 

Graeme

 

[Old Owl]

2 hours ago, GraemeClarke said:

Morning,

 

Ive researched him and have this

 

     Thomas was born in Ryton, Shropshire, the son of Richard and Mary Amelia (née Wedge) Manford of Chesterton, Shropshire and later of Hardwick Cottages, Hardwick Road, Streetly, his father being a shepherd.

     At the time of his enlistment in the 2/5^th Battalion, West Yorkshire Regiment at Walsall in January 1917 Thomas was employed by Mr. G. Smith, a farmer of Great Barr, residing with his parents in Pheasey Farm Cottage, Great Barr. He was drafted to France in April 1917 and at some stage transferred to the 1^st Battalion in the regiment.

     In April 1918 Thomas was awarded the Belgium Croix de Guerre by the King of Belgium himself, his citation reading,

     “For conspicuous bravery in carrying urgent messages under heavy counter attack.”

 

he is on Aldridge and  All Saints Church, Streetly War Memorials and on the Shenstone roll of honour.

 

Regards,

 

Graeme

Good Morning Graeme,

 

This is really great--very many thanks indeed.  Are you able to disclose the source of the 'citation' for his Croix de Guerre--presumably from one of the local Birmingham newspapers?

I suppose that to be awarded the C de G by the King of the Belgians must have been quite special too?

 

Many thanks again Graeme for you interest and efforts,

 

Robert

[GraemeClarke]

Hi Robert,

 

A pleasure. As in my post above, I think it was from the Walsall Observer.

 

Regards

 

Graeme

[ForeignGong]

5 hours ago, GraemeClarke said:

Hi Peter,

 

Ive been researching Walsall and area RoH for the past 30 years or so, so its a long time ago that I researched him. cannot recall where I got all the info from but as the picture was from the Walsall Observer, i would imagine that it was from there.

 

What database is this, a personal one ? Ive researched all the award winners from the area and have pictures of most.

 

Regards,

 

Graeme

 

Graeme

I have worked on a database of foreign awards to the Commonwealth for 1914 - 1925 and have over 80,000 names. The majority are gazetted, approx. 54,000 and the rest are from other sources such as the BRCS and St John, Nurses Journal and the Red Cross. These groups had permission to accept awards without being gazetted or going through the War Office.

Where possible, I add citations / recommendations for awards.

Sorry I'm an Aussie and have no idea where Walsall or the RoH area is.

Peter

[Old Owl]

17 hours ago, ForeignGong said:

Hi Robert

War diaries and local newspapers sometimes have reference to foreign awards.

 

Hi FG

Apologies for not registering your reply earlier but I was rather distracted with other matters this morning--still it looks like you were quite right and Graeme produced the rabbit straight from the hat in order to prove it.  A great result.

Thank you for your interest.

Cheers,

Robert

[Old Owl]

6 hours ago, GraemeClarke said:

Hi Robert,

 

A pleasure. As in my post above, I think it was from the Walsall Observer.

 

Regards

 

Graeme

 

Hi Graeme,

I missed your earlier post due to being in a bit of a rush this morning--many thanks for the conformation of the probable source--I shall now try to acquire a copy of the entry. Do you happen to know if this was from an obituary when he was Kia or earlier when he was awarded the C de G? I suspect the former most probably?

Many thanks again for the information, which is much more than I had expected.

Regards,

Robert

[GraemeClarke]

Hi

 

After ages searching I suddenly remembered where I saw it.

 

It was in Sue Satterthwaite's most excellent book. 'Leaving the Village', about Aldridge war memorial.

 

I have the page his picture was on in the 15 June 1918 Observer, but I think the write up must have been somewhere else in the issue.

 

Regards,

 

Graeme

 

 

[Old Owl]

1 hour ago, GraemeClarke said:

Hi

 

After ages searching I suddenly remembered where I saw it.

 

It was in Sue Satterthwaite's most excellent book. 'Leaving the Village', about Aldridge war memorial.

 

I have the page his picture was on in the 15 June 1918 Observer, but I think the write up must have been somewhere else in the issue.

 

Regards,

 

Graeme

 

 

 

Many thanks Graeme for this information--very useful. I shall see if I can source a copy of 'Leaving the Village'.

 

Regards,  Robert