Julian Quartermain Posted 19 June Share Posted 19 June As will be evident WA died aged 16. He served with the 1st Battalion Hampshire regiment. My amateurish research to date suggests he may have been between Berlin Wood and Gravenstafel shortly after the 11th brigade was sent to fill the gap following the gas attacks on the 22-24 April. He died on the 29th his body never found and now remembered on the Menin gate How best to find out much more about this extraordinary young man who sacrificed so much. He is the great uncle of a very good friend of mine who is travelling to Ypres with me in August and knows very little about his great uncle. It would be great to enlighten him and show where his great uncle may have made the ultimate sacrifice thank you on advance Julian Q Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin Michelle Young Posted 19 June Admin Share Posted 19 June Welcome to the forum . 1915 war diaries free after you register, also free https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C14016991 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin Michelle Young Posted 19 June Admin Share Posted 19 June His medal card shows he arrived in a theatre of war 21/04/15. Poor lad. Image ©️ Ancestry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julian Quartermain Posted 19 June Author Share Posted 19 June Wow thank you for the direction Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matlock1418 Posted 19 June Share Posted 19 June Julie, Welcome to GWF. From WFA/Fold3: His mother, Hannah, claimed and received a Dependant's Pension At the date of the initial application in 1915 she was described as One half incapacitated on a pension index card - this could be important in 1915 since a parent having small means and being incapable of self-support were a key part of getting a pension. Later a pension became less of a favour and more of a right and from a pension ledger page it can be seen as 5/- pw for life under the prevailing Royal Warrant, Article 21-1a [this entry appears about 1924 so this would be under the 1919 RW = Pre-war dependance plus an additional 20% though by 1919 Art. 21-1c would also offer 5/- pw regardless of any dependance since he was under 26 at the date of joining the colours] M Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlie962 Posted 19 June Share Posted 19 June His service number would suggest he volunteered in the first week of September 1914. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Rayner Posted 20 June Share Posted 20 June Courtesy of Fold3 is a copy of the Soldier's Effects register for William showing his mother, Hannah, as sole legatee. Good luck with your research Julian George Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianmorris547 Posted 20 June Share Posted 20 June (edited) Julian Welcome Also read the War Diary of 11 Infantry Brigade (4 Div), where there is a detailed report by Col Hicks of 1 Hampshire covering the period 25/04/1915 to 04/05/1915. When you are ready the Forum can provide a map of the area. EDIT Apologies the report by Col Hicks is also in the WD of 1 Hampshire. Brian Edited 20 June by brianmorris547 additional info Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julian Quartermain Posted 20 June Author Share Posted 20 June Very grateful for these snippets of what this young man threw himself into Numbing that it appears he entered the war zone on the 21st and was gone 8 days later at 16 What Chris told me was his grandfather always relayed the story that when William stood at the desk to enlist the old sweat with the pen told him to go walk round the block and come back and confirm he was really 18. William obviously did I understand there maybe a good map of where the 1st battalion may have been circa 28th/ 29th. I may have already found that but if anyone cares to let me have sight of it that would be great Thank you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianmorris547 Posted 21 June Share Posted 21 June (edited) Julian It's confusing to establish where they were but I've always thought roughly on the road going North West from Zonnebeke to Fortuin. The only map of Zonnebeke is in the 04/1915 WD of 85 Infantry Brigade (28 Div) and the road to Fortuin continues on the Maps headed La Brique. Maps of La Brique are more common, there is a map of La Brique in the 04/1915 WD of 1 Bn Rifle Brigade (11 IB) WO 95/1496. There are a number of sketches in the WD of 85 IB, one shows Hampshire Trench, or Hants Trench from memory, but it is not dated. 7 Royal Fusiliers were on the left of the 85 IB line. The La Brique maps also show a Hampshire Farm. Are these the ones you have. Brian EDIT: This is the map of Zonnebeke from the WD of 85 IB. TNA/Ancestry WO 95/2278 From reading the WD it seems that the line was in front of the road running north west from Zonnebeke. There are mentions of squares D 9 and D 10 (which are on the map above that I do not have in my 1915 index) but D 10 will be the square above D 16 on this map. This is the sketch showing Hants Trench. It is with other sketches that seem to be in or about D 9 and D 10. I can not find any reference to it in the papers. Edited 21 June by brianmorris547 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julian Quartermain Posted 21 June Author Share Posted 21 June Cheers Brian that sketch map I have seen and I think I have. the map marked with the Hants trench which I will locate tomorrow and send and f you don’t mind day if that’s the map you refer too i I think I have narrowed it to within a few hundred metres maybe ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianmorris547 Posted 22 June Share Posted 22 June (edited) 19 hours ago, Julian Quartermain said: Cheers Brian that sketch map I have seen and I think I have. the map marked with the Hants trench which I will locate tomorrow and send and f you don’t mind day if that’s the map you refer too i I think I have narrowed it to within a few hundred metres maybe ! Julian There are maps on the NLS system which show Berlin (mentioned in your first post) in D 9. I always like to find a contemporary map since there might be sketches or narrative. Perhaps @Howard or @WhiteStarLine can assist with T Mapper. Brian Edited 22 June by brianmorris547 typo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Howard Posted 22 June Share Posted 22 June If you put just Berlin into TrenchMapper, you can find the wood easily. When chosen from the list, TM will present a German map but there are numerous other British ones available via the left panel. There are very few large scale trench maps that cover that area in 1915, the example here is 1917. However, if you change the map filter in the left panel to Official History you can see maps of 1914 and 1915, many have Berlin Wood marked. Changing the filter to 1:40,000 will numerous other maps. Quite why this area is short of large scale maps is a puzzle. Sadly dates on Great War maps is a severe problem, many simply do not show a date, so the right map may well be in the list but undated. That is why the map list in TM often shows no date. Considering the date & time of military maps is of key importance, it was a failure on the part of many map users to record such detail. Howard Official History 1915 Volume 1 Map 07 Sheet Map 7 Edition: 1926 1926 The gas attack on the 3rd Canadian Brigade on 24th April & the situation at night Id: oh-1915-volume1-map07 Outline of 5th Corps Area. May 9th Sheet 28 1:40,000 Edition: 09/05/1915 27 Division War Diary Trenches corrected to 09/05/1915. Printed 09/05/1915 Id: wo95_2254_4_2_53 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adrian 1008 Posted 22 June Share Posted 22 June On 19/06/2024 at 21:29, Julian Quartermain said: As will be evident WA died aged 16. He served with the 1st Battalion Hampshire regiment. My amateurish research to date suggests he may have been between Berlin Wood and Gravenstafel shortly after the 11th brigade was sent to fill the gap following the gas attacks on the 22-24 April. He died on the 29th his body never found and now remembered on the Menin gate How best to find out much more about this extraordinary young man who sacrificed so much. He is the great uncle of a very good friend of mine who is travelling to Ypres with me in August and knows very little about his great uncle. It would be great to enlighten him and show where his great uncle may have made the ultimate sacrifice thank you on advance Julian Q Morning Julian, where did he come from? its possible his death would be reported in the local press Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matlock1418 Posted 22 June Share Posted 22 June 1 hour ago, adrian 1008 said: where did he come from? its possible his death would be reported in the local press Mother claimed her dependant's pension from 22 Peckford Place, Brixton SW 2 M Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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