Repatriation

[Guest wilkinson]

I am trying to find information regarding Private C A G Rolf L/10334 The Queen's (Royal West Surrey Regt.) who died 18th February 1916. I beleive that at his parents received notification that he was a prisoner of war. Then that he was seriously ill and in hospital. However he is buried in the local church yard. What arrangements would have been made for him to be repatriated. Any information would be appreciated.

[garyem1]

Hi Wilkinson,

I cannot help with your Question, But C A G Rolf is on the GWGC website, I expect you already know this, but just in case you do not........

In Memory of

Private C A G ROLFE

L/10334, Depot, The Queen's (Royal West Surrey Regt.)

who died age 21

on 18 February 1916

Private ROLFE, Son of Arthur H. and Alice Rolfe. of Eversley, Basingstoke.

Remembered with honour

EVERSLEY (ST. MARY) CHURCHYARD EXTENSION

gary

[Guest wilkinson]

Thanks Gary, I did know it was on the web site.

[Terry Denham]

I am sure that you are aware that no repatriation was possible after death from early 1915 onwards - and before then it only actually occurred for a handful of officers. Therefore he may have been shipped home to hospital suffering from wounds, injuries or illness.

When a casualty died in the home country the relatives were allowed to bury him in a location of their choice although they had to pay for transporting the body from wherever he had died.

Whatever the story, you can be certain that he died in the UK.

The parish burial records may give place of death as will his death certificate - and the cause. However, the original CWGC register (1930) states that he died "of pneumonia following wounds".

SDGW has him as Charles Albert ROLFE. Died at home (ie - in UK).

Born and resided in Eversley, Hants. Enlisted in Croydon, Surrey

The allocation to the 'Depot' on the CWGC record shows he was officially home based at the time of death.

[Alan Seymour]

As he is buried in EVERSLEY (ST. MARY) CHURCHYARD EXTENSION, I suggest you contact the local main library for Eversley or the Hampshire Records Office to see if they hold a copy of the local paper for the area and period in question. During the war local papers often gave a full report especially on local military burials, and this may give you a biography on the person and the information needed i.e. how, when etc.

[Will O'Brien]

When a casualty died in the home country the relatives were allowed to bury him in a location of their choice although they had to pay for transporting the body from wherever he had died.

Terry.....This intrigues me. During my research into local casualties, I have come across a number of deaths which occurred whilst the soldier was in the UK. Some were buried locally & some at the place of death. However, given your comments re costs of transportation being paid by the next of kin, I am surprised by the 'demographic type' of the families which did take up this option. The majority of those I have seen would I suppose fall into what is best described as working class. They lived in the poorer areas of the locality, had the non-skilled jobs & I would assume had very little money. I would have thought transportation of a body was not cheap (most seemed to have been brought home by train). I wonder how strict or closely adhered to this rule was?

[Terry Denham]

Will

I understand your point and have often wondered the same myself.

Of course, some wounded/sick men were actually at home (literally) when they died. They were either supposedly recuperating or had been discharged. Remember that there is no way of telling from the CWGC record if a man was still serving at death or if he had been discharged and died subsequently of wounds/illness.

However, I also suspect that some costs could have been paid from regimental funds (eg for a long serving, well respected man) or by other benefactors.

In most cases the army/navy/RAF had to make the arrangements for transport and so they would have had to pay the costs initially. Perhaps they were not too hot on chasing for payment. Alternatively, military transport could have been used in some cases and not charged for.

I would be interested in anybody has any definite info on this point. Someone would have had to pay the railway company. Presumably the body would have been collected by the undertaker's hearse at the other end and the cost becoming part of the funeral costs to be paid by the n-o-k.

The fact that so many men are buried well away from their home towns shows that there was some good reason for their not all being returned - cost or lack of relatives.

However, some poor families did spend relatively large amounts on funerals etc. It was a hang over from the Victorian view of death. Perhaps they did stump up the required cash (or go into debt?).

[Will O'Brien]

Someone would have had to pay the railway company. Presumably the body would have been collected by the undertaker's hearse at the other end and the cost becoming part of the funeral costs to be paid by the n-o-k.

Terry............Many thanks for your thoughts on this.........with regard to the above, I have couple of ideas based on what I have found out about my local casualties. Bletchley, being a railway town at this time (mostly gone now ) had a high portion of its population employed in some respect on the Railway. I would hazard a guess that on more than one occasion strings were pulled or favours called in to get a body transported back, perhaps free of charge..........I have also found that a lot of the transportation from the train to the place of burial was done by the Army. Bletchley had a detachment of Royal Engineers stationed there (at a place called Staple Hall, which I live very close to..........it’s now an old folks retirement home). The local newspaper often mentioned that an Honour Guard from Staple Hall would meet the coffin off the station & transport it by gun carriage to its intended destination.............It seems there were means & ways with army sometimes in collusion.

[Guest wilkinson]

Thankyou for all the replies. Have also found out that it was Feb 1915 he sent a postcard to his family informing them that he had been wounded and taken prisoner. The parish records state that in May 1915 he was seriously ill in hospital in Lille. I don't know how they got this information,what was wrong with him, or when he came back to England? Did he recover enough to actually resume a roll in the army? Or was it a formality that as he had not been discharged and remained seriously ill 'Depot' was included into his number?

[Terry Denham]

Wilkinson

How do you know he had not been discharged? Do you have evidence one way or the other?

The CWGC record gives the unit in which a casualty was serving at his death OR the last unit to which he was attached before discharge. There is no way of telling which from the CWGC Roll of Honour.

The word 'Depot' appears in the 'Unit Text' field of the CWGC database meaning that he was still attached to the home depot of The Queen's at death OR was when discharged prior to death - whichever is the true situation.

[Myrtle]

I assumed that if a soldier was not fit for service and had been captured there was a possibility that they could be exchanged and then returned home. This is based on newspaper articles such as the following:

January 31st 1918

Pte 2nd A.M. Walter Hughes Royal Flying Corps who was taken prisoner by the Germans August 11th returns home to Neuddu on Friday night being one of the exchanged prisoners soon to be discharged as disabled. He has many strange experiences to relate. For the first 5 weeks he says he would have starved were it not for a fellow prisoner Mr. May who shared his rations with him. He only received 1 oz of meat once a week and that on Sunday.

[Guest wilkinson]

Terry

Thanks for all your information. I don't know if he was discharged. I have no other information from May 1915 when he was seriously ill in hospital in Lille up to his death. If possible I would like to know why he was sent home. I will check the local papers at the time. But with Eversley being close to the border of 3 counties it is difficult to define which paper covered such a small place in 1915.

[Glosters]

I have researched a Pte Francis Day, 1/Gloucesters, who was severely wounded

and captured at Landrecies on 26 August 1914. He later wrote of his

experiences; he was returned to the UK in Feb. 1915 in the first batch of

prisoners exchanged through the Red Cross as unfit for further war service.

The International Committee of the Red Cross does hold POW records and no

doubt would have records of the exchanges. They are willing to look up

records, but when a friend of mine enquired he was quoted such a high search

fee that he gave up.

Steve