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The Great War (1914-1918) Forum

NATIONAL ROLL OF HONOUR


Stephen White

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this may have been covered before i apologise if it has.between nigel and myself we are researching five seperate people,who all saw service in WW1.(two died,three servived the conflict). none of them are in the birmingham edition of the national roll of honour,all of them came from birmingham as did their families. what was the criteria for inclusion in the national roll honour ?? STEVEN

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Steven,

"The National Roll of the Great War, 1914-1918" (To give it its posh name) was originally published by The National Publishing Company, 1 York Place, Baker Street, London W1.

They project ran out of money I think, and never got past Volume 22 which came out in 1922.

I'm not sure where the information came from, and there seems to be quite a lot of uncertainty about this. I was told once that the publishers hoped that as many people as possible would send in details of themselves (and then buy the volume they would subsequently appear in, I suppose.) I do remember reading somewhere that there are men listed who couldn't remember being asked for details. Of course, as you know, there are also men who definitely served but aren't included. It certainly seems that the series was published as a commercial venture only, and not as an attempt to produce any kind of accurate historical record.

Hope this helps and hope some other Pals can tell us more.

Tom

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Somewhere, there's a previous thread about this. I have it in mind that the info was supplied by relatives. I'm not sure if it was a free entry or the relatives had to pay.

Treat it with a pinch of salt, though, Steven. I have the CD of the Manchester Roll and the only guy that I was interested in has inaccurate information listed.

John

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Commercial venture sounds about right to me.someone had suggested to me that maybe the families had to "pay" for an entry by agreeing to buy a book.well in my great grandfathers case his widow had five children to support and buying a book would have been a very low priority !!. Steven :(

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MARC THOMPSON. thanks for the suggested link THE NATIONAL ROLL-SOME PITFALLS. i've red it with some interest.i myself was somewhat disillusioned with it.although they say 65% of the entries are accurate and the family imformation is useful (THIS is what i was after).i'm in the unfortunate position of all five people i was interested in are not in the national roll of honour.i was hoping to gain imformation such as enlistment dates as well,but alas,it was not to be,yet another dead end !!. STEVEN :rolleyes:

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They project ran out of money I think, and never got past Volume 22 which came out in 1922.

Tom.

The last volume was Section 14, Salford.

Cheers.

John.

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They project ran out of money I think, and never got past Volume 22 which came out in 1922.

Tom.

The last volume was Section 14, Salford.

Cheers.

John.

John, you are absolutely right. I think I must have had "22" on my mind when I typed "Vol 22" and "1922" in the space of a few seconds!

Tom

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A few years ago a was sent a photocopy of an entry in the roll and asked to see what other details could be found at the PRO. The entry stated the individual concerned was entitled to a 1914 star trio and listed the various battles in which he had taken part. Contrastingly, his MIC stated he was only entitled to a pair and that these had both been forfeited for desertion! No service record survived to determine what action he had actually seen. Desertion for a reason I can be sympathetic to, but lying about the awards when so many sacrificed so much to earn their awards does seem a bit low to me. :(

Surmising that he had provided his own details, maybe a National Roll of Dishonour would have been more appropriate for this one individual!

Rgds,

Alex. :D

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although they say 65% of the entries are accurate and the family imformation is useful (THIS is what i was after).

Steven.

Don't forget that this was only a rough estimate (an educated guess, to tell the truth! :D ), based only on the 9 volumes that I possess and 2 others that I've consulted on occassion.

Dave.

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