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Military Record Help

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Sheryl

Sheryl Report 2 Jan 2015 23:47

Can anyone HELP PLEASE! I am trying to find any military info about a Joseph (Joe) Williamson DOB 16/05/1896. He was sent to France on 24/10/1917 in the Royal Engineer Special Brigade Pioneer. I have hit a brick wall with his records. He lived at 93 Swanlow Lane, Winsford, Cheshire when sent to war. His parents were Moses and Louisa and he was married to Winifred. He died on 27/12/1989 in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire. Any advice on how to advance my search would be appreciated.

MarieCeleste

MarieCeleste Report 3 Jan 2015 09:57

Hello Sheryl, it sounds like you're hitting the same brick wall that many of us do when it comes to WW1 records as around 70% of those records were destroyed by fire during WW2.

Medal rolls and index cards were stored separately and most of those are on Ancestry (it's free to search the cards).

There are so many cards for men with that name it's difficult to determine which would be his. There is this but I give it as a possibility only:

British Army WWI Medal Rolls Index Cards, 1914-1920
Name: Joseph Williamson
Regiment or Corps: Royal Engineers, RR of Cav, Training Res
Regimental Number: 288923,34627,6696

This man was a pioneer, awarded the Victory and British War medals.

Sheryl

Sheryl Report 3 Jan 2015 18:14

Thank you for your help. On telling your findings to an elderly aunt, she now tells me he was in the Royal Engineer Special Brigade, so that ties in with the info you messaged me. as a bit of a novice with military records, do you know what the other two abbreviated listings stand for? RR Cav and Training Res Are the 3 numbers for each listing? Does it mean he was part of three different regiments/corps? Many thanks

+++DetEcTive+++

+++DetEcTive+++ Report 3 Jan 2015 19:23

Yes -the service numbers are for each Reg or Corps he served in. In all 3 he was a Private

The Training Reserves is actually written as Tr Res Bn which would be Battalion.
It wasn't uncommon for men to be moved from one Battalion to another to make up the numbers.

This is a really good webisite to find info on those pesky abbreviations
http://www.1914-1918.net/

You can see photos of the awards here
http://www.1914-1918.net/soldiers/themedals.html

As he wasn't awarded either of the Stars, it meant that he didn't enter the theatre of war before 1916. That is not to exclude the possibility that he had enlisted and was training before then in the UK

Researching:
Dormant member as from 20 Sep 2019 . Click on my board name to send a message

+++DetEcTive+++

+++DetEcTive+++ Report 3 Jan 2015 19:27

The Reserve Regiments of Cavalry
http://www.1914-1918.net/cavreserve.htm

The Training Reserve
http://www.1914-1918.net/training_reserve.htm

Researching:
Dormant member as from 20 Sep 2019 . Click on my board name to send a message

Sheryl

Sheryl Report 8 Jan 2015 12:22

THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP. IS THERE ANY WAY OF CROSS REFERENCING DETAILS TO MAKE SURE I HAVE THE CORRECT JOSEPH WILLIAMSON?