Service in India in the 1920's

[Deborah]

Hello all,
I wonder if anyone out there could help me understand better what life would have been like serving in India.

My grandfather, Whyndam George Battye Rgt no 4183678 of Swansea, Wales departed for India on 7th November 1922, aged 19 and returned to Wales on 9 January 1930. A total of 7 years and 64 days.
He was posted as a Private with DO261 RWF 1st unit.

On 22 April 1924 he was promoted to unpaid Lance Corporal 59/74. What does this mean?
On 13 June 1925 he was deprived of his strip by OC with detachment at Balhousie for misconduct. What is OC and where was Balhousie?
On 1 July 1925 he received DO45/253 3rd class (I think it says) cut. Can anyone explain what this is?

I'd love to know where in India he would have been based. What daily life and routine would have been like and also he was reputed to have been a promising boxer winning belts and cups out there. Would there have been any record of this?

On 10 January 1930 he received the India General Service Medal and Clasp Waziristan 1921-1924. Does anyone have any pictures of what this would have looked like?

Many thanks for looking,
Deborah

[ap1]

Hi Deborah, welcome to The Forum.

The 1st Bn had an excellent boxing team during your grandfathers service. In 1924 they won the All India Boxing Championship. There is a book called "Images of Wales" by Peter Crocker and David ???. Within the book there are several pictures of the boxing teams of that period. Including the 1924 squad. Perhaps your grandfather is pictured. Its possible one of our members could scan a copy of the picture and post it into the forum(any offers of help?).

In 1953 some of the men from your grandfathers time held a reunion in Wrexham. The picture below is from that reunion, and includes the Battalions main boxing coach Sgt E C Morse, who your grandfather would definately have known:

[Aled Roberts]

The India General Service Medal is the penultimate one in this group. This example has two clasps.

http://www.rwf-forum.co.uk/vBulletin/attachment.php?attachmentid=274&stc=1&d=1239630678

[Deborah]

A big thank you to ap1 and Richard Ward. I didn't expect such a speedy response!

It was wonderful to see the photo of the men that were undoubtedly my grandfather's compatriots and for a brief moment almost expected to see him there! He died 6 years after the photo was taken.

If there is anyone out there who could possibly scan the photos of the book mentioned by ap I'd be so grateful. There is a strong probability that he would be pictured. I never met him as he died before I was born, but I have one photo of him and I'm pretty sure I'd recognise him as my Dad was his double.

I don't know what happened to his medals but it's nice to see what his general service medal looked like. I'll scan it onto my family tree.

Many thanks again.

Deborah

[kev99]

Hello Deborah

Not sure if anyone has the book mentioned, but you can purchase the book from Amazon follow the link below and it will take you to the page.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Royal-Welsh-Fusiliers-Images-Wales/dp/0752420615

[ap1]

The requested picture is now in the Photo Gallery:

[LarsA]

Hello all,
I wonder if anyone out there could help me understand better what life would have been like serving in India.

My grandfather, Whyndam George Battye Rgt no 4183678 of Swansea, Wales departed for India on 7th November 1922, aged 19 and returned to Wales on 9 January 1930. A total of 7 years and 64 days.
He was posted as a Private with DO261 RWF 1st unit.

On 22 April 1924 he was promoted to unpaid Lance Corporal 59/74. What does this mean?
On 13 June 1925 he was deprived of his strip by OC with detachment at Balhousie for misconduct. What is OC and where was Balhousie?
On 1 July 1925 he received DO45/253 3rd class (I think it says) cut. Can anyone explain what this is?

I'd love to know where in India he would have been based. What daily life and routine would have been like and also he was reputed to have been a promising boxer winning belts and cups out there. Would there have been any record of this?

On 10 January 1930 he received the India General Service Medal and Clasp Waziristan 1921-1924. Does anyone have any pictures of what this would have looked like?

Many thanks for looking,
Deborah

Hi Deborah,
I have just bought an IGS with the Waziristan 21-24 clasp to Pte A J Langton, 4183585, so he must have enlisted just before your grandfather. Wonder if they knew one another? I'll post a pic as soon as it arrives, as it will look exactly like your grandfathers.

Unpaid Lance Corporal means he was appointed to this rank from Private, but no extra pay came with it. OC means Officer Commanding the detachement.

could 3rd class cut be 3rd class education passed?

Kind regards,
Lars

Oh,
if Richard don't have this particular medal&clasp combination I'm prepared for a swap for the group you posted:-)

[mikedonnelly]

The requested picture is now in the Photo Gallery:

Al is that Ted Tudor seated 1st from the left as you look?

[Thom15]

Mike, that was my thought as soon as I saw the photo. It's the spitting image of Ted.
Dil

[Deborah]

Many thanks to you all. I'm so grateful for your help.

ap - I'm 99% certain that my grandfather is in the middle row 2nd from the right. I'll get the photo printed and check with my mum. It's a shame my Dad has passed away - he'd loved to have seen it and would have been able to better confirm it was grandfather.

Lars - I'd love to see the medal when it arrives and thank you Kev99, I'll check out the book on Amazon. I'm beginning to get a better understanding of it all!

Best wishes
Deborah

[LarsA]

Hi Deborah,
The medal to Langton just arrived. This would be exactly how your grandfathers medal would be like.

Kind regards,
Lars

[Deborah]

Thank you Lars. I may never see the original, I'd love to know where it went, but at least I know what it would have looked like.
Deborah