This is my first posting on the forum and I am hoping that someone out there may be able to help me. I am trying to trace details of my great granfather's service life but only have a slender connection to RWF. The only information I have is my grandmother's birth certificate. She was born in Talavera Barracks, Aldershot, 26th December 1892. Her name was Bessie Mabel Day, her mother was Jane Day and her father was Lance Sergeant William Henry Day of the Second Royal Welsh Fusiliers. Can anyone please suggest a likely line of enquiry that may lead to further information of his army service?
Thanks,
Welcome Tom, does the birth Cert give Williams place of birth or Army Number?
What I can tell you Tom is that prior to Sept 1892, the Battalion was based at Curragh Camp in Ireland. They were then posted to Talavera Bks Aldershot. The CO decided to combine the move from Ireland with a recruiting/publicity drive in North Wales. The Bn arrrived on ship at Holyhead on the 3rd Sept, the troops then marched through the major towns and villages of North Wales recruiting as they went. Eventually moving by train to Aldershot from Wrexham on the 26th Sept 1992.
Bessie was born 3 months later in the Dec, this provides two probable scenarios:
1. Bessie was conceived in Ireland, her mother married to William and part of the regimental group, or unmarried and living near to Currugh Camp, possibly then marrying William before Bessie was born.
2. William was already married to Jane, living in North Wales as a civvie and expecting Bessie, when he was scooped up by the recruiters.
I think option 1 is more likely so we have to assume that William had served in Ireland before Aldershot.
Looking on Ancestry I have located a Great War medal card(attached)for a 89124William H Day RWF. It appears this guy did not serve in France or Flanders. What do you think Richard/Lars
Our man would have been at least 40 at the onset of the Great War(assuming he was 18 when Bess was born).
The MIC you have found could very well be him. I have chaps in my database around this number. There are many casualties around October \ November 1918 and to a wide range of Battalions.
So I guess he could have been getting on, or was very young ? The need for men was pretty great by late 1918 ....
The MICs for a War & Victory medal only seldom give the theatre of war entered, but to earn the pair you had to have service overseas. The man you found served overseas, but if he was lance serjeant earlier, perhaps the rank private indicates a younger man?
/Lars
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Many thanks to all who have posted replies to my query. I have a bit more information that might be useful.
Lance Sergeant William Henry Day was born in Woolwich and was about 36 or 37 when my grandmother was born at Talavera Barracks in 1892. At that time, he already had at least two other children aged 12 and 13. I have searched for him in the 1891 census but can find no trace of him or his wife. However I did find these two children living with their grandparents in Liverpool.
Now the information that the Batallion did not come back from Ireland until September 1892 ties in nicely with the fact that I can find no mention of him in England in 1891. There is also the fact that his two other children were staying with grandparents while their father was away. I have very little military knowledge, but have assumed that perhaps his wife would be allowed to go with him but not his children which is why they were left behind in Liverpool. Does this seem to be a reasonable assumption?
One further piece of information is that he did not join the Batallion earlier than the spring of 1881 when he was still employed as a joiner.
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