I've been reading a book that includes WW2 in north Africa. I realised we have no information on my father-in-law's war service. He was a military policeman and served in north Africa and Italy. He was at some point demoted and left as a private. I think he was in Beds and Herts but everywhere I search comes up with nothing. It seems you have to pay National Archives or buy books which may or may not be relevant.
It will cost you £30, but the only way forward is to apply for his service records from the MOD. They should be able to find him from his full name and date of birth. They will tell you who he was with, where and when as a basis for further research. Other online sources won't have access to this information despite what they imply. www.gov.uk/get-copy-military-service-records/apply-for-someone-elses-records
Idler is absolutely correct. I can't promise but if you are happy to post a name/dates/locations you may well get some information to be getting along with. Good luck.
Thanks! We have no detailed info - how sad we never thought to ask and it's now too late. There's a story that in Africa he once found himself behind German lines, and that he sat in Mussolini's box at the opera in Italy. Also at 5'4" he was the smallest military policeman but accepted been he'd been a boxer.
Thanks, I guess that is correct. FindMyPast and other websites claim to have vast amounts of info on military records, but came up a blank.
Obtain his service records as your first important step, but in the meantime we have members on here who have access to all sorts of files etc, but would need his name and any other info you have ie date of birth etc etc TD
The producer of this website http://www.corpsofmilitarypolice.org/ is a forum member ( CMP) you could try contacting him
Name John Todd or John Hildyard Todd or even John Hildyard-Todd. dob 12.12.1914, London. Number 4621596 Medals: Africa, France Germany and Italy stars. Was in the territorials and joined up as military policeman at the beginning of WWII Released from army January 1946. You never know!
His service number is from the The Duke of Wellington's Regiment (The West Riding) block of numbers. Here is a Wiki link regarding this regiment: Duke of Wellington's Regiment - Wikipedia Soldiers were often moved to different regiments, so although he was originally with the DWR it doesn't necessarily follow that he stayed with them for the duration of WWII. Do you know why, being a Londoner, he would have joined a Yorkshire Regiment as a TA soldier? Was he working/living in Yorkshire?
I had an idea it was Beds and Herts, which is a bit nearer! He never lived anywhere but London and had no connexion to Yorks. The number was for his war service which may be different from territorials?
Seems as though the authorities were covering every eventuality with this man England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1916-2007 Name: John Hildyard-todd Death Age: 85 Birth Date: 12 Dec 1914 Registration Date: Sep 2000 Registration district: Brent Inferred County: Greater London Register Number: C21E District and Subdistrict: 2211E Entry Number: 73 Name: John Hildyard Death Age: 85 Birth Date: 12 Dec 1914 Registration Date: Sep 2000 Registration district: Brent Inferred County: Greater London Register Number: C21E District and Subdistrict: 2211E Entry Number: 73 Name: John Todd Death Age: 85 Birth Date: 12 Dec 1914 Registration Date: Sep 2000 Registration district: Brent Inferred County: Greater London Register Number: C21E District and Subdistrict: 2211E Entry Number: 73 TD
Yes! We registered the death. I don't know where 'John Hildyard' comes in as that was never his name. He was registered at birth as John Hildyard Todd (as were his father and grandfather). He wrongly thought the hyphen had been missed out, so had it officially put in.
The variation in names makes it difficult but I have not managed to find any military details for John although there may well be some for his relatives: 6459454 William Hildyard-Todd, KIA 17/9/44 2331459 C A Hildyard-Todd, Royal Corps of Signals who appears in Casualty Lists and was POW John does not appear in in WW2 casualty lists, perhaps indicating that he was not seriously injured or was missing at any time. In 1939 J Hildyard-Todd, dob 12/12/14, single, Laundry washer living at 2 Corby Road, Willesden 1947 may have worked for Post Office. Service records the answer.
Thanks for all that! Amazing you can come up with this info. Dad was not seriously injured. He was indeed working in a laundry before the war. and was a postman for many years after the war. William was his brother who was a paratrooper killed on the way to Arnhem.
It helps when its a wet Sunday afternoon and you are waiting for the Grand Prix highlights to come on the TV ........................................ TD
They had a major IT failure, losing emails and are not answering questions for now, but I will try at some point. Thanks for the link.
Hi, If that info comes from the 1939 register he could not have been a serving Territorial at the time - as he would've been embodied and serving at the time of the survey - late Sept 1939 - and serving soldiers aren't shown as far as I understand. Suggests he was conscripted later and was sent to DWR? To repeat the already quoted phrase - the answer is in his service record. Steve Y
If he turns out to be Beds & Herts in Italy then he would have been in 2nd Battalion Beds & Herts. They were part of 10 Infantry Brgade who were in 4 Infantry Divsion. Depending on when he joined 2 Beds & Herts, he may have been at the Fourth Battle f Monte Cassino in May 44 and the Battle of the Gothic Line in Sep 44. Come back to me if he turns out to have been in Beds & Herts. Regards Frank