What with my interesting trip to the German War Cemetery yesterday, today was going to be a normal Sunday...get my work stuff ready and an afternoon catching up on the days football results, but before that I had to go and get the weekly meat supply from the market/carboot. So standing there at the meat van with my daughter wearing my jacket that is 10 times too big, a piece of paper was blowing around in the wind and then all of a sudden this piece of paper attached itself to my leg...well you can call it devine intervention if you want, but at a quick look I saw the words "War Office". I couldn't move quick enough, Linford Christie would have been proud . On reading the piece of paper briefly it was correspondence with regards "Meritorious Service Medal with annuity" I had a quick look around to see where this could have come from and across the way was this van with a trailer and it looked like something from the New Year sales, I paid for my meat and strolled over...well ran over...OK a sprint . It was a mess, these people had obviously just done a house clearence, it was a real shame as whoever these people were they had just chucked it all in the van and trailer without any respect for the peoples belongings. You could tell from the way that everything was labelled up that the people that this once belonged had pride, but the people selling the stuff were there to make a quick buck, it angered me in a way and if I had the money I would brought the who contents of the van and trailer. People were just tipping boxes out all over the place, more bits of paper were laying on the floor with people standing all over them, I picked them up and followed the trail to a box and in this boxed found more documents and photos relating to the 2nd Bn The York & Lancaster Regiment. Below is what I found, it includes a plaque, a silver Saint Christopher, photos and documents. What did I pay for this piece of history £2.00. The Plague - Presented to CQMS J.A. Wilde 2nd Bn The York & Lancaster Regt Picture taken in India CQMS J.A.Wilde was obviously a well like and respected soldier as there are three letters of excellant work (letters below). And some of the pictures of J.A.Wilde I know this is pre war but all the same it is very interesting collection, there is a Army Council Instruction leaflet with regards Awards - Orders, Decorations and Medals I think this is worthy of further research, as he has highlighted/ticked medals that either he had applied for or had got, one of them being the Long Service and Good Conduct Medal. I am wondering if he would have served in World War I as in one of the pictures with him standing with friends/relatives he has quite a medal bar (three at the most)? I have his service number etc can you obtain WWI records from Kew as I did with my Grandads Royal Marines records? So that was my Sunday, I have now got another adopted Grandad living in my filing cabinet all tucked away in a nice warm jiffy bag. Cheers Kieron
Nice find/purchase Kieron-The lord moves in mysterious ways mate I especially like the pic of the three young lads..I wonder if they are Regimental Drummer Boys Anyway thanks for sharing!
Its a pretty sad story, I guess there were no family, only bright part is that the items ended up with someone who appreciates them. Every County has its own records office, thats where unwanted local hisory should end up, or even the regt. museum if one exists. Well done for spotting them.
Kieron, I am glad you were there to find it all and to look after it. Good luck with the research and keep us posted, won't you? I wonder to what the plaque was originally attached... d
Wilde, James A York and Lancaster Regiment 9813 Acting Serjeant York and Lancaster Regiment 4736290 Serjeant His MIC The National Archives | DocumentsOnline | Image Details Maybe some of the members who have an Ancestry sub could look it up for you .. D PS Just to be thorough and give all info I found for a James Wilde - these 2 look like they are the same individual despite the discrepancy with the Rgtl No.s, but I have no idea if this could be your man or not. Thought I'd include them anyway. http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documentsonline/details-result.asp?Edoc_Id=7676681&queryType=1&resultcount=8 http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documentsonline/details-result.asp?Edoc_Id=7698710&queryType=1&resultcount=3
D I would like to say a big thanks, do you know I looked onb the National Archives site and do you think I could find that medal card...not a chance. I really do appreciate that, thank you! This is the medal card So what would you say his medals were? I am no good at reading these shorthand codes. Regards the other links as you say the service number seems way off, can this be right? So do you think he have been in WW1? So many questions I know. Cheers again D sometimes it needs People Power and I have seen your input to other threads and you have come up trumps again thanks
A big well done. Glad you managed to save his from the incinerator. I find it hard to think about all the gems that have been thrown away like this over the years. Astounding. Gladly this was saved!
Colour version of his MIC attached. He was awarded the British War & Victory medals plus a General Service Medal with Bar North-West Persia.
Hi Kieron, You see... if you'd waited, there's Paul with the images from ancestry ... I'd have done the same though being the nosey type, but good to see the MIC has come down in price on TNA... I'm far from the one to give further pointers on WW1; plenty of others on here/GWF with much better experience and knowledge than I, but thanks for the kind words. I wouldn't want to hazard a guess at all about the other awards that I included. As I stated I included them to be thorough. But just because the Regtl. and No. is different shouldn't lead you to any conclusions just yet. I would think it depends an awful lot on his age for starters, but it's a common enough name. To give you an example, my own grandfather enlisted with IG in 1913 got a 4 figure Regtl No., then before discharge was issued one from their 'new' block no.s from their 7-digit 27..... series, and when he enlisted with RA in 1939 he got yet another No. So, not impossible ... perhaps others might have some thoughts...on when roughly all the No.s were issued for example? Admire you for rescuing this and researching him. Keep with it. Regards, D
