How Do I Find My Fathers WW1 Army Service

[PopT]

My father joined up as a young lad into the West Yorkshire Regiment and served in France.

 

The only information I have is that he did his basic training at the Clipstone Camp near Mansfield and then sent to France.

 

I have a piece of paper where he wrote down his address there so that the family could contact him.

 

He was a Private 4831 in 'C' Company 5th Reserve, West Yorkshire Regiment, Hut 19, Line 6, Clipstone Camp, Notts.

 

I am not even sure of the year he enlisted, I have been told he was 17 years old so that would make him 17years old in July 1915.

 

He was gassed and on his return to service at the front was wounded by shrapnel.

 

I know it is a long shot but I 'm hoping some Forummer will be able to help me to trace him fom this scant information or at least give me some ideas or leads.

 

Happy Days???

[daverity]

One of the best places to start is the Public Records Office in Kew, Richmond, Surrey London A LINK here to their website. They carry all past military records of all the services. Obviously from New Zealand you can't just pop down there but I think that you can pay for a search via the net for someone to dig out what records they have. Hope this helps:thumbsup:

[Don_Kiddick]

Also look Here

 

Here

 

And Here

 

If you contact the regimental HQ they may also have his service records.

 

Good luck

[Geezer]

To make sure he served abroad, try this form and pay the few quick for his medal card.

 

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documentsonline/browse-refine.asp?CatID=10&searchType=browserefine&pagenumber=1&query=*&queryType=1

[samsmum]

dont mean to be morbid, but did he die in service? if so, try the commonwealth wargraves commission website - if he did die in service they will have quite a bit of info, plus a photo of his war grave.

there are also links on the website to sites you may find useful.

 

cant remember the http://www., but if you do a google search it will bring it up.

 

good lcuk...let us know the outcome, some of us would be interested

 

sue:D

[retep]

As has already been mentioned public records office A2A you can search some records online, you may get lucky, lots of records were lost.

[PopT]

I wantto thankyou all the forummers who helped me especially Geezer who sent me two PM's.

 

I've had a new development since I posted for help.

 

One of my nephews has sent me a CD with a load of photos showing Dad in his army uniforms throughout his army life.

 

The earliest photo taken in 1915 at the Clipstone Training camp near Mansfield, he looked so young, little did he know of the horrors that awaited him.

 

He fought in the Battle of the Somme battle for Thiepval in 1916 aged 17 years.

 

His uniform shows him wearing the Prince of Wales badge although he joined up into the West Yorkshire Regiment.

 

Later he was gassed, treated and sent back to be blown up and wounded.

 

Finally discharged in 1918 returned home to find no work so joined up and spent the remainder of his service days on the Western Frontier with the Royal Field Artillery.

 

Happy Days!

 

Thanking you all again.