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Hi Ebby this is like a god send can you help me ??.. I have Reg Serg Major EDWARD JOSEPH PRATT NUMBER 2469 10TH BATALLION ROYAL WARWICKSHIRE. I believe he is mentioned in dispaches as on his medal roll he has a EM 1.V. 3495 E DATE 19.5.20 EM/2/1327 qualifying date 18,7,1917. Someone said he is mentioned in despatches as he recieved an emblem. Co Sergent EDWARD JOSEPH PRATT /Acting Reg/ Reg Sergeant Major LG22-5-17. I dont know if you understand all that someone found it for me at Kew but never had the time to look. Edward Joseph died Sept 20th 1917 at Flanders he was born in Stoneleigh Westwood Warwickshire 1875-6. He married an Ellen Bayliss school teacher in Kenilworth Warwickshire 1904, he was a Reg Serg Major then on marriage cert. I dont know if his records have survived, i would love to know if they had children, Edward Joseph was my Grt Grandfathers brother. If you can find anything i would be so gratful carnt see myself ever getting there. Thanks Colette

Thanks for trying, and yes please if you can find time to look for it in the other sets that would be great I have the medal card info now WO 372/15 Medal card of Pearce, Henry Corps: Army Service Corps Regiment No: S4/093510 Rank: Private 174710 / 28433 but it is still the date and place of birth that I am desperate for Many thanks Diana

Margaret I looked at WO 363 H45. No sign of your Samuel Hale. Do you want me to look in WO 364?

Suzanne John Robbins was a private in Capt Watsons troop, 1st Corp Royal Dragoons. He was born at Winsom near Chard. He enlisted aged 20 and served 14years 159 days. There was a reduction in the establishment of the regiment and he was discharged - being deaf, unfit. He was about 35, 5' 6'', dark hair, grey eyes, dark complexion and as [sic] a cut on the back part of his head, occasioned originally by a fall and kick from a horse at York in June 1811. Trade a labourer Discharged at Bristol 24 August 1814 X his mark

Susan WO 363 P814 images 655 - 659 Herbert Samuel Pillinger Aged 23 Striker GWR Address 35 Fairfield Rd (sorry, couldn't read town) 4th Btn Chester Reg January 1910 Height 5' 8'' development very good but all molars decayed Joined Birkenhead 21 January 1910 Father dead Mother Elizabeth Pillinger 5 Bridson St L'pool Bro George Phillip (O) 23 Guion Rd Seaforth Alfred 60 Henick St L'pool Albert 16 Butterfield St L'pool Percy (O) 5 Bridson St L'pool Stephen (Y) 5 Bridson St L'pool I don't know what O and Y mean - possibly older and younger?

Hi Heather I keep on running out of time, doing look ups for you, sorry. Now that I'm back online, I've had a look at the research guides. This seems to be the relevant bit: 10. Mercantile Marine Reserve The Mercantile Marine Reserve (MMR) were merchant seamen serving on merchant vessels requisitioned by the Admiralty for wartime service, some of whom may also have served in the Royal Naval Reserve. Service details can therefore be sought from BT 377 . Although there is no separate sequence of service records, it may be possible to trace an individual who received the MMR medal in BT 351 . It is also possible that records of service may be found among the merchant seamen's records of service. See the Research Guide Merchant Seamen: Sea Service Records 1913-1972 for more details. Do you know where your research looked?If so, let me know and I can direct attention elsewhere. Rollcall, by the way, doesn't seem to be a royal navy ship - at least I can find nothing in the catalogue.

Teresa Medal Roll reference is WO329/2034 All it says on the page is RASC S/310242 Pte McDonald John died of wounds 18.12.17 Do you want me to look and see if a service record survives?

Jonathan I didn't have time to look Rose up. Please let me know if you'd like me to check this on a future visit.

Carla I'm sorry, your request spanned two pages, and I missed it. Do you want me to look at just the medal card, or would you also like me to check in case a service record survives?

Edward Are you sure you have the right details? I could find no record for James Grierson Beattie sn 69061 in WO 363. On the other hand, James Grierson Beattie sn 388393 does have a service record: WO 363 B1380 images 677 - 703 (ie, masses!) I didn't take a lot of notes in case there were two men with the same name. This man was 26 years 1 month when he joined up 9 December 1915. He married Elizabeth Melrose Heskin at Gravel Lane Wesleyan Chapel Salford on 3 June 1916. Present address 13 Kimberley Street, Higher Broughton, Salford. Is he the person you want? If you look at the medal cards, both men's cards are on the same sheet.

Hi Teresa I'll put John McDonald down for a future visit. In answer to your question, it is simply a question of getting a reel of microfilm out and working through it. The terrifying bit for more common surnames is making sure that you have looked at the records for every single person. Some people may only have a couple of pages, others may run to dozens of pages, so you have to look at each image, to make sure you don't miss anyone else. There is also the possibility that the record has been misfiled, which researchers can't really check, but volunteers are steadily working through, noting the misfiles, so they will ultimately come to light.

Hi, Thanks for the previous lookup. Is it also possible to find the medal card of Clifford Charles Restarick Palmer. WO 372/15 - Somerset Light Infantry - Rank: Second Lieutenant. And maybe even his service record? Thanks for any help Steve

Hi, For that medal card you posted for Charles E K Hobbs, what does all that mean? Steve

Steve The medal card for Charles Hobbs shows that he had two service numbers, one in the Labour Corps. The references help find the entries on the Medal Roll. Some of the medal cards show date of entry into the War and the theatre of war, eg France. This is presumably in support of the award of a star, so wouldn't be noted if you signed up in 1916 or later.

Marian I missed you out! Another entry spanning a couple of pages of printout. I looked for master mariners and found a Wm Stibbens, born S Shields, aged 41, probably in 1845, whose ship was lost at sea in 1848. Could this be your man? There are lots of numerical references on the entry which can be converted into ports and dates. Did you actually have him on a census in 1851, or did a child's marriage certificate simply not describe him as deceased?

Hello Ebeneza Thanks so much for taking a look for my man. If you could look to see if there is a service record for him, as well as the Record Card, I would be so grateful. Just whatever works for you. Thanks so much for your help. I look forward to hearing from you next time. Best wishes - Carla

No problems, Jonathan. Once everyone has seen this thread and responded on it, I will put a list of the outstanding research people have asked for. Then I can work methodically through them, without losing requests. January is a busy month and I work full time, so it is likely to be several weeks before I can get back to Kew. (I usually manage 3 days between Xmas and the New Year, but only got one this time.) I'll honour requests up to this posting, but no new ones, please. Brenda (aka Ebeneza)

Follow up research list is as follows: Fiona CHARLES LEONARD TITLEY WO 363 T813 David Private WILLIAM DUMELOW, Royal Warwickshire Regiment No. 296. WO363 D1046 Wulliam ASHMAN, FRANK WILLIAMS Corps: Worcestershire Regiment Regiment No: 29992 Rank: Corporal WO 363/A 567 Medal card for military medal ref: Registered Paper 68/121/822 Schedule Number 224593 From TNA's research guides: 'Military Medal (MM) and Meritorious Service Medal (MSM) indexes: other ranks and NCOs The cards (in two separate indexes) show the surname, forename(s) or initials, unit, rank and number of the individual, and in some cases the theatre of war in which he was serving when he earned the medal entitlement. They also refer, either by date, or by a number, or the term 'Peace Gazette' to the London Gazette issue in which the award was announced (advice is available at The National Archives). In all but a handful of cases, the Gazette gives no more information than appears on the cards. Citations are very occasionally given in full in the Gazette (e.g. for some nursing sisters who received the MM). There is nothing on the index cards to indicate whether or not a citation appears in full. No other records of citations for either of these medals are known to survive in official custody: recipients were told to look after their own copy, as it was unique.' Netty THOMAS HABBERLEY.Corps - Kings Royal Rifle Corps ( K.R.RIF.C. ) Rank - Private.Regt No - Y/ 890 WO 363/H 1, WO 364/5258 Irene GEORGE BISHERY. born 19.10.1832. You have details of him from the Crimea war. His number was 3057 Pte. 48th Foot(Northamptonshire). Wounded at Sebstopol 5.11.1855 also shows as Slight Wound, Minor action at Sebastopol 25.07.1855 Do you know when George left the army? I can look for him in WO 97, but the online catalogue and research guides are not terribly helpful. Diana HENRY WILLIAM PEARCE WO 364/2898 Marian WILLIAM STIBBINS BT 143 Margaret SAMUEL HALE,private, ROYAL WARWICKSHIRE REGIMENT' Army No. 203775 Labour Corps. No 414656. WO 364/1478 JOHN MCDONALD ASC Private S310242 It looks as if there are quite a few reels of John MacDonalds, which I assume includes McDonalds. I'll check that McDonald is included under MacDonald, and hasn't been destroyed. If that is the case, I'll work through WO 363/M 376 MacDonald James J - MacDonald John 1914 - 1920 WO 363/M 377 MacDonald John - MacDonald John 1914 - 1920 WO 363/M 378 MacDonald John - MacDonald John 1914 - 1920 WO 363/M 379 MacDonald John - MacDonald John 1914 - 1920 WO 363/M 380 MacDonald John - MacDonald John 1914 - 1920 WO 363/M 381 MacDonald John - MacDonald John 1914 - 1920 WO 363/M 382 MacDonald John - MacDonald John 1914 - 1920 WO 363/M 383 MacDonald John - MacDonald John 1914 - 1920 WO 363/M 384 MacDonald John - MacDonald John H 1914 - 1920 WO 363/M 385 MacDonald John J - MacDonald Joseph Jonathan WO 399/1062 ROSE BRUNSKILL Carla GRAY, Frederick G Devon Regiment 21858 Private Catalogue reference WO/372/8 WO 363/G 719 Gray Fred - Gray Frederick J Lilian GEORGE WATSON, Private Liverpool R. 6641 then transfered to Royal Welsh Fuserliers 46939 WO 363/W 941 Watson Frederick J - Watson George [1914-1920] WO 363/W 942 Watson George - Watson George [1914-1920] WO 363/W 943 Watson George - Watson George [1914-1920] WO 363/W 944 Watson George - Watson George E [1914-1920] WO 363/W 1044 Watson George E - Watson George W [1914-1920] WO 363/W 1045 Watson George W - Watson Harold R Also includes: Herbert Waites Colette Reg Serg Major EDWARD JOSEPH PRATT NUMBER 2469 10TH BATALLION ROYAL WARWICKSHIRE WO 363/P 1464 Pratt Dennis J - Pratt Ernest A Steve CLIFFORD CHARLES RESTARICK PALMER. WO 372/15 - Somerset Light Infantry - Rank: Second Lieutenant. Lyla HORLEY, FREDERICK Corps: Bedfordshire Regiment Regiment No: 16029 Rank: Lance Corporal... 1914-1920 WO 372/10 He was born 1855 Toddington, Beds WO 97/3088 Hora - Horm 1883-1900 WO 97/5157 Horler - Horne H. 1900-1913 Chris JOHN COVERDALE HICKS, master mariner. He was born in Staithes Yorkshire (near Whitby) in about 1847 /8 BT 127/9 H - K BT 127/10 H - L

Hi Ebeneza - just seen your follow-up saying that you will look again...what you say you will look up seems to be missing some of what I said - so I'll just copy it here: Medal card of Ashman, Frank W Corps: Worcestershire Regiment Regiment No: 29992 Rank: Corporal 1914-1920 WO 372/1 Medal card of Ashman, Frank Williams Corps: Worcestershire Regiment Regiment No: 29992 Rank: Corporal 1914-1920 WO 372/23 The first one details his entitlement to the Victory and British medals – they are under roll L/102.B and page 145. The second card refers to his winning the Military Medal. I know that very few of these records survived the WW2 bombs – but the references are as follows: Registered Paper 68/121/822 Schedule Number 224593 I'll be very grateful if you can look and see whether these references lead to any further info! Kind regards, William

Hi Wulliam Have you any idea what the registered paper means, or where it is likely to be found? Is it part of the ordinary medal roll? From the extract I copied out from the research guides, it looked as though the individual themselves got the citation, but notification could be found in the London Gazette. Do you want me to look up the medal roll for the British and Victory medals? Having done that for others, it proved rather a disappointment, with generally no more information than was on the medal cards themselves.