Military Chat

The problem I have is that I only know my grandfather was born in Tedstone Wafre, Herefordshire, in 1897 . I have no idea what regiment he was in or when and where he signed up, ( every site I have been on, require all this extra detail.)
If anyone has an idea how I can proceed from the little info I have, It would be most appreciated :-)

Bearing in mind that only a percentage of records survived, have you looked for him on Ancestry WW1 records? If not and you want to post his name I can take a look.

I would appreciate it if you could take a look,
his name was William Johnson, born 1897 first quarter , at Tedstone Wafre, Herefordshire, district of Bromyard.
That's about all I know about him, other than he didn't die until 1973,
Thanking you for your time, David :-)

David, as he's not with his parents in 1901 or 1911 do you have any details of them as they might pin him down on military records, assuming that he was actually called up.

Just as a ref point for myself

William Johnson
AGE: 4
ESTIMATED BIRTH YEAR: abt 1897
RELATION TO HEAD: Nephew
GENDER: Male
BIRTH PLACE: Tedstone Wafer, Herefordshire, England
CIVIL PARISH: Powick
ECCLESIASTICAL PARISH: St Peter
COUNTY/ISLAND: Worcestershire
COUNTRY: England
STREET ADDRESS:

OCCUPATION:

CONDITION AS TO MARRIAGE:

EDUCATION:

EMPLOYMENT STATUS:

View image
REGISTRATION DISTRICT: Upton on Severn
SUB-REGISTRATION DISTRICT: Malvern
ED, INSTITUTION, OR VESSEL: 14
NEIGHBORS: View others on page
PIECE: 2783
FOLIO: 67
PAGE NUMBER: 21
HOUSEHOLD SCHEDULE NUMBER: 126
HOUSEHOLD MEMBERS:
NAME AGE
Henry Johnson 74
Emily Johnson 57
George Wall 25
William Johnson 4
Sophia Philpott 51
Charles Woodhouse 50


1911


NAME: William Johnson
AGE IN 1911: 14
ESTIMATED BIRTH YEAR: abt 1897
RELATION TO HEAD: Inmate
GENDER: Male
BIRTH PLACE: Bromyard, Herefordshire
CIVIL PARISH: Wolverhampton
COUNTY/ISLAND: Staffordshire
COUNTRY: England
STREET ADDRESS: The Royal Orphanage, Penn Road, Wolverhampton
OCCUPATION: school
REGISTRATION DISTRICT: Wolverhampton
REGISTRATION DISTRICT NUMBER: 369
SUB-REGISTRATION DISTRICT: Wolverhampton Western
ED, INSTITUTION, OR VESSEL: 43
PIECE: 17052

not sure how Rose made out ... but no luck here

- edit - oops, Rose was posting as I was searching! I hadn't noticed this was happening in real time. :-)
I'll just leave what I had said, below.

(I was also going to mention that knowing parents' names could help identify him if a record were found, but didn't find any likely record.)



Ancestry records don't show any William Johnson born in Herefordshire in the service records database.

(There are so many William Johnsons ... some 20 with no middle name born in the same quarter as yours for instance ... that I just asked for the name and required an exact match on the keyword Herefordshire)

Is there any chance he married during the war? if so his marriage certificate could say something about his regiment.


also for ref

Births Mar 1897
Johnson William Bromyard 6a 515

Nothing obvious I'm afraid.

His father was a William James Johnson c1841-1901 and his mother was a Elizabeth Jane ( Evans ) c 1870- 1941.
They were living at Tedstone Wafre until his father died.

The other info you found was very interesting, thank you.

British Army Service Records 1914-1920 Transcription
Print transcription View image Attach to tree
First name(s) William
Last name Johnson
Service number RA/81702
Regiment Royal Artillery
Unit / Battalion -
Event year 1915
Age 18
Birth year 1897
Birth town -
Birth county Herefordshire
Birth country England
Residence town -
Residence county -
Series WO 363
Record set British Army Service Records 1914-1920
Category Military, armed forces & conflict
Record collection First World War
Collections from Great Britain

william can get 30 days access to find my past to down load the records from here

http://goo.gl/yqxxgk

hi David, always best to reply in the thread where everyone can see the info (and so we don't have to track down the thread!)

you won't mind if I copy your message here:


Hi thanks for your reply, he married after the war had finished 1920's.
It looks like his records don't exist, I'm not absolutely sure he served, it's just that when I was young I know he had three medals, they could have belonged to other members of our extended family.
Thanks for your help .
I know he didn't serve in the ww2


the record safc has posted looks promising, where Ancestry failed
... except the discount code has expired :-)

William Johnson 81702 Regiment Royal Artillery is indeed in the records at Ancestry

... however his attestation papers say he was born in Yarmouth

and he has a bit of a military rap sheet

it seems to be the same person as the FMP record, aged 18, enrolled at Woolwich -- oh wait, I was reading the images before looking at Ancestry's record ... he enrolled in 1890 !!

Name: William Johnson
Gender: Male
Birth Date: abt 1872
Birth Place: Yarmouth, Norfolk, England
Age at Enlistment: 18
>> Document Year: 1890
Regimental Number: 81702
Regiment Name: Royal Field Artillery

next of kin father William Johnson, 41 Market Street Woolwich


so this is a William Johnson in the same regiment with the same regimental number, born a generation before the one at FMP ?!


I would definitely check out the images at FMP, sorry I can't do it, and don't know why Ancestry doesn't have that one

Something weird here :-S

I have found the transcription that safc referenced on FMP.

However, the image for the same transcription is the one that JC found from 1890.

There are four pages of images, although the first is blank and is presumably a cover sheet

ah, so it wasn't just me :-)

yes, the first page is the blank sheet inserted after 'new soldier's record' to separate the individual service records

it did seem too much of a coincidence to be two different people!

transcriber muddle, it seems

I checked the William Johnsons before and after that one at Ancestry, they're a continuous stream of images there so you can just go backward and forward, and neither of the two adjacent WJs related

Thank you to all you clever people who replied to my question, regarding my grandfather, William Johnson, they have all helped as I was checking various sites and getting nowhere . :-)

Just a quick follow up to my previous post, ref my grandfather William Johnson. I joined fmp and I think the transcription in 1915 is my grandfather, but the following pages showing Yarmouth, Norfolk, and the service record, including court mar tials , etc. are not connected as they were before my WJ. was born.
Where I go from here is a puzzle, although having spoken to elderly relatives, who knew nothing previously have now shown me his pocket watch, with the MOD arrow head mark on the back case. I at least know he was deffinatley a serving soldier.

David it's possible that the transcription that doesn't match the image reflects some kind of reality and FindMyPast just somehow skipped something

I think you would have to go to the actual records at Kew? to see whether there is such a record for a Herefordshire William Johnson

if the record did exist, Ancestry should have it, though, and it only has the 1890 record for that service number, and no medal card for that service number for William Johnson

it would be too odd for both Ancestry and FMP to have made a mistake

on a search for (no name) born 1897 in Herefordshire, regiment Royal Artillery, Ancestry finds nothing

Thanks for the reply. I think you are right and a visit to kew records office is my best bet. Make a nice day out from Norfolk.!

Does anyone know how to retrieve records from the other branches of the British military, specifically the Royal Navy and the RAF? All I can see are the Army records.

Philip, would be better if you started a thread of your own giving specifics.

Other sites have a selection of records, members with access may be able to help.