Military Chat

My grandfather, Harry Dearman, enlisted in 1901 in the Scots Guards as a Drummer. He served in WW1 but was very badly wounded. I can find no information about where in France/Belgium he was wounded. Can anyone help me.

Anne Coletta

He was awarded the Silver War Badge (given to soldiers who were wounded or discharged through illness):


Name:Harry Dearman
Discharge Unit:Scots Guards
Regiment:Irish Guards
Regimental Number:4064
Rank:Dmr.
Badge Number:102523
Piece:3158
List Number:IG 0001-0232

The record show he enlisted 20/9/1901 and was discharged 3/09/15.

Have you looked for his service record on FMP or Ancestry?

Record Group:
WO

Record Class:
329

Is this his medal card? :-

First name(s) Harry
Last name Dearman
Service number 4064
Rank Drummer, Private
Corps Scots Guards
Service record Soldier Number: 4064, Rank: Drummer, Corps: Scots Guards
Service record 2 Soldier Number: 4064, Rank: Private, Corps: Scots Guards
Archive reference WO372/5
Archive reference description Campaign Medal Index Cards and Silver War Badge Cards
Country Great Britain
Image link http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/SearchUI/Details?uri=D2148462
Record set World War One British Army medal index cards

I can't find his service records on Findmypast so it may mean that his records were among the 70% of WW1 records that were destroyed in a fire.

Kath. x

Can't find a service record for him on either site.

The Medal Roll show that he disembarked on 7/10/1914 and the site below shows that the Scots Guards landed at Zeebrugge on that date.

The Regiment's War Diaries may give some info on where the Regiment served, although he probably won't be mentioned by name.

http://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/army/regiments-and-corps/the-british-infantry-regiments-of-1914-1918/scots-guards/

The site has a photo of men in the trenches in Oct 1914.

A brief outine of the regiments' movements from Wiki
http://tiny.cc/jgnc5x

The Regimental diaries are on Ancestry, and probably on the National Archive site.
.........

Medal Cards from Ancestry
Name: Harry Dearman
Military Year: 1914-1920
Rank: Drummer
Medal Awarded: British War Medal and Victory Medal
Regiment or Corps: Scots Guards
Regimental Number: 4064
Previous Units: No. 4064. Pte. 2SG.

Name: Harry Dearman
Regiment or Corps: Royal Scots Dragoon Guards
Regimental Number: 4064

Disembarkation date 7 Oct 1914. Aside from the Britishs and Victory medals, he was also awarded the Clasp and Roses.

Name: Harry Dearman
Military Year: 1914
Rank: Drummer
Medal Awarded: 1914 Star
Regiment or Corps: Scots Guards
Regimental Number: 4064

So you need to work out where the Guards were between 7 Oct 1914 & say Aug 1915

A Bell Rang :-D :-D

'Guards' personnel records were stored elsewhere during WW2 - his records may survive. You'd need to contact the Scots Guards as Wellington Barracks in London

http://www.theguardsmuseum.com/Family-Research

Thank you so much for all the information and suggestions. I have written to the Scots Guards at Wellington Barracks and I await their reply.

Once again many thanks.

Anne Coletta

The pension records on Ancestry are only a fraction of what is available.

It's worth contacting The Western Front Association http://www.westernfrontassociation.com/

They will undertake a search of pension cards. It costs £25 (partially refundable if no record found) and can take several months. But, they have on several occasions come up with information that I wasn't able to get elsewhere - even from the man's own regiment.