Military Chat

Need some help please. I'm stuck! I've been told by my dad that one of his relatives - supposedly uncle or great uncle was one of the 1st Tommies to 'go over the top'. I cannot find any record of any of my great uncles being in the war, and with the surname being O'Donnell, I also don't believe that any of them would have been fighting on the same side as the English.

Can anyone recommend a good place to start looking? Thanks

Quite a few men born in Ireland would have fought as part of the British Army. Partition came well after 1914!
Don't forget there were a number of Irish Regiments.
Some of the Irish Regimental records were transferred to Dublin & escaped the damage [ to their records during WW2]
Men were swapped from one regiment to another to make up numbers.

Over 70% of WW1 records were destroyed by WW2 bombing. The remaining ones are on Ancestry. If you'd like to give a few more details, we can have a look.
Name, when born & where. Name of next of kin - that might be either one of his parents or his wife.

If he was 'one of the first over the top' he might have been in the British Expeditionary Force. It's possible, although not certain, that he was Reservist & one of the first batch of men to be recalled.

You can search for servicemen killed in conflict on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission site.
http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead.aspx

Some records will give the names of family which might help you filter the names.

Thanks for replying! I think I'll have to ask my dad again for more info but he's only got the information 3rd hand as it is. This has given me somewhere to go, thanks again

There are over 1000 WW1 medal cards for the O'Donnell name. You can search them on Ancestry or on the National Archives site (but you have to pay to view). As Det said, he was possibly a reservist. He original service record might be on FMP.

If you don't have access to those sites, post some details (Name, DOB, POB) and I am sure somebody will look for you.

"First... over the top" - does this mean 1st of his unit, or was his unit one of the 1st?

A lookup of "o'donnell" in WW1 at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission site (formerly the Imperial WGC):
http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead.aspx
gets "267 record(s) match your search criteria" - presumably not all of these were Welsh.

At the outbreak of WW1, the UK immediately sent 6 divisions of the regular army to Flanders.
Each division had 3 brigades which at that time each contained 4 infantry battalions.
Every one of these 6 divs had at least one bn from an Irish regiment.
The other 5 regular army divs, were scattered around the world in 1914 - mostly in India. Three were sent out out later in 1914, and one in Jan 1915. The last (29 div) was diverted to Gallipoli, landing there 25/4/1915 (ANZAC day).
The next group of divisions had reservists and militia/Territorial Force as their core (TF didn't apply to Ireland). Most of Kitchener's raw recruits didn't see action until 1916.

There were 3 primarily Irish divisions - the 10th (which went to Salonika via Gallipoli), the 16th and the 36th(Ulster) divs which both went to France/Flanders.


Although most of the service records were burnt, this wasn't true of the medal cards, and nearly everyone got at least one campaign medal.
The medal card usually gives the guy's battalion and when he first entered a theatre of war (and which one - typically France).

You can look at the battalion war diaries on Ancestry. They describe, day by day, what the unit was doing. They can vary in size (e.g., 229 pp for 5 bn DLI, 531 pp for 447 field coy RE).
There is a short outline for each bn at:
http://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/army/regiments-and-corps/the-british-infantry-regiments-of-1914-1918/

FYI:
http://www.irishtimes.com/culture/heritage/irish-soldiers-in-the-first-world-war-who-where-and-how-many-1.1884022
http://tinyurl.com/nvfd657

Jeanette...Following on from mgnv's post above...

2 O'Donnell Men were killed the first month of the War when troops were sent to France in August 1914.

James O'Donnell son of Edmond O'Donnell Killed 27 August 1914. Royal Munster Fusiliers 2nd Battalion. Regt. No 8964

Charles O'Donnell. Killed 26 August 1914 Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers 2nd Battalion Regt No.7171....

Charles was the son of John and Margaret O'Donnell of Glendermot Derry.... (see 1911 Census)

http://www.genesreunited.co.uk/boards/board/ancestors/thread/1356233

(have added above, in case it relates, not sure if Jeanette saw all replies, also posted 18th Nov.)

Chris :)

I am guessing it is relative to the same /extended family will have to wait until Jeanette comes back .