Find Ancestors

The first thing you need to know is that over 60% of full records were destroyed during WW2 bombing. Some estimates put it at more than 70%.

Most of the medal cards have survived. However many of them are filed under initials + surname which makes it hard to identify the correct person's. No age, dob or pob is given. It helps if you know which regiment they may have served in & even better if you know their service number!

Although some records are held by FMP, Ancestry has the most comprehensive data base. They also have records of pension claims, Silver War Badge indexes when they have been discharged due to illness or injury and, in the case of death in service, the 'Soldiers Effects' list, This is misleading as it's entries detailing the back pay they were owed and who it was paid to (next of kin)

If you don't have a sub to Ancestry, feel free to add the soldiers name to this thread. Any other info you have will help eg year and place of birth. where he would have been living 1914-1918, full name, names of his parents, and if married his wife's name. In case his pension claim or full records do survive, his last know pre-war occupation might help identify the right man. A Carpenter is unlikely to become a Shoemaker!

You might find this link to the National Archives useful

http://tiny.cc/tjvdmy

Thank you Detective

I don't have an Ancestry Sub anymore so would be grateful if you could look for me.

The name is Stebbings Charles MISON b:1897 Bethnal Green,

Thanks

UK, WWI Service Medal and Award Rolls, 1914-1920


Name: Stebbings Charles Mison
Military Year: 1914-1920
Rank: Private
Medal Awarded: British War Medal and Victory Medal
Regiment or Corps: London Regiment
Regimental Number: 283692
Sub Unit: 4th (City of London) Battalion (Royal Fusiliers)
Previous Units: 4/Lond. R. Pte. 7337


Andy

Thank you Andy

Just in case you don't have this

STEBBINGS CHARLES
Last name MISON
Gender Male
Birth day 22
Birth month 4
Birth year 1897
Age -
Death quarter 2
Death year 1971
District Colchester
County Essex
Volume 4A
Page 1599
Country England

http://www.genesreunited.co.uk/boards/board/ancestors/thread/1315297

http://www.genesreunited.co.uk/boards/board/ancestors/thread/1315400

(not sure if Jane managed to find you Peter, she seems related to Stebbings)

Chris :)

Edits

1939 Register (Find My Past)

95 Waverley Avenue , Chingford M.B., Essex,
Stettings C Mison 22 Apr 1897 Insurance Official
Amy L Mison 15 Jan 1897 Female Unpaid Domestic Duties

Yes she did Chris . The info I am looking for is at her request.

Thank You

The medal card image says that he served in a Theatre of War, probably France, from 25 Dec 1916 to 15 Jan 1919

There's quite a lot on the internet about the 4th (City of London) Battalion (Royal Fusiliers) such as
https://archive.org/details/warhistoryof4thb00grim
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4th_(City_of_London)_Battalion,_London_Regiment

Thank you Shirley. Not what I am looking for.

Thanks again Detective

http://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/army/regiments-and-corps/the-british-infantry-regiments-of-1914-1918/royal-fusiliers-city-of-london-regiment/
4th Battalion
August 1914 : in Parkhurst (Isle of Wight). Under command of 9th Brigade, 3rd Division. The brigade was attached to 28th Division between 17 February and 2 April 1915.
Landed at Le Havre 13 August 1914.

http://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/army/order-of-battle-of-divisions/3rd-division/
The history of 3rd Division

One of the first British formations to move to France as part of the original British Expeditionary Force and one of the first into action, the 3rd Division remained on the Western Front throughout the war. It took part in most of the major actions, including:

1914-1916 etc

1917
The First Battle of the Scarpe**
The Second Battle of the Scarpe**
The Battle of Arleux**
The Third Battle of the Scarpe** in which the Division helped capture Roeux
The battles marked ** are phases of the Battles of Arras 1917
The Battle of the Menin Road***
The Battle of Polygon Wood***
The battles marked *** are phases of the Third Battle of Ypres
The Battle of Cambrai 1917

1918
The Battle of St Quentin****
The Battle of Bapaume****
The First Battle of Arras 1918****
The battles marked **** are phases of the First Battles of the Somme 1918
The Battle of Estaires+
The Battle of Hazebrouck+
The Battle of Bethune+
The battles marked + are phases of the Battles of the Lys
The Battle of Albert++
The Second Battle of Bapaume++
The battles marked ++ are phases of the Second Battles of the Somme 1918
The Battle of the Canal du Nord^
The Battle of Cambrai 1918^
The battles marked ^ are phases of the Battles of the Hindenburg Line
The Battle of the Selle

The Division was selected to advance into Germany and form part of the Occupation Force.

=========================

A division was normally the smallest unit to get moved around the Western Front.
A division, with all its component units had a nominal strength of abt 18000 all ranks.
The core of an infantry division was its 3 brigades, each consisting of 4 infantry battalions plus MG & trench mortar units.
A bn had a nominal strength of abt 1100 all ranks, but by the end of 1817 all units were ubder strength.
Casualities had outstripped voluntary enlistments, and conscription had not kicked un yet, so in the spring of 1918, nearly all divisions went to 3 bns per brigade, breaking up bns to provide replacements for other bns.
The guards divisions stuck with 4 bns per brigade - the Canadians did too, although they were in a similar bind; (they chose to break up a newly formed 5th Can Div to provide their replacements for their other 4 divs.

Battalions were the smallest infantry units to produce unit war diaries which described, day by day, what each unit did that day.
I mention this as the unit war diaries can be bought from TNA and are also online with Ancestry.

I would recommend that you sign up for Ancestry UK's free newsletter.
If they decided to make military records free for a few days, say around 11/11/2017, then yoou'ld get advance notice of this, so wouldn't miss it.
You might also find the 9th bde war diaries of interest, but I wouldn't bother with the 3rd div nor higher units.

There can be a lot of variaility in the volume of these war diaries.
E.g., 1/5 DLI 1917-1919 has 86 pages, and its bde (150 bde) 191701919 has 775 pages.
In same 50th Div, my grandad's unit (447 field coy RE) 1917-919 has 305 pages.
It wasn't brigaded, but Commander RE 1917-1919 had 179 pages.

If you're going to download a comparable number of pages in a narrow window, you'll not have time to read them - just the chore of downloading them to read after the window's closed.

================================

If you're not familiar with WDs (war diaries), I don't know what UK WDs are free online, but most of the Canadian & Oz WDs are free online if you google.

Thank you MGNV but I am not interested in the history of the regiment. I had closed the thread as I have the info I need.