Accrington Web - World War 1

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Retlaw (Post 1089907)

Pte. 40198. OLDHAM. Riley. 4th Reserve East Lancs. 4 Fern Gore, Oswaldtwistle.
Riley also served as Pte. 31054. Loyal North Lancs.
Just one thing the AVL-18 for Greater Accrington has hundreds of errors.
There never was a 4th Reserve East Lancs, the two reserve Battalions for the East Lancs Regiment were the 3rd E.L. & the 10th which became the 47th Reserve 10th Brigade in 1916. The 40198 No. suggests early 1918 for the East Lancs.

Many thanks for the information Retlaw.
Mark

Quote:

Originally Posted by steve2qec (Post 1089946)

Hiya Retlaw,
Do you have any info on (yet another!) Gt uncle of mine? He was Walter White and he lost a leg in WW1. According to family legend he was dragged to safety by a Jimmy Crook of Ossy.
Cheers, Steve

Steve I''v just got your PM, sorry I missed it.

Fantastic! Much appreciated.

Does Jimmy Crook of Oswaldtwistle feature in your records? Apparently he was a family friend.

Quote:

Originally Posted by steve2qec (Post 1090834)

Fantastic! Much appreciated.

Does Jimmy Crook of Oswaldtwistle feature in your records? Apparently he was a family friend.

Is this the man

Looks likely - same regiment. I have an elderly aunt who might remember him so I'll ask her.
Thanks again.

Could it be that the reason James Crook was awarded his medal was for helping out my uncle?

Quote:

Originally Posted by steve2qec (Post 1090848)

Could it be that the reason James Crook was awarded his medal was for helping out my uncle?

Could be, but you would have to search the London Gazette for medal awards, they are supposed to be recorded in there.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Retlaw (Post 1090851)

Could be, but you would have to search the London Gazette for medal awards, they are supposed to be recorded in there.

His name was listed but no more info than that!

Also, I have found another relative - he's down as having served in the R.F.A. Am I correct in thinking this is the Royal Field Artillary and not the Royal Fleet Auxiliary, (as he was a corporal)?

Can you tell me which regiment he was in?
He's Robert Baron, L/569

Cheers,
Steve

Quote:

Originally Posted by steve2qec (Post 1091756)

He served in the Royal Field Artillery.
He was one of those who answered the call when the War Office asked Mayor J. Harwood to raise a compay of artillery.
Robert enlisted in the Accrington & Burnley Howitzers.
He lived at 28 Bent St, Oswaldtwistle.

Thanks....looking up the "Howitzers" online, now!!

Quote:

Originally Posted by steve2qec (Post 1091781)

Thanks....looking up the "Howitzers" online, now!!

You will find more about them in the Accy chip wrapper thoughout 1915, they didn't go overseas until Jan 1916. don't believe all you see on line, the only facts are in their war diaries, the Acc & Bnly Howitzers did not all serve together throughout the war, they were split up, some served out in Egwypt, some were discharged before the end of 1915, and posted to munitions.
Some were issued with a new number in the 70000 range. Several of the Church Battery have numbers in that range as well

Hi Retlaw. Have just been looking through all the postings – yes, from the beginning! - on this thread, to see if there was any mention of one of my husband’s relatives, as I didn’t want to do a repeat of anyone else’s posting. However, I didn’t come across any so here goes, with a bit of extra information, which might or might not be of interest and has nothing whatsoever to do with the war.

Peter Westell was born in 1891 and was married to Alice Ann Whittaker. I have no idea which regiment he was attached to but he was a P.O.W. of the Germans in WWI. He was able to get home for the Welcome Home in 1918. He and Alice Ann had three children, two were born earlier but the last one, Harper, was born in 1922. Sadly Harper was killed in WWII at the age of 22 (he was an Air Gunner).

Peter was the son of Harper and Dorothy Westell, his brother George was my husband’s grandfather and his sister Maud was the mother of Clifford Westell who I believe became the Mayor of Accrington.
Prior to his marriage, Peter lived at Peel Arm Cottage, Dill Hall Lane.

Am fairly certain I have the correct facts, but always open to debate.

Congratulations on the amount of information you have included in this thread – you really are very knowledgeable on this subject. So many hours must have been devoted to it.

I think that maybe Peter lived in Oswaldtwistle at the time of joining the forces.

Quote:

Originally Posted by dotti34 (Post 1091792)

Thanks for the info, just one small thing the P-O-W's were released from Jerryland in batches from Dec 1918 thro to Feb 1919, there were two Welcome Home ceremonies for ex prisoners, one was held in Jan 1919, the other in Feb 1919. Peter is in the Absent Voters & the returning P-O-W's list as 1 Peel Arms Cottage.