Service and War Returns.....

CatrionaL · Post by **CatrionaL** » Mon Mar 06, 2006 10:54 am

Helen

On one or two occasions, I've found a little more information on the serviceman's will index at the National Archives Scotland
than there was on the CWGC site.

http://www.dswebhosting.info/NAS/dserve ... Search.tcl

May be worth having a look.

Catriona

neleh_22 · Post by **neleh_22** » Mon Mar 06, 2006 11:35 am

Thanks everyone for your help. And thanks for the offer Joette I will send a PM with the details.

Helen

LesleyB · Post by **LesleyB** » Mon Mar 06, 2006 1:36 pm

Hi Helen
I was looking to cross check the parents' names of a soldier too and came up with nothing on the CWGC or the Service Return or several other places he was mentioned. However, I finally found him mentioned in the death column in the Scotsman newspaper (he was from Edinburgh) which confirmed his parents' names, so it might be worth checking a local newspaper.

Best wishes
Lesley

neleh_22 · Post by **neleh_22** » Mon Mar 06, 2006 4:09 pm

Thanks Lesley I'll try that

Helen

DavidWW · Post by **DavidWW** » Mon Mar 06, 2006 4:28 pm

lbathgate wrote:Hi Helen
I was looking to cross check the parents' names of a soldier too and came up with nothing on the CWGC or the Service Return or several other places he was mentioned. However, I finally found him mentioned in the death column in the Scotsman newspaper (he was from Edinburgh) which confirmed his parents' names, so it might be worth checking a local newspaper.

Best wishes
Lesley

Lesley

Good thinking !

Be aware as well that the Scottish regiments mostly maintained registers of press cuttings during WWI relating to their members, most often, sadly, deaths, but also gallantry awards.

Often, as in the case of my great-uncle Joseph Y Webster, DCM, Serjeant in the 5th Bn Black Watch, missing in action at the early 1915 Battle of Aubers Ridge, the newspaper reports in Dundee and Montrose, refer to his earlier army service, in this case with the Cameron Highlanders in the Sudan and South Africa.

While the detailed service records, if extant, are only accessible via the records at The National Archives at Kew, the regimental archives in Scotland, - long may they survive, - there's a strong suggestion that the current re-organisation of the 6 surviving regiments of foot into one "super regiment" of 5 battalions, may lead to the withdrawal of the funding for the related 15 Scottish regimental museums and archives (including the Scots Guards, Scottish Horse, and Ayrshire Yeomanry) - have among the best individual regimental archives in the UK.

We might end up with a single Scottish archive, or maybe two.

Currently there are Scottish regimental archives as follows, -

Royal Scots - Edinburgh Castle
Royal Scottish Fusiliers - Glasgow
KOSB - Berwick upon Tweed
HLI - Glasgow
Cameronians - Hamilton
Black Watch - Perth
Seaforths - Inverness
Cameron Highlanders - Inverness
Lovat Scouts - Inverness
Gordon Highlanders - Aberdeen
Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders - Stirling Castle
Scots Guards - London
Royal Scots Greys - Edinburgh Castle
Scottish Horse - Dunkeld
Ayrshire Yeomanry - Alloway

Currently, each of these regimental museums is partially at least funded by the Ministry of Defence, with the curator being a former senior officer, even colonel, of the regiment or its antecedents, who is truly expert not only in the history of the regiment but also the resources of their archive.....

If this promised "golden thread" is not maintained, then it can hardly be expected that these resources will be maintained.

David