Ww1 mystery

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Goldiec78
Posts: 1
Joined: Sun Oct 14, 2018 7:50 am

Ww1 mystery

Post by Goldiec78 » Sun Oct 14, 2018 12:46 pm

I wonder if anyone can help me kick start my research. We have a family mystery of one of my granny's brothers. She was of a large family as was common at the time and her brother was born in 1900 and went off to the war. She was born in 1919 and never met him. The story she was told is that he met and married a German girl. I can find him on the 2 available census off the time but can find no record of him going off to war. There are many with the same name and assuming he may have lied about his age. His older brother was a Cameron highlander and I have his discharge papers, he came home and lived locally but died quite a few years ago. We have milirary badges from cameron highlander and royal artillery. I am a bit stuck as to how to proceed, can anyone assist in what avenues they follow?

Currie
Posts: 3924
Joined: Fri Jun 22, 2007 3:20 am
Location: Australia

Re: Ww1 mystery

Post by Currie » Mon Oct 15, 2018 12:16 pm

Hello Goldiec78 and Welcome to TalkingScot.

Hopefully, by 1918, after the slaughter of previous years, there would not have been too many youngsters who hadn't realised that war was Hell and not an adventure.

There were no volunteers enlisting in the British Army after 1 January 1916, only conscripts, and he would not have been conscripted until age 18.

If he was conscripted late in the war he may not have made it across the Channel before 11 November in time for the fighting. In that case, unless he was sent to Russia, he would not have been entitled to any medals.

British soldiers did not enter Germany until after the war had ended, and the prospects of meeting up with a German girl before then would have been pretty remote. Maybe he was part of the Army of Occupation.You can read about it here. https://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/soldier ... y-in-1919/

If he remained with the British Army after 1920 his records would not be with the usual WW1 stuff but would still be held by the Ministry of Defence.

Hope that's useful,
Alan

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