Graham Stewart

PaulM - so sorry for the late reply to this query. Anyway your great grandfather 22528 Pte Horatio Meldrum actually enlisted into the 13th(Service)Bn,Northumberland Fusiliers, which was formed in September 1914. As such he arrived in France on 7th October 1915 and hopefully his Medal Index Card may be attached courtesy of Ancestry. The 13th Bn was part of the 62nd Brigade/21st Division and before moving to France was billeted in and around Halton Park, before moving to Aylesbury in November 1914. It moved back to Halton Park in May 1915 and then moved onto Witley in the August. They then went to France in the September of that year - your gt grandfather joining them a month later. On the 10th August 1917 the 13th Bn amalgamated with the 12th(Service)Bn,N.F., and then it was known as the 12/13th Bn,N.F.. This Battalion was stationed at Berlaimont at the end of the War on 11th November 1918 and he was eventually transferred to the Class 'Z' Reserve on completion of his War service. Further information can be accessed from the Battalion War Diaries.

However it was the actual photo of the Officers, WO's and Sgt's of the Depot which really caught my eye and this must be the first occassion that I've ever come across such a modern photo in a Regimental Xmas card such as this and I'm really pleased to have it in my collection. Hopefully I may be able to date the card by going through the Regimental Journals, but we're certainly looking at a period post-WWII, up until the disbandment of the RNF in 1968. If anyone out there recognises any of those present in the photo then please tell us who they are. Certainly the display of medals on their chests would signify a lot service during World War Two and so would possibly make this photo very early 1950's at the latest.

Certainly a bit different to what you would normally see worn with civvy clothing. Thanks for sharing it with us. Another recently acquired Xmas card of the Regiment has me well pleased. The front of the card is in reality no different to the others that I have in my collection, but it was the interior that really caught my eye. Even the Xmas message is what you would expect ot see in this type of Regimental Xmas Card.

I'm afraid it's not proving as easy as first though and it'll take some time, unless you can access his actual records. As it stands the only N.F. Bns serving in France from August 1918, were the 1/4th, 1/5th, 1/6th, 1/7th(these are Territorial units & were disbanded November 1918), 8th, 9th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 17th, 22nd, 23rd, 25th & 36th Bns and not all of these may mention officers serving with them. The 10th & 11th Bns were serving in Italy and we know he wasn't serving with those Battalions(1st, 2nd, 16th, 18th & 19th) mentioned in my last post. The 26th Bn with whom his friend was killed was disbanded in February 1918, as was the 16th, 20th, 21st, 24th & 27th Bns. A late 1918 Army List may have in the battalion we seek, but it's trying to find a one accessible on line.

Hi Diane - Well this isn't going to be an easy one by any stretch of the imagination. I have all of the Battalion Histories which were published for the Great War and to-date he doesn't appear with the following;- 1st, 2nd, 16th, 18th & 19th Bns. Nor can I find him in the St.Georges Gazette, which was the Regimental Journal. I keep going back to your two photos and have to ask are they the same person? It's just that the person with the triangular patch looks a lot older than the Edmund in the 1918 Commission photo. Now if it definately is him, then the one battatlion, which wore a diamond patch later in the War, was I believe the 9th Bn and although I do have their History there is no full list of Officers. However don't despair, because a feature of the War Diaries at the end of the War was to produce lists of officers who were serving at the time of the Armistice. I'll do some more digging and see what I can come up with. On top of which have you tried looking for his service records, which should have survived?

Will be in contact later this evening via email and hopefully I'll be able to attach the documents that I have found.

Lovely photo's - A full list of officers who served with the 16th Battalion, is contained within the Battalion History and I'm afraid Edmund Wood wasn't one of them.

Savysarah - Thanks for the PM regarding your great grandfather James Geoffrey Hamilton and also for posting that photo of him, because there were two things that I picked up on it strainght away. Firstly the amount of Good Conduct Badges he is wearing on his lower left cuff, four of them and if I remember correctly each one indicated "two years" good conduct, which also brought with it additional pay. I have a copy of Regulations regarding the wearing of these somewhere among my collection. Now to the cap badge - and this one is very important, because it isn't a cap badge at all. It is infact a General Service Pattern brass button, which bears the "Royal Arms" upon it and considering that this photo was taken during the Great War then these buttons were worn by a unit created in September 1916 and known as the Training Reserve. Again I have all of the instructions regarding the formation of this unit. Therefore I would think he possibly re-enlisted, but for reasons unknown ended up in the Training Reserve, whose role was to train soldiers prior to them being sent overseas. Your PM was quite detailed, so I must ask did you manage to get hold of his pre-World War One service records? You also mention on rejoining the Northumberland Fusiliers that he got a new regimental number G/6210, but I have to tell you that the N.F. never used letters with their numbers. The only Fusilier unit to do that was the Royal Fusiliers. On top of which, but you'll probably already know this, is that he was voted as the Best Recruit in July 1888 and obtained his 2nd Class Certificate of Education during the same month, becoming a Lance Corporal in November 1888. My records also show his appoinment of Colour Sgt as of 26th February 1900 and was transferred to the 3rd Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers in March 1900.

Hi jf42 - It certainly is intriguing as it's the only occassion in which I've seen a glengarry badge worn this way by the N.F., which leads me to wonder if sliders were affixed to the badges, or were they still lugged? Considering that the N.F. also wore a cloth 'red V' band in the pagri of their FSH's, one wonders why the 3rd Bn hadn't adopted it for wear with the slouch hat, as it later was. Also there appears to be no mis-identification of which Battalion it is, as there is a series of photos of them taken in South Africa, in the St.Georges Gazette, the Regimental Journal of the N.F..

You're probably all sick to death now of N.F. photo's, so here is the last one, again taken in India, but where is unknown, but possibly taken during the Kings visit to the country. It's certainly not St.Georges Day as no red and white roses are visible anywhere. Thank you for your patience and do hope you enjoyed them.

One of the more unusual photo's in the collection was this one of the "Nursing Orderlies & Staff, Cherat, India, North West Frontier, which I believe was also taken around 1908. By February 1912 the Battalion had moved into Mhow Barracks and this photo was taken Trooping the Colours on St.Georges Day, 1912. Included in the group photo's was this lovely studio photo of two members of the 1st Bn, taken while at Mhow. They wear the five button foreign service frock coat in scarlet, with gosling green facings. The lad standing is wearing an Indian General Service medal and both wearing "good conduct badges on their lower left cuff.

By April the Battalion had moved into another district - "1st Bn, Fifth Fusiliers on parade at Rawal Pindi 1909". All of the photos appear to have been taken by the Battalion Colonel - C.H.L. Jones

In February 1909 the 1st Bn, N.F. were based in Peshawur, India and from here they went on for Battalion training and a series of photo's were taken on the occassion and captioned by a Company Commander. I've reproduced those photo's here with the captions. V FUSILIERS AT AZAKHEL 1909 - "My Regiment lined up ready to go out on a field day" "This is a photo of my Company halted just off the border road" General Willcocks Residence at Shabkadar - "Shabkadar Fort where I spent a four days on the Field Telephone keeping communications with my Brigade" Members of the 1st Bn,N.F., either collecting water or washing in a shallow river bed in the area above.

Again the 3rd Bn, N.F. in South Africa and the same location, but here we have 'F' Companys football team who have become the proud winners of the Inter-Company Football Shield.