Graham Stewart

On 25/07/2020 at 20:07, Paulm said:

My Grandfather was in the Northumberland Fusiliers in the Great War, but I dont know a lot about where he served. I have lots of letters and postcards from France from him to my Grandmother. 

Private Horatio Meldrum 22528

If anyone can tell me any more information on him. Got some good photo's of him in various uniforms.

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.

On 21/06/2017 at 10:29, coldstream said:

A recent postcard that came my way showing a Man in civilian clothing which was posted to an address in Brighton in 1919.

A closer look will show you that he wears the Cap Badge of the Regiment fixed into his lapel buttonhole. 

Simon

A closer view.

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.

23 hours ago, Grandpa Wood said:

Hello Graham,

Many thanks for your information. I looked in the London Gazette 14/8/18 and found that Grandpa was an Officer Cadet & made up to 2nd Lt. He attended Leeds Grammar School and I assume it was similar to OTC.

Grandpa was born on 12/7/1899 & therefore he was just 18yrs when he enlisted in the army. The photo was taken in October 1918. I assume he would have completed some sort of training and the photo taken by the family save he didn't return.

As far as I can tell, there was only one Edmund Wood with the rank of 2Lt in the Northumberland Fusiliers. (Medals records)

I have tried to conduct some research myself and find the Brigades and Divisions very confusing as they were constantly being amalgamated throughout the war years and there are lots of them! I have done some research via the Long, long trail & found that the 16th Btn was disbanded in Belgium in February 1918 which is before Grandpa joined up.

If Grandpa went to France in October 1918, he will have been there at the the tail end of the war. I found Grandpa listed in Army Orders in 1919 for issue of the BW & V medals which were subsequently posted to him in January 1926.

I believe that Grandpa was subject to being gassed at some point.

I will continue to try & locate Grandpa in the records. If you find any useful information I would be most grateful.

Kind regards

Diane Wood

 

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.

On 5/22/2016 at 15:14, jf42 said:

Graham- greetings. I just re-read the caption to this great image more carefully and noticed the reference to Glengarry badges. Given that the Glengarry was already obslolete for general use by the start of the 2nd Boer War and, indeed, in 1903  the Foreign Service cap that replaced was obsolescent, having been replaced in 1902 by the Brodrick cap for Home Service, I wonder where the Glengarry badges were dug up  for attachment to the 3rd Battalion's hats, especially as the battalion was only formed in 1900. Intriguing.

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.

Back in February I received an amount of period photo's from a gentleman simply known as "Jelly Terror", who had initially posted one or two of them on the Badge Collectors Forum. The photo's themselves were taken in both South Africa and India during the last Century and some were sadly damaged due to their age. Luckily I have managed to sort them out to become viewable and now have the privilage of posting them here for our members to view.

The above photo was taken in 1908 and shows the regimental crest cut onto the rocks at Cherat, India by Sgt C. McKim(front) and Pte Bloxham. The crest measured over 8ft wide and 10ft in depth and I believe it is possibly still there to this day.

Second photo - South Africa 1903 and here we see a small group of members of the 3rd Bn, Northumberland Fusiliers outside of the sports pavillion at their base in Tempe, Bloemfontein, Orange River Colony on St.Georges Day. In the photo we see them with "slouch hats", but what is even more unusual is the fact that they have are wearing their glengarry badges in them, which is the first occassion I've ever seen them worn this way.

Beautiful - just wish I had as much luck finding the rare N.F. badges I don't have in my collection.

Just arrived today and despite it's condition it's a lovely Regimental Xmas card, in which is a lovely period photograph of the band of the 1st Bn, Northumberland Fusiliers and dated 1912/13. The photo was taken in Mhow, India and unlike many other period Xmas cards that I have of the Regiment this one is unusual in having a genuine photo and not a commercial print.

The actual photo of the Band, which has been inserted into the Xmas card.

Inside a message from "Archie" to his possible loved one "Annie". We will never know who either of these two people were, but they would be totally unaware of what the future was to bring in August 1914, and I sincerely hope that both of them got through those terrible times.

It's the 1870's and a young couple walk into the photographic studios of A.D. Lewis, 111 & 113 Scotswood Rd, Newcastle-on-Tyne. They are brother and sister and he is a soldier in the 5th Regt of Foot(Northumberland Fusiliers), whose Depot was at Fenham Barracks. He is dressed in the distinctive scarlet uniform of the day, which was introduced c.1871, with gosling green, collar & cuffs, piped with a white 'tre-foil' on the cuff - introduced in 1871 and at the base of the collar. The shoulder straps are also edged with white piping, but a metal brass numeral '5' is worn on the shoulder strap to indicate 'his' regiment. The collar badges are the plain brass bomb type which we see quite often, even these days. He has with him his 'glengarry' cap upon which is the distictive brass grenade bearing the numeral '5', surrounded by the Regimental motto "QUO FATA VOCANT", which would be replaced in 1881. The brass buckle of his belt, also bears the distinctive regimental insignia of a '5' in the centre, surrounded by the title "Northumberland Fusiliers", which would be worn until 1874.

Sadly who they are is unknown to me, but I have a great pleasure in having them  as part of my Northumberland Fusiliers collection.

Further to my last regarding 'Choppie' Leslie - I was recently trawling through some internet images and this one caught my eye, as it was supposedly his cousin Frank King Leslie, who was killed in Gallipoli with the Royal Fusiliers. However on a closer look, I'm almost 100% certain that this is indeed 2nd Lt. Cecil George Leslie on his commission into the Northumberland Fusiliers and that the photo has been mis-identified.

Thought I'd add a couple of internal pages for you to look at, in particular these ones regarding the other ranks "Recreation Room" - or the 'bar' as it was know to us ex-T.A. lads. No spittoons in my day.

Well gents here we are again with another astounding find - well it is to me. Once again another previously unknown copy of "Battalion Standing Orders", but this time to a Territorial Bn - the 6th Bn,N.F.(T.F.).

Again it's existence was a surprise and this particular copy, which is in excellent condition, was printed in 1911 in Newcastle - the home of this particular Battalion - by M.S. Dodds, who were loacted on Newcastles Quayside. It's 'Introduction' page reads;-

"These Standing Orders of the 6th Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers are published under para 1882, "Kings Regulations 1908".

Officers, N.C.O.'s and Men are drected to strictly observe both the spirit and letter of these Orders.

Any amendments or additions that may br required from time to time will be duly notified in "Battalion Orders".

W.H.Ritson, Lieut-Colonel - Commanding 6th Batt, North'd Fusiliers

Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 1st May 1911.

As many of you will be aware, the Territorial Force was created on the 1st April 1908 and this case the 6th Bn, N.F., was created from the old 3rd Volunteer Bn, Northumberland Fusiliers - itself created in 1881 from the old 1st Newcastle-upon-Tyne Rifle Volunteers. The Battalion H.Q. was located at St.Georges Drill Hall, Northumberland Road, Newcastle and it had a strength of around 570 all ranks in the May of that year, which by 1911 had risen to 23 Officers and 741 other ranks, spread over it's eight Company's.

Overall probably not an outstanding item, but to a 'regimental' collector, something that you're just so happy to have - all I need now are copies for the 4th, 5th and 7th Battalions - however I believe Rocking Horse poo, would be easier to come by.

Looks like an officers(Captain) World War One Service Dress jacket, which includes on the lower left cuff a single wound stripe. The collar badges are those which we call "Royal Arms" collar badges and were only ever worn by;-

(A) - Officers on the General List who were designated no specific unit on completion of officer training.

(B) - Officers of the Labour Corps.

(C) - Officers of the Volunteer Force.

However I suspect (B) because the two holes on the shoulder strap aren't for an officers rank 'pip', but the should title "L.C." - for the Labour Corps. Certainly not (C), as a little bronze/brass 'V' was worn below the Royal Arms collar badges and a small hole would have been left behind.

​Bill - An interesting thought and I'll have to have a look at the original photo to see if a Mounted Infantry numeral is being worn, which would determine the unit. However the implication that he was ordered to "form" a mounted Company of Imperial Yeomanry in South Africa, just doesn't ring true, as all Imperial Yeomanry units were formed at home from Yeomanry units and then sent to South Africa. Again all Mounted Infantry sections were already in existence within Infantry Regiments prior to the South African War, coming together as unified Mounted Infantry units with Companies formed from those sections. A full list of all Mounted units that served in South Africa can be found in the "Lineage Book of British Land Forces 1660-1978".

​Cheers Mervyn - Always on the look-out for the more unusual aspect of the Regiment and on this occassion this was something that I just had to have and share with our members.