Paul_1957

Alex, Seeing that picture has allowed me to identify the gold medal that you have been looking for. It is called The William Cross. Here is a description taken from a book by Bernard Burke which I found on the internet tonight. The William Cross was founded on the 2nd March, 1837, by King William IV., for the Hanoverian troops, as a reward for long loyal service. The first distribution took place only after his demise. The Cross is of gold, and has on the obverse the letters : ' W. R. IV.' with the crown above them, and on the reverse the number : ' 25.' It is presented to all officers (including staff-surgeons and their assistants), commanders, town-majors, and others in active service, who have served in the army, twenty-five years (the years of war counting double). The medal is suspended from a dark red ribbon with dark blue edges (just like the Waterloo Medal). I believe that the medal did not have the recipients name on it. Paul

Hello, I had previously considered the 2nd Foot but noticed that their buttons did not have the same design as mine. Perhaps my button is from a Militia regiment. Paul

Thank you Mervyn. I did wonder if it was for the 2nd West India Regiment. Paul

I have had a British Army button for several years and have never known which regiment it belongs to. The button is made by the Army and Navy Company and has a diameter of 3/4 of an inch (18mm). Can anyone identify the regiment or which part of the uniform the button came from? Thanks Paul

Rick, The image of the officer is here:

Hello Rick, Thanks for your suggestion about Summer uniform. However, the seated figure is the only one wearing the very light coloured trousers. Six other Turkish officers in the photo are wearing trousers of a very dark colour (probably black, dark blue or red). All of the Turkish officers, including the one seated, are wearing dark coloured tunics too. I'm leaning towards thinking that the trouser colour is either a sign of rank or possibly it distinguishes the branch of service. Regards Paul

I have seen a copy of a photo containing a large group of Turkish officers of the Turkish Contingent dating from 1855-56. One of the Turkish officers is wearing very light coloured (probably white) trousers with a wide dark stripe running down the outside of the leg. All of the other Turkish officers have dark coloured trousers with a stripe. The officer with the white trousers is wearing a fez and has fringed epaulettes on both shoulders of his jacket. He is one of only two officers seated on a chair in the group and he is in the front row which suggests to me that he holds a senior rank. The other seated officer is British. Does anyone know which Turkish officer ranks in the Turkish Contingent wore white trousers as part of their uniform? Paul

Greg, I don't think that RAF Chaplains were posted to individual RAF squadrons. Rather they were posted to RAF stations/bases to serve the whole of the station personnel and their families. The RAF Lists of the period would give the names of the Chaplains in the whole of the RAF so you could draw up a list of those who had the correct initials. Also, from the rank tabs on the photo he appears to be a Squadron Leader (or possibly a Wing Commander). I believe that all military Chaplains had to have done time in civi street before they were recruited by the armed forces. Therefore, if he was a Church of England chaplain you might be able to find his entry in an edition of "Crockford's Clerical Directory". That directory shows the career of each minister and the one you are after should indicate service with the RAF. I'm not aware of any similar publication to Crockfords for ministers who were Roman Catholic, Presbyterian etc. Paul

Dan, Unfortunately, none of the Joseph Pike's on findmypast.co.uk in the British Army Service Records 1760-1915 fit with the facts you have for your wife's ancestor. Only one of those Joseph Pikes was born before 1830. That Joseph was born in Hungerford, Berkshire (transcription says Buckinghamshire but that is an error). He served 1799-1814. Enlisted at the age of 17. Civilian occupation: Labourer. Paul

The only thing that you will find on the National Archives website is an entry in the catalogue describing what WO 100/6 and WO 100/9 are. The images of the actual rolls themselves are viewable using Ancestry.co.uk (by subscription). The reference to McPherson appears to refer to Captain Donald MacPherson who served in the Peninsular with the 2nd Battalion 39th Foot from July 1809 to December 1811 and then with the 1st Battalion 39th Foot from January 1812 onwards. Fuzzy/Fussey must have served in MacPherson's company at some point during 1813-1814. Paul

Both of the references I quoted in my previous post are medal rolls for the Military General Service Medal. So you have one medal roll saying Fuzzy and the other roll saying Fussey. It suggests that the medals were named from a version of the roll where his name was given as Fussey. The WO 100/9 document says Fussey Simon, 39th Foot, Vittoria, Pyrenees, Nivelle, Orthes, Toulouse, 5 actions admitted. The WO 100/6 document says Fuzzy Fussey Simon, 39th Foot, McPherson's Company, Vittoria, Pyrenees, Nivelle, Orthes, Toulouse. The word Fussey is written above Fuzzy Simon but it has had a line drawn through it to cross it out. Paul

In the medal roll held in the National Archives under reference WO 100/9 his surname is listed as Fussey. However, in the separate medal roll held under reference WO 100/6 his surname is listed as Fuzzy. It is not unusual to find spelling variations in a man's surname in medal rolls/muster lists etc. Paul

Further to Ralph's post the CH indicates that the medal recipient was in the Chatham Division of the Royal Marines. Chatham is a town in Kent, England with a long association with the Royal Navy/Royal Marines. The Divisional HQ of the Chatham Division was based in Chatham. Other marine division HQs were based at Portsmouth and Plymouth. Each RM Division had a number of RMLI companies under its administrative and disciplinary control. Paul

Hello Alex, I got the reference to him being captured from a link on the internet. It now looks like the capture must relate to the short time when he was man-handled by the French before he managed to dash out of the farmhouse and rejoin the his regiment. So not really a capture but more of a very close encounter! Re the gold star. It is possible that the star was a regimental/private award. If so, it is possible that you could find mention of such an award being made in one of the published histories of the KGL. As for the link to your other relative. That link shows that Lieutenant Charles Harington Graeme of the 5th Madras Light Cavalry was awarded the Army of India medal with clasp "AVA" for his services in the First Burma War. His medal was sold at auction in May 1958 by the London based firm of auctioneers Glendining's (now part of Bonhams). Furthermore it indicates that later in his career he was wounded at the siege of Samanghur in October 1844. According to a newspaper report of the time his wound was slight. Regards Paul

Alex, Your family relative served at Waterloo as a Lieutenant in the 2nd Light Battalion, KGL and as you most probably know, he was wounded at the defence of La Haye Sainte and taken prisoner. Despite being in the KGL he was Scottish. He was certainly awarded two campaign medals for his war service fighting against the French. His first medal would be the Waterloo Medal awarded c1816 and then c1849 he would have been issued with the Military General Service (MGS) Medal with 3 battle clasps (Vittoria, Nivelle and Nive) - again as a Lieutenant in the KGL. He was placed on half-pay (as a Lieutenant) on 25 April 1816. The London auctioneers "Dix Noonan Webb" have an on-line database of all the MGS medals issued and notes on whether they have ever appeared for sale. Graeme's medal is listed in the database but there is no recorded sighting/selling of it. In the Peninsular War the British Army awarded small gold medals to officers commanding regiments engaged in specified major battles/sieges. These medals normally went to officers of the rank of Lieut-Colonel, Major or occasionally Captains. The practice of awarding gold medals did not occur for the battle of Waterloo. Graeme's name is not included in the list of officers awarded one these army small gold medals for the Peninsular War. Several senior officers were decorated with gold medals of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath for their service at the battle of Waterloo. However, given the junior rank of your relative (Lieutenant) it is very unlikely Graeme was one of them. All in all it is difficult to see which gold medal/star your Great Great aunt is referring to. Paul

I reckon I have found an answer to my query. An organisation called the Prisoner of War Information Bureau was set up by Britain at the start of the Second World War. That organisation held the records on individual POWs held in Britain. The Bureau closed down after the last POWs were repatriated in 1948. In the 1960's the Bureau's records were dispersed to the respective national government according to the nationality of the POW. Therefore, the records I am interested in are now held by Germany. The Prisoner of War Information Bureau also sent POW info to the International Red Cross Committee - so another set of records are held there. See WO 307 record description in the UK National Archives on-line catalogue. Paul

Matt, Thanks for providing that link to the list of camps. Camp 196 at Arbury Hall near Nuneaton, Warwickshire is the camp where the prisoner I'm interested in was held. At least I now know the camp number which is a step in the right direction. Regards Paul

I am interested in identifying the location of any records that would give information on a German POW held captive in England during the Second World War. The man in question was a Captain in the merchant marine. Do any records exist in UK or Germany that would allow me to find out a bit more info on the POW. I know which camp he was held in in England but I am interested in finding out anything such as date and place of capture and any personal info such as age, place of birth etc. Alternatively, are there any German merchant marine records which would give his record of seaman's service? Thanks Paul

Copies of William Rose's Waterloo Medal have been offered for sale on on-line auction sites a few times in the last 18-24 months. Initially, I would be concerned that this may be one of those copies. Some of these copies show signs of a raised ridge running along the edge naming. I'd check it carefully.

Peter, Thanks for your reply. It makes sense that the soldier would have to be present for some portion of the period covered by the payment. As you say, the War Office would not pay out anything unless they had to. Paul

Just an amendment to my previous post. The prize money period actually covered 1 Jan - 10 Apr 14. That'll teach me to do it from memory! Doesn't alter the gist of my query though. Paul

[snapbackDuring the Peninsular War soldiers of the British Army qualified for payments of Prize Money. There were several payments made covering set periods of time. For example a payment was made covering the period 1 Jan 1814 - March 1814. My query is this. Let's assume that you know for definate that a soldier was entitled to and received a share of the prize money for 1 Jan 1814 - March 1814. Can you infer from that fact that the same soldier would have served in Spain/France for at least one day in that corresponding period? Another way of looking at my query is: did a soldier have to physically serve in the theatre of ops during the period covered by the prize money payment before he was entitled to get a share of the money? If anyone can help it would be much appreciated. Paul [/snapback

The ribbon on the 3rd row from the top at the far right - isn't it for the Royal Navy LSGC medal? If not, what is it? The Africa General Service Medal positioned after the second world war medals must have been for service in Kenya in the 1950s. Paul

Christer The medal you have was awarded to an enlisted man who served in the Royal Air Force - he could have been a clerk, mechanic, storeman or any one of a number of other trades. The RAF Regiment was only created many years after the First World War primarily for airfield defence duties. The medal cards for RAF personnel are not currently online. However, some service records for airmen who served in WW1 are available to look at at the National Archives in Kew, London in the AIR 79 class of records. Paul

Alex The last medal on the bottom row could be an Iraqi medal known as the King Faisal War Medal dating from the 1920s-1930s. The ribbon was of three equal stripes: the two outer stripes were green in colour and the central stripe was white. Harris served in the RAF in India and Iraq so that would tie in. The first two medal ribbons on the bottom row appear to me to be (left to right) the King George V Silver Jubilee 1935 then the King George VI Coronation Medal 1937. I don't see the ribbon that matches a RAF LSGC. Paul