WW1 pair.

[Chris Boonzaier]

Have just bought this one...

27026 CPL. M.CAREY R.D.F?S

can anyone tell me the secret to this man and where he served?

I assume it is Royal Dublin Fusiliers?

Thanks

Chris

[leigh kitchen]

Yep, Royal Dublin Fusiliers - a desirable unit in collecting terms, as all the Irish regiments disbanded in 1922 are, fewer battalions than other infantry regiments, & of course perhaps even more desirable if his battalion served at Gallipoli.

The computer I'm on at the moment can't handle the sites I need to access his records - if they're there - I'll check in the morning.

[Chris Boonzaier]

Yep, Royal Dublin Fusiliers - a desirable unit in collecting terms, as all the Irish regiments disbanded in 1922 are, fewer battalions than other infantry regiments, & of course perhaps even more desirable if his battalion served at Gallipoli.

The computer I'm on at the moment can't handle the sites I need to access his records - if they're there - I'll check in the morning.

Thanks :-)

All the best

Chris

[Tony]

It's about time you bought a pair too.

I thought I found his pension record and attestation but it turned out to be a M Carey from Dublin who had served in the artillery. Couldn't find his MIC either.

Tony

[perce]

Hi

Found his MIC on Docs online

Carey, MichaelCorps:Royal Dublin FusiliersRegiment No:27026Rank:Corporal

So should/might appear in Ancestry

Cheers

Perce

[leigh kitchen]

Can't find hime in Ancestry - they don't even have his Medal Index Card yet, & of course the surviving Service & Pension Records are'nt all on there yet.

No trace on CWGC.

There are quite a few Michael Careys in the Service Records & Pension Records, but none that can be pinned down as this man.

One of them makes great reading - 4th RDF, Royal Irish Rifles, desertion, Court Martial, wounded - GSW to foot, up for burglary at Leeds in 1929, requests copies of his papers as he's they've been accidentally thrown in the fire grate - unfortunately not our man as he's left 4 RDF pre WWI, but a great read.

[leigh kitchen]

Not a lot to do with this man, but "The Dubs" in general:

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=iJS0ZPG819g

[Michael Johnson]

A quick look at Geoff's search engine shows a lot of 27000 block men as casualties with the 10th Bn. but equally lots of 2nd Bn.

[Chris Boonzaier]

what a load of w ank.

Paid my GBP3.50... all the info on the card tells us no more than are on the medal, other than the medal was on roll B101B10 page 794.

There are no dates, battalion or theater entered.... is this an Irish Joke????????

I knew I should never have started with the bluidy things :-(

[Michael Johnson]

So you get one of the friendly Pals from the GWF to have a Dekko at the medal roll next time they're at Kew. Or post there and the resident Royal Dublin expert (there must be one) will tell you.

[perce]

The MIC's are a bit hit and miss-some have all sorts of information others the bare essentials

Ancestry are also a bit hit and miss and seem to have large gaps in what they hold

More cards are appearing as are the pension records/burnt series-not sure when they'll be complete though

Cheers

Perce

[leigh kitchen]

The first "B" stands for the Army Record Office in Dublin, "B101B" is the medal roll code for the RDF - does B101B"10" refer to 10th Bn I wonder?

Ancestry reckon the Service Records 'n that should be transferred across by the end of this year.

[censlenov]

Researching british medals from this time can be quite a pain inthe arse as was mentioned earlier the Blitz toarched many service file in London so to trace a particular man could be quite tricky. Medals to Canadians and Australians NZ'rs and even South Africans from this time however are quite abit easier to research and there are many great researchers to help in these areas.

Cheers

Chris

[Chris Boonzaier]

The up side is.... how often do you find Brit medals that were mounted by the recipient ? :-)

[Tony]

The up side is.... how often do you find Brit medals that were mounted by the recipient ? :-)

I thought they all did it themselves or should I say the missus? Swing mounted is quite common for a standard pair or trio I think but I wasn't around back then so don't know for sure.

[Graham Stewart]

I posted something earlier on in another post regarding Medal Index Cards and have copied it again for reference. The charges for MIC's really are a scam, when better documents regarding Australian and Canadian soldiers come virtually free and it's been a bone of contention for many years. At the same time if it hadn't been for the Western Front Association the Medal Idex Cards themselves were being earmarked for destruction, so you would have had to rely on the grainy microfiche copies that you got from the NA.

Understandably people are often disappointed when they download the MIC, but the MIC was never intended as the "be all and end all" of a soldiers service. Medal Roll Books themselves often contain more information, as do Silver War Badge Lists. Other information can be gleaned from Enquiry Lists, Police Gazettes(for deserters), unit War Diaries, Absent Voters Lists and local newspapers. These brought togehter can fill in the gaps of individuals, although they certainly don't beat a mans original service documents, which for those of you who are unfamiliar with them, consisted of two sets. One set accompanied a man on service and the other set remained with the officer i/c records at the unit Depot. All aspects of keeping these records were laid down in Queens/Kings Regulations.

This is what I wrote earlier;-

"Medal Index Cards are really no more than that, an Index Card which guides you to the relevant pages of the Medal Roll Books. The information that both of these sources contain refer only to units that the recipient served overseas with and not units served at home with. All of tht relevent information is contained in the History Sheet of their service records, many of which were destroyed during the Blitz. These records are often referred to as 'unburnt' or 'burnt series records', and often the 'unburnt' records are referred to as "Pension Documents". This is infact incorrect as they are a mans service records, which were sent to the Ministry of Pensions for claims processing only and thus were fortunate enough to escape destruction. Examination of any of these records show how invaluable they are to researchers and I have examined many of those to the Northumberland Fusiliers and find them a great source of information. Sadly unlike Australia we have never had the cash resources which could see the records digitalised and sorted(some are mixed up) which would make them more readable. Currently they are stored in climate controlled conditions in a salt mine somewhere in Cheshire and not at the National Archive."