The 10th Battalion The Essex Regiment

[monkeyman18]

Good Afternoon

Please forgive me if this is in the wrong section.

I am very interested in the great wars and have started to collect war militaria

My mum for my 18th Birhtday gave me a military whistle dated 1916 with an I on it. I have been told this stands for British India. Mum was told by the gentleman she bought it from that it belonged to either one or the other of his two grand uncles. With the gentlemans permission mum did a lot of research and found the war records for one of the brothers (They both survived the war) He hadnt been in India

We then received a load of photos from the gentleman showing we believe the other brother a Mr William R Carver.

I have asked around several forums if anyone has any ideas of the regiment and also have asked members of The GWS which I am now a member of. The general consensus is that the gentleman by his uniform served in the 10th battalion of The Essex regiment

it looks like he may have been made up to an Officer from the rank of Sergeant too.

What I am interested in is was this battalion ever in India ? If so then this must be his whistle

We have tried looking for his war records but can only find two William R carvers one in The Middlesex and one I believe in The Warwick ? Reg Would it be possible that this gentleman changed Regiments or didnt that happen

Is there anyone that could point me in the right direction

Thanks

[Guest pikemedals]

hi the 10th eesex regiment only served in france. went to france on the 26 july 1915. can we see a photo of the whistle. it may not be a army whistle. am sorry to say that some dealers talk crap a story behind the item just that we buy the item from them. paul

Edited November 16, 2011 by pikemedals

[monkeyman18]

Hi

The whistle wasnt bought from a dealer it was from a gentleman who had been clearing his mothers house and found it in a drawer. He knew of its history because his mum had told him . His own granddad was a younger brother at the time and it was given to him . The previous whistle owner said it was either owned by one of the two older brothers or maybe a brother in law. I have yet to check him out

We have had a lot of correspondance with him because mum has been helping him trace his family tree I believe him to be 110% genuine (He sent us a photo of him and his mum I dont think a dealer would have done that) He sent a little note in with the whistle saying who it may have belonged to and that he thought it was a shame for it to be gathering dust at the back of the drawer. A whistle specialist told us that the I stood for British India

How do i attach a photo on here?

Regards Joe

[monkeyman18]

Hi

sorry to add this seperate I printed out a sheet from a site called northeastmedals which showed medals of the essex regiment and it shows some regiment was in India in 1916 Could William have changed regiments and went overseas?

Regards

Joe

[Spasm]

Monkeyman

The 10th were part of the 53rd Brigade, 18th (Eastern) Divison that served in France during the First World War. You can read up on the battles, formation etc here:

http://www.1914-1918.net/18div.htm

You should be able to check up on William at the National Archives or on Ancestry (unless thats what your Mum has done already), it'll save a lot of searching if you have his service number. I'll have a quick look to see if I can find anything and let you know.

Cheers

Spaz

[Guest pikemedals]

hi joe the 2nd essex garrison battalion was in india feb 1916. i look up the surname carver in the essex regiment from the national archives medal index cards 2 carver came up 1st is 49605 private.m.e. carver, 2nd is 36679 private.j.carver both carver only serve in the essex regiment hope this may help you paul

[monkeyman18]

Hi

Thanks for all your replies

My mum has already tried Ancestry (She's a family history fanatic!) she could only find two William R Carvers in the medal card rolls one was in The Royal Warwickshire Reg and one in The Middlesex Regiment. We know we have the right name but these regiments dont tie up with the photos because every one says it is the Essex regiment. The other brother was in The Stepney rifles and we have his service records. He was definately not in India

How do you post photos on here? I could put the whistle on and and a photo of the gentleman concerned

thanks again for all your time

Joe

[peter monahan]

Joe

Isn't this kind of thing fun? Welcome to the GMIC. I'm not sure about the photos but I believe that it has to do with the type of membership or how long you have been a member. I do know, for example, that paid subscription memberships come with a larger allowance for uploading photos.

If you want the word from the horse's mouth, go the the very first Forum -'News' - and click on "Chairman". Nick, our fearless leader will be able to answer all questions. If it turns out you can't upload photos yet, send a personal to one of the members who has responded her - Spasm, pikeman or me - and maybe one of us can help out. I'm willing to try, but I'm no tech geek!

Again, welcome!

Peter

[Spasm]

Monkeyman

Instead of filling in the "reply to this topic" below go to the top of the page and click the black button "reply to this topic" on the right. This will then let you browse and add pictures (as long as you keep them under the size requirements (less than 100kb works well) no need to reduce the actual picture measurements just reduce the quality. If quality is required due to seeing the detail, crop the picture down to the section of picture needing the detail.

You can use this button to keep loading up pictures to the thread (you'll need to give a minute or so before loading the next one)

Good luck

Spaz