ID Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers

[Grandpa Wood]

My Grandfather served as an officer in the Northumberland Fusiliers in France in WW1. There is a triangular badge on the left upper sleeve of his uniform. I am trying to identify his role in the war. Is this a regimental badge or unit badge please?

[Arthur]

Good morning 

The 16th Bn. wore a 2 1/4" cotton red triangle.

Regards Arthur 

[peter monahan]

Thank you, Arthur.  Granpa Wood, welcome to the GMIC!  I hope you'll find membership useful and entertaining.

[Grandpa Wood]

Many thanks Arthur, Your information has been invaluable. Next step for me will be looking at the war diaries for this battalion.

Regards

Diane Wood

[Graham Stewart]

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.

Edited January 4, 2017 by Graham Stewart

[Grandpa Wood]

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

 

[savysarah]

Wow great pictures!

[Graham Stewart]

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?

[Grandpa Wood]

Hello Graham,

I'm finding the research & GMIC absolutely fascinating & the military side is very new to me.

I am sure the photo of the male wearing the tin hat is Grandpa. It was found together with the other photos of him in the family box of old photos.

A couple of days ago I submitted an application to the National Archives & paid a fee for a 'page search'. I don't know which documents are held within the archives. When I receive a response, I will perhaps receive more information to further the search. Is this where the service records would be archived?

Today I have emailed Leeds Grammar School Alumni. I am hoping that they will have some information on his Officer Cadet Training. I'm not sure they will hold the battalion details which he transferred to in August 1918.

I don't know what the school leaving age would have been at the time in the early 1900's. It was extended from 12yrs to 14yrs in 1918. LGS was a fee paying school so I don't know pupils would have left school later.

In 1957, Grandpa & my father drove around Europe visiting The Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Italy, Switzerland & France.He wrote a diary. On 16th August he writes "Depart Leon on a route different from the AA. New route Vervins, Avesnes,Landrecies, Le Cateau, Cambrai ending in Arras. He states " A revisit by EW under conditions different from 1918" Avensis, Landrecies we visit cemetery having followed the 1914-1918 front line. Artois cemetery (Haucourt)

In Arras Grandpa states that he called the IWGC office to get details of Geoffrey Laughton. At St Martin Calvaire cemetery they find Geoffrey Laughton of 26th Tyneside Irish NF killed on 5/12/17 age 19yrs. Son of Charles & Beatrice Laughton of Leeds.

Although Geoffrey was a year older than Grandpa, I would think that they would have been known to one another as they were at LGS together.

Would Grandpa appear on any casualty lists anywhere? Is is possible to obtain records from the OTC? I read today that the Leeds OTC records are not very comprehensive.

It can't be that difficult to find Grandpa can it?!!!

With kind regards

Di

 

[Graham Stewart]

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.

[Grandpa Wood]

Hello Graham,

Many many thanks for all the time you have taken in attempting to find Grandpa.

The only E Wood 2nd Lt in the Northumberland Fusilers receiving the BW & V medals between 1916-1920 is under ref WO374/76290 which I have ordered from The National Archives. Here's hoping that the record throws some light on the matter.

I will email The National Archives requesting where I may source the late 1918 Army Officers list.

With kind regards

Di