Ravenft Posted December 1, 2019 Posted December 1, 2019 Hello all! I have a trio of medals from Cpl. Alfred Taylor 34159 of York and Lancaster Regiment. His medal card says he embarked to France on April 13th 1915 which lines up with either the 1/5th Battalion or the 1/4 Hallamshire Battalion. There is another document from Casualty Clearing Station #3 dated November 23, 1916 that says he was with the 10th Battalion. He was a Corporal at this time so I imagine he was transferred from his original battalion since the 10th arrived in France on Sept 11, 1915. The medal card was sent to me incomplete and torn so I’ve included all my research notes on it. Also Does anyone know how I could get a full copy of it to download and print? Luckily I got the clearing station info from a free Ancestry day. I wonder if there exists a picture of him and the regiment before the left for France. Is there a way to find out when he was promoted and transferred? Also the 10th Batt. was disbanded in February of 1918 so is there a way to know where he went from there? I’ve got a Y&L cap badge, Shoulder pin, and Tunic button to complement the medals. I plan on court mounting them later. Would love any help to complete my research on his service during the war. Thanks, Rav
peter monahan Posted December 2, 2019 Posted December 2, 2019 I'm afraid I can't help with info. Perhaps some UK member will have access to what you need. I couldn't help commenting on the, I assume self-awarded, 'C P L' rank on the Star. I see that his card indicates that we WAS a Corporal at some point but had lost the rate, presumably, before the medal was awarded.
AdrianC Posted December 2, 2019 Posted December 2, 2019 Rav Send me a private message with your e-mail & will send you what I can find Medal Card/Medal Roll/Pension Record Adrian
Ravenft Posted December 2, 2019 Author Posted December 2, 2019 4 hours ago, peter monahan said: I'm afraid I can't help with info. Perhaps some UK member will have access to what you need. I couldn't help commenting on the, I assume self-awarded, 'C P L' rank on the Star. I see that his card indicates that we WAS a Corporal at some point but had lost the rate, presumably, before the medal was awarded. I believe he was a pte when he qualified for the star and then was later promoted. This is usually the case where the early medal is stamped with the rank he had at that time. the blue asterisk shows that he qualified for the war medal and victory medal as a cpl. He must have not liked seeing pte still on his star so he changed it himself.
peter monahan Posted December 3, 2019 Posted December 3, 2019 That makes more sense! Sorry, I'm more used to Canadian medal [pairs] which were not issued until after 1918, so the idea that he might have been issued his Star before he demobbed is a bit odd to me.
Ravenft Posted December 3, 2019 Author Posted December 3, 2019 1 hour ago, peter monahan said: That makes more sense! Sorry, I'm more used to Canadian medal [pairs] which were not issued until after 1918, so the idea that he might have been issued his Star before he demobbed is a bit odd to me. Yeah I was thrown by that too and only learned of it when I got these medals. I’d love to collect some Canadian ones at some point. Especially from units that served at Pashendale and Vimy Ridge.
Ravenft Posted December 4, 2019 Author Posted December 4, 2019 On 02/12/2019 at 11:47, AllThingsNavy said: Rav Send me a private message with your e-mail & will send you what I can find Medal Card/Medal Roll/Pension Record Adrian Thanks, those documents solved it for me! So first he was in the 1/5th Battalion then sometime later was transferred to the 10th, when the 10th disbanded in early 1918 he went to the 6th battalion! Thank you so much for that. Now I just need to figure out when he went from the 5th to the 10th because I have a good Idea when he went to the 6th. This is the fun part of medal collecting and getting help from you guys makes it even better. So glad I found this forum last year ~Rav
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