Two brothers who served together in The Royal Warwickshire Regiment

My great grandfather, Thomas Weston, at present is somewhat of a mystery. We know beyond doubt that he served during WW1 but with which regiment we cannot be sure. However, we do know that Thomas's brothers William Henry and Richard Hiram enlisted in The Royal Warwickshire regiment at the outbreak of world war 1. 

William Henry Weston was born on the 4th March 1885 in Tipton Road, Rowley Regis. On the 1911 census he is shown as being from a family of iron galvanising workers, typical of the area. His brother, Richard Hiram, born later on the 7th June 1894 in Dudley Port, Tipton, were both sons of Thomas Weston and Louisa Deakin. 

There is an old family story which unusually shows both brothers serving together in the same battalion. William Henry enlisted in Birmingham with The Royal Warwicks, 1st Battalion and assigned the regimental number 9798. His brother Richard, also 1st battalion, serving under number 1897. Both brothers war ended on the same day, 26th August 1914. Richard Hiram, whilst attacking German positions, saw his brother fall and when trying to get to him (an offence often punishable by firing squad) was shot down through the shoulder and invalided out of the army. His MIC states he was issued a silver wound badge number L\868. Sadly William Henry's remains were never found. 

William Henry is now commentated on the 'La Ferte-Sous-Jouarre' memorial in France, along with over 3700 British and Irish soldiers who fell in battle in this area during August, September and early October 1914. The memorial is often referred to as the memorial to the 'Missing of the Marne'

Richard Hiram later married and moved to Essex where he died on the 12th December 1968. It appears he had spent the majority of his working life as a taxi driver. Both brothers were entitled to the 1914 trio (with mons clasp), the whereabouts of either group is unknown, but any leads would be gratefully received.

Richard Hiram

John Henry Dives Costeker - Royal Warwickshire Regiment

John Henry Dives Costeker was born 28th March 1879 in London. He entered the Army 3rd August 1898, as a Second Lieutenant in the Royal Warwickshire Regiment., in which he was promoted Lieutenant 3rd February 1900. He served in the South African War, 1901-02 and was present during operations in Cape Colony. He was mentioned in despatches and received the Queen's medal with five clasps.He was created a Companion of the Distinguished Service Order, (London Gazette 28 Jan 1902);"John Henry Dives Costeker, Lieut., The Royal Warwickshire Regiment. For the capture of Commandant Kolde 11 Nov, 1901"

He was invested by the King 12 Nov. 1902. He was promoted Captain 3 June 1903; was Adjutant of the Royal Warwickshire Regt. 27 June 1904, to 11 april 1907; became Garrison Adjutant., Eastern Command, 1 June 1907; Staff Captain, Irish command, 1914.

He was killed in action at the Dardanelles on 25th April 1915, whilst serving as Brigade Major, 88th Infantry Brigade.

His grave was visited by the Prince of Wales on the 24th April 2005 during the Prince's visit to Gallipoli to mark the 90th Anniversary. 

Help reuniting medals

One of the saddest things in medal collecting is when medal groups get split up. The reasons for this can be endless, but more often or not it is due to them being left to different family members during their lifetime, or being sold for the silver scrap value.

Most of our medals have been bought with a hope of saving them from being scrapped and an even bigger hope that one day we can reunite them with the rest of their group. It is so important that these medals that were awarded to such brave people stay together for future generations and to preserve as many memories as they can.

We will be sharing some of the stories of reunited groups that we have with you over the coming months, but we would love to hear your stories of medals you have reunited with each other, or even better with the families they came from.

Please get in touch if you would like to share your stories, or if you would like us to tweet any requests to our followers for missing medals. Every bit helps and if we can help reunite just one group we will be making a difference.

Reunited - Royal Warwickshire Regiment Medals - William Bailey

These medals were reunited in one evening!

This story I still believe is fate...

I had a 'feeling' about a single BWM medal whilst browsing a dealers site  - 'William Bailey' , Royal Warwickshire Regiment - so bought it. Later the same evening I saw his 15 star on another dealer that was based in south of the UK (The BWM had come from Northumberland)

When I spoke to the dealer who was selling the 15 star he was surprised and pleased by my story of the reunite - the 15 star had come from a collection that had recently come to the market that, to his knowledge, had been locked away for at least 25 years!

Sadly, no papers exist for William so we were unable to trace where he may have lived (His MIC card does exist however, showing his entitlement to a 15 trio and shows service with the Labour Corps)

The two medals were court mounted for display and also to ensure they are never parted again!

15979 L/Cpl Robert Herbert Hawkeswood, Grenadier Guards - how the collection all started.

This medal was one of the first I ever purchased (with pocket money at that time!) over 25 years ago from a small antique shop on the outskirts of Stourbridge, West Midlands.

At that time, I was more interested in collecting ‘one of everything’ and it wasn’t until years later, that I become more interested in the people ‘behind’ the medals.

This single 1914 star was awarded to Lance Corporal Robert Herbert Hawkeswood of the Grenadier Guards who served under number 15979. I had no idea for all the time I had the medal in my care that Robert had lived quite locally to me in the town of Wolverhampton.

Sadly, Robert was a very early casualty of the Great War and lost his life in France on 20^th October 1914. Commonwealth War Graves record his details as serving with the 1^st Battalion and that he did indeed enlist in the town of Wolverhampton.  He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Ypres Menin Gate Memorial, Belgium:

http://www.cwgc.org/find-a-cemetery/cemetery/91800/YPRES%20(MENIN%20GATE)%20MEMORIAL

I have visited the memorial myself, taking pictures of Roberts name, now recorded forever with the thousands of others who also lost their lives.

He is entitled to a 1914 star trio (and also the memorial plaque), of which I only remain custodian of the 14 star. There are, however, clues of what may have happened to the BWM and victory medals. Robert appears to have two MIC cards; one for the 14 star, where his name is spelt as ‘Hawkeswood’ and another for the pair where his name is recorded as ‘Hawksworth’, then crossed out and spelt ‘Hawkswood’!  - It also records that both the BWM and Victory medals were returned for ‘adjustment (name)’ on 14^th September 1921. I would be surprised if they were ever returned to Robert’s next of kin…

Robert is also mentioned on The Wolverhampton Roll of Honour website:

http://wolverhampton-roll-of-honour.webs.com/efgh.htm

It states that Robert was the son of Herbert and Harriet Hawkeswood, of Portland Place, Wolverhampton. He was the brother of Charles Hawkeswood. Did Robert’s brother follow him to war? Only further research will tell…

A day of family research .... and plenty of tea!

Today is a day for family research, and for a change I am sitting down and delving into my own family tree.

I am not sure if I can call this a love of research, or an addiction. I can be found squirreling away in our little home office into the early hours, just fitting one more piece into a jigsaw. There is nothing like the ‘eureka’ moment when a gut instinct is proved right with documentation as evidence.

I started researching my own family tree some years ago, but have constantly been side tracked looking into other people’s tree’s or helping solve a mystery that I can not leave unsolved for other people. I love trying to answer such enquires, finding out what I can and sharing my findings.

However today I decided that a large mug of tea, piles and piles of paperwork and my mac are all that I need to delve into my own family and hopefully crack the 1700’s which is where I have hit a brick wall with research.

I would love to hear more about your research efforts, what inspires you, what tips you can offer, any recommend reading or websites for those early hour researchers who can not sleep until the have found the elusive answer they are looking for.

245564: Pte George Edwin Graydon, South Staffordshire Regiment

This single BWM was awarded to George Edwin Graydon who, although living in the West Midlands at the time of his enlistment, was born in Chichester, West Sussex.

He enlisted in the South Staffs regiment, receiving the service number 245564. He later was transferred to the 9^th (Service) Battalion of the Devon Regiment and reassigned the number 30779. It was with the Devons that George lost his life on 29^th October 1916 – He was only 22 years old.

Commonwealth War Graves list his details as the Son of Mrs. Sarah Graydon, of 37 Hill Street, Tipton, Staffs. He now lies in Tancrez farm Cemetery, Belgium. His grave reference is given as: II.A.10

http://www.cwgc.org/find-a-cemetery/cemetery/55805/Tancrez%20Farm%20Cemetery

George was also entitled to the victory medal and memorial plaque. The whereabouts of these are unknown, although any leads on their location would be gratefully received.

21665 Pte Richard Dockerty, 14th Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment

Anyone familiar with Stourbridge, particularly the small village of Wollaston in the West Midlands, will know of a popular Irish themed music pub called ‘Katie Fitzgerald’s’. The public house lies in the dip between Wollaston and Stourbridge on the Enville Road.

Originally known as the Golden Lion, Katie Fitzgerald's was a small one-roomed beer house, property of Mary Faulkner. It was well positioned to attract travellers along the Stourbridge-Kinver turnpike road. The Duke of Wellington's Beer House Act, 1830, permitted a householder or ratepayer, on payment of two guineas to the Excise, to turn his private house into a public house. In an area then known as Mamble Square, the Golden Lion opened in competition to the Bridge Inn opposite. The first licensee was widow Mary Faulkner around 1844.

The road directly to the left of Katie’s is called ‘Mamble Road’ and this was where a certain Richard Dockerty lived with his parents when he enlisted with the 14^th Battalion of the Gloucester Regiment at the outbreak of war. He clearly did not enter a theatre of war until the early stages of 1916; hence he is only entitled to the BWM and Victory medal pair.

Sadly, Richard’s war came to an end on 23^rd July 1916 when he died as a result of wounds. He was only 20 years old. He now rests in Carnoy Military Cemetery, Somme, France. His grave reference given as H.25:

http://www.cwgc.org/find-a-cemetery/cemetery/29800/CARNOY%20MILITARY%20CEMETERY

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission confirms his address and next of kin as Son of Richard and Anne Dockerty of 23, Field Terrace, Mamble Road, Stourbridge. Unfortunately, I can see no evidence of his original home now, most dwellings in Mamble Road being either 3 tier council flats or houses of a much later period.

No service records exist for Richard so we cannot be certain in which action he lost his life but his MIC is an interesting one. He is originally recorded as ‘Dockerly’; this is officially crossed out and altered to his correct name. It also shows his medals were returned (most likely by his parents) on 21^st February 1922 for correction to the naming.

Along with his BWM and Victory medal pair, Robert would have been awarded the memorial plaque – its whereabouts are, at this time, unknown…