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.
No comments:
Post a Comment