Pte Horace Wilkinson, 9th Battalion, The Kings Own (Yorkshire Light Infantry)

38794 Pte Horace Wilkinson, 9th Battalion, The King’s Own (Yorkshire Light Infantry)

Horace Wilkinson’s medals were another group found on a dealer’s website in the North East of England. It’s sometimes amazing how medals can travel, this group being no exception; Horace was born in Dudley Port, an area of the West Midlands.

Horace was born in Dudley, Staffordshire in 1899. When he enlisted, his address is given as 206, Halfords Lane, Smethwick, Staffs. This address will be familiar to anyone, like me, who follows West Bromwich Albion Football club; Halfords Lane runs down the side of the Hawthorns Stadium, although all traces of housing are now long gone (replaced mainly by factory units)

No service records exist now (all information provided within this write up is from official war diaries for the 9th Battalion) but an MIC is available for Horace; it states entitlement to the BWM and Victory pair.

It seems at first he was placed into the KOSLI young persons training reserve, being given the service number 86867. These reserves were only operated until around October 1917, thus I can only assume this is when Horace would have been sent to France to join the 9th battalion as soon as he turned 18 years old. With the information I have (war diaries) I cannot say absolutely which action Horace would have been involved with first; only that he must have left the familiarity of his home town for the mud and squalor of the trenches at Passchendaele, then onto Cambria.

The 9th battalion formed part of the 21st division, so needless to say they were present at most of the early battles of 1918.  On the night of the 28th April the 9th battalion moved by light railway to ‘Ambush camp’ at Guyancort, where they took up observation duties along with training and securing the trench systems. The 9th also took part in a football match against the East Yorkshires, losing 3 -1.

On the 18th March, 2 companies from the battalion took part in an enemy trench raid, successfully capturing a number of German prisoners. The enemy retaliated with heavy shellfire onto their positions, lasting for days. All through the morning of the 22nd March the bombardment became heavier until around 2pm when the shelling subsided. This was replaced by a number of enemy aircraft flying low over the 9th’s positions, which resulted in machine gun fire from both sides. This action resulted in Lieutenant Hargreaves and Private Horace Wilkinson losing their lives. His MIC simply states: ‘Presumed dead’

Horace is listed on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission as the son of Alfred Wilkinson, of 206 Halfords Lane, Smethwick, Staffs. He has no known grave, and as such is commemorated with the many thousands of others on the Pozieres Memorial, Somme, France.

http://www.cwgc.org/find-a-cemetery/cemetery/87600/POZIERES%20MEMORIAL

Horace was only 19 years old when he gave his life, an age that these days, you would hardly be considered be an adult.

Along with his BWM and Victory medal pair, Horace was awarded the memorial plaque (Often referred to as the ‘Dead Man’s Penny’) – this still resides in its original cardboard sleeve.

Samuel Cadman, South Staffs Regiment.

Samuel Cadman: Pte. 9421/200689, South Staffs Regiment

All I have of this man’s service is his BWM, but yet again, this is a single medal with a sad story to tell. No service records exist for Samuel, who entered into France on 5^th March 1915 with the South Staffordshire regiment.

His MIC states he also received a later number change from 9421 to 200689 and that he died on 20^th May 1918. Further investigation via the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, reveal that he served with both the 1^st and 5^th Battalion (South Staffs) and was only 22 year old when he lost his life in France and Flanders.

 He was the son of Samuel and Annie Cadman, of Pensnett, Staffordshire (His name is etched on the Pensnett, St. Marks war memorial; only a stones throw from Russell’s Hall hospital, near Dudley)

 He now rests in Etaples Military Cemetery, his grave marker being given as: VII.D.11:

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=cadman&GSiman=1&GScid=1997374&GRid=10889730&

Samuel lived locally to me (Only a mile away) so this makes this medal that little bit more special. He was entitles to a 1915 trio and memorial plaque – if anyone knows of the whereabouts of the star, victory medal and plaque I would love to hear from you.

 Another ‘Cadman’ is listed on the St. Mary’s Parrish Church war memorial - a relative?

 http://www.stmaryskingswinford.org.uk/

 This medal will certainly require more ‘digging’….

The stories behind the medals

Isaiah Albert Brown: 112995, Spr. I. A. Brown (Royal Engineers)

I obtained this group purely by chance and it turned out to be something quite special…

Great War Royal engineer medals are easily come by and, as such, do not command a great price; worse still many have been either erased to use as gap fillers or, the BWM scrapped for it’s silver value.

I am a member of the ‘British Medal Forum’  - A great resource for collectors or those just interested in military history: http://www.britishmedalforum.com/

I can wholeheartedly recommend joining; you will find a huge resource of information and helpful members who will be only too glad to assist you with research.

It was through this forum, in particular ‘John llbury-Welsh’, who runs a very worthwhile section within the forum to help prevent medals groups being split on such sites as eBay (John, along with others have achieved a great amount of success over the last few years, helping keep groups together as they should be).

This group was saved in one such split by John and offered to me as, after initial research, it was revealed that Isaiah lived locally to me! Other than a small repair to the BWM, these medals were untouched (Even sporting their original grubby ribbons)

So, lets try and bring Isaiah’s story back to life…

Isaiah Albert Brown’s birth was registered as January to March 1888 in Dudley, Staffordshire (Then in the county of Worcester)

The 1901 census for Staffordshire records Isaiah living with his family in the industrial town of Tipton at 67 Union Street:

1) Isaiah Brown (Father and head of the family) – 37, dairy worker

2) Hannah Brown - 35 (Wife and mother)

3) John J. Brown – 15 (Pot caster)

4) Isaiah Albert Brown – 13 (Scrap moulder)

5) Gaius? (Son – 11 years old)

6) Sarah M (Daughter – 8 Years old)

7) Harold (Son – 5 years old)

8) Annie (Daughter – 2 years old)

9) Edward Hodgson (Adopted son – 19 years old)

10) Jasey Brown (Niece – 13 years old)

The 1911 census reveals changes in the household, the family now somewhat depleted and living at 29, Hill Street, Tipton, Staffs:

1) Isaiah Brown (Father and head of household) – 47 years old. Now listed as a Drayman working for a brewery firm (In this area, most likely to have been Either Banks or Butlers)

2) Isaiah Albert Brown (Son) – 23 years old. Now listed as a labourer working for a coal merchant.

3) Harold Brown (Son) – 15 years old. Now listed as a cleaner’s helper?? (Difficult to read on census)

4) Gaius Brown (Son) – 21 years old. Listed as a Baker ‘working nights’.

5) Maud Brown (Daughter) – 19 years old (Occupation unclear)

6) Annie Brown (Daughter) – 12 years old (No occupation listed, assumed to be in last year of schooling)

It appears that Isaiah’s father remarried in 1911 to an Elizabeth A. Whitehouse within the Dudley district (Isaiah’s father is recorded as ‘widower’ and at this stage Elizabeth is not listed as living in the family home)

Unfortunately no official military service records exist for Isaiah now; all the information listed above obtained from census records. When war came in 1914, it seems probable however, that Isaiah enlisted under the ‘Derby Scheme’, remaining in employment until called up for active service.

Isaiah landed in France with the Royal Engineers on 29^th September 1915. He has 2 MIC cards listed (Not unusual as duplicate records were often made) The MIC cards both state that Isaiah entered the war as:

No: 112995 ‘Spr’ (Sapper) with the 3^rd Pioneer Company. He was clearly an intelligent and able man as he is listed as promoted to Sargent (Although no dates are given regarding the rank change) His regimental number remained unchanged throughout his service.

The later MIC states that Isaiah’s war ended on 14^th April 1917; the result of ‘sickness’ – He was issued with silver wound badge no: 170248 (If anyone knows the whereabouts of this I would be most grateful to know!)

This group does however; reveal a sad end to the story. Isaiah’s brother ‘Harold Brown’ also enlisted at around the same time (Enlistment location is listed as Wolverhampton) Again, no service records exist, only his MIC, which states he served with the Royal Field Artillery as:

No: 79119, Driver, RFA (26^th Battery)

His MIC states that he entered Egypt on 1^st April 1915. Sadly, a year later, Harold was reposted to France and Flanders, where he is listed as ‘Died of Wounds’ on 29^th June 1916. His father Isaiah and stepmother Elizabeth are listed as his next of kin. He now rests in Abbeville Communal Cemetery, Somme, France – Grave marker IV.B.14

http://www.ww1cemeteries.com/ww1frenchcemeteries/abbeville.htm

Harold was entitled to a 15 star trio and memorial plaque. If anyone knows of their whereabouts please let me know – I feel this would be particularly poignant; 2 brothers reunited forever.

The Weston Front

Welcome to the Weston Front! This is our new venture, so please be kind to us!!

We are a husband and wife team with an interest in family research and collecting militaria. We especially enjoy reuniting medal groups that have been split up for one reason or another, and finding the wonderful, inspiring stories behind each of them.

We hope to use this blog to share some of these stories, we very much welcome your own stories and hope you will help us develop this blog as much as possible.

We are also doing a twitter fed which you can find @thewestonfront , each week we aim to cover a particular subject, and again are open to any of your ideas. Our first twitter discussion is about the Royal Warwickshire Regiment.

Lorna & Matt