Liverpool & South West Lancashire FHS - Forum

Hi
I'm new to the forum and this research business and I'm hoping someone out there can help me. When my mother passed away I discovered the proverbial "tin box" amongst her belongings. Along with the usual service medals was a pocket prayer book belonging to her father (my grandad) who I never knew. On the inside front cover is written:
Pte. J (John) Callan
1866
4th Battn
South Lancs Regiment
7th Infantry brigade
3rd Division
BEF

On the inside back cover is written:
Wounded 17th May 1915
2nd Battle of Ypres

He lived in Warrington and I suspect he enlisted there. I would really like to find out more about his experiences (when and where he served/fought, etc.)
If anyone can help or point me in the right direction to start my own research I would be most grateful

Kind regards
Steve Callan

Hi and welcome to the forum. Here is his medal card, some of our other members might be able to point you in the direction of where to find out what the numbers all mean.

Take a look here for more info about the South Lancs and where they were during the war

http://www.1914-1918.net/southlancs.htm


The information below is all taken from that website:
It shows that the 1st/4th Bn was a Territorial Force, raised August 1914 in Warrington as part of South Lancashire Brigade in West Lancashire Division.
13 February 1915 : left the Brigade and landed at Le Havre. Attached on arrival to 7th Brigade in 3rd Division. Note: this matches the date on the medal card and the information in the bible
12 October 1915 : became Pioneer Battalion to same Division.
9 January 1916 : transferred to 55th (West Lancashire) Division.



The order of battle of the 3rd Division 7th Brigade:
3rd Bn, the Worcestershire Regt
2nd Bn, the South Lancashire Regt
1st Bn, the Wiltshire Regt
2nd Bn, the Royal Irish Rifles
1/1st Bn, the Honourable Artillery Company joined from 8th Bde 9 December 1914, left 14 October 1915
1/4th Bn, the South Lancashire Regt joined 24 February 1915, left to become Pioneers 12 October 1915
This Brigade left 3rd Division to go to 25th Division on 18 October 1915

Second Ypres is of course famous as the first time the Germans used gas on a large scale on the Western Front. (22nd April 1915)
The page about Second Ypres is down at the moment but this page has a report you might find interesting.
http://www.1914-1918.net/french_eighth_despatch.html

The numbers on the medal card refer to the medal rolls that they are recorded on (National Archives at Kew)
Theatre of War (1) is France and Flanders and the date 13/2/15 is when he arrived in France.

Hope this helps,
Amanda

It's also worth looking here:

http://www.lancashireinfantrymuseum.org ... 1914-18-3/

they also have a research service - I don't know what they charge but it may be worth contacting them to see what they can offer.

Amanda

Thanks Amanda. I hope the museum is able to offer more assistance, I didn't manage to find any Service or Pension records online, although I believe not all documents have survived.

You're right Mary, it's estimated 60-70% of the WW1 service records held in the War Office in London were destroyed in an air raid in 1940, the 'burnt records' which survived were damaged by fire and water and are in varying states of completeness. Other records which survived in the 'pensions collection' are not necessarily to do with pensions!

Also, the Western Front Association bought 6.5 million pension records (which actually are about pensions!) from the MOD and are making them available. At the moment a manual look-up costs £25 (£15 refunded if they don't find anything) As you know he was wounded there is a chance he was given a pension but you're risking £10. These records don't give full details of service, but they can contain useful information about what the soldier did after the war. You can find out more here:

http://www.westernfrontassociation.com/ ... nding.html

Amanda

Some really useful links above that I'll be 'favouriting', too. Thanks.

He was with the 4th battalion South Lancashire Regiment "The Warrington Pals" as his medal card only has his 4 Digit number and not a 6 digit number from when the renumbering of the Territorial Forces took place it seems possible that he may have been discharged because of wounds. I don't as yet have anything for him in my lists I have so far compiled, but I can say I have a copy of soldiers from the Warrington Pals from the 2nd Battle of Ypres which was published in a Local Liverpool Paper somewhere in my house ready for indexing when I complete December 1917.

Thanks very much for all the replies so far - I'm delighted with both the speed of the responses and the amount of info. The supplied links have given me something to go on.
Thanks again
Steve Callan

man2wolf wrote:Hi
I'm new to the forum and this research business and I'm hoping someone out there can help me. When my mother passed away I discovered the proverbial "tin box" amongst her belongings. Along with the usual service medals was a pocket prayer book belonging to her father (my grandad) who I never knew. On the inside front cover is written:
Pte. J (John) Callan
1866
4th Battn
South Lancs Regiment
7th Infantry brigade
3rd Division
BEF

On the inside back cover is written:
Wounded 17th May 1915
2nd Battle of Ypres

He lived in Warrington and I suspect he enlisted there. I would really like to find out more about his experiences (when and where he served/fought, etc.)
If anyone can help or point me in the right direction to start my own research I would be most grateful

Kind regards
Steve Callan

Steve Please see link. WW1 records kept by the Red Cross in a muesum in Geneva http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7940540.stm The Red Cross hope to have the archive online by 2014

I have been sent the following information on Pte. John Callan 4th/South Lancashire Regiment from A expert on the South Lancashire Regiments.



"I can confirm that he actually enlisted on 04/08/1914 (the day war was declared) and was discharged (para 392/xxi) on 15/12/1916."

Kathyd