March was another productive month with progress being made on a number of fronts.
National Archives
I was lucky enough to have the time for a trip to the National Archives in Kew. My aims were two-fold, to look for the surviving officer service records of the men of the Brigade who were commissioned (which are not available on-line) and to take a look at the post-War Territorial Force Efficiency Medal roles.
In total I found 9 service records which included 3 new ’08 service number (R.M. Harries, 907; R G Burton, 1156 & I Jones, 1352) It was a strangely moving experience to touch the original documents – documents that in many cases were signed by members of the Brigade over 100 years ago.
The TFEM roles were less helpful. The 725xxx series of numbers was reused after the War and so I could not be certain whether the men I were members of the Brigade or later units.
More men found online
Back at home, with some generous help from David Porter (an expert in Territorial service numbers), another 25 men of the Brigade were found. David has an amazingly detailed understanding of how and when blocks of men transferred between units and how it impacted on their service numbers. Using this knowledge, he identified and shared with me several series of service numbers that related to men of the Brigade. A huge thank you to him.
A lucky find on Ancestry
Finally, as a result of the research I’ve been doing, I have a spreadsheet with the names of men that I am sure were in the Brigade, but I have yet to find any official records to confirm this or to give their service number – so as yet, they are not in the Nominal Roll. One such man was N. Cave who is shown in the December 1914 picture of the early war-time recruits before they left Swansea to join the Brigade in Northampton. Despite having this photo, I could find no other records for N Cave.
Using Ancestry, I narrowed it down to 2 men who lived in Swansea who it could have possibly been. Whilst I was wondering what to do next, I happened to notice that one of them was mentioned in an on-line family tree so I thought I’d take a look. I clicked on the button, and you can imagine my surprise when I found a photo of a ww1 service man in artillery uniform. I quickly messaged the tree-owner and they kindly responded with the details they had.
On the back of an original photo, it confirmed that Horatio Nelson Cave of the 1st Welsh Howitzer Brigade was service number 1036 – one of the outstanding gaps in the service numbers of the 1914 war-time recruits. His family kindly sent me 2 pictures which I have now uploaded and can be seen on the link above and I was also able to give them some insight into his service based on my research. My thanks to his family.
For me this is what this project is really about, putting names and faces to the 1600 men who volunteered to serve their country and join the 1st Welsh (Howitzer) Brigade.
Status update
This brings the totals to:
- 928 – Men identified
- 720 – Confirmed ’08 service numbers
- 20 – Portraits confirmed
Next Month
I’ve got a couple of things planned for this month (as well as trying to find a job!):
- I plan to put the entire Rees Williams photo album on line. Its a fascinating record of one mans experience with the unit.
- I hope to get back to Kew – I found another few leads I’d like to follow.
- I want to spend some more time on the Brigade history. I’ve started 1916, but I would like to finish it this month.
