Dear Donewalking
I'm writing a book on the 1/5th Battalion. Part of the research process is to produce a database that contains all of the men who served with the 1/5th Manchesters in some capacity. The list stands at 3000 personnel. I'm currently working on finding the men who were posted out of the battalion. This is done by reading through all of the 1915 Medal rolls of each Regiment and Corps, and then local and national newspapers. This will complete the "Original" and up to seven drafts of reinforcements.
Although your post is over 7 years old I'll add what I have on Richard.
Richard enlisted with the 1/5th Battalion on 31st August 1915. This means that he signed on three weeks after war had been declared. Technicaly he wasn't a "Territorial", he was one of the many men who wanted to sign up for the "Great Game" "Big Adventure", call it what they will. His service record would have been a Territorial service record or a short service record.
There are two distinctions - A TF man would sign on for two years and would then have to sign on again for another two years. Each man had to complete a two week camp and 40 days tarining per year.
The second distinction is that at the completion of the two year term, a man could end his contract and return home. There are men of the 1/5th who did this, leaving the Dardanelles.
After the Military service act came into being (Legislated -27 Jan 1916, enforced March 1916) this practice ceased. All men had thier terms of service changed to "The duration of the war".
The Short service - was also changed to "The Duration of the war".
Richard came from Ince - a high number of men hailed from Ince, I have them broken down into districts, Higher Ince and Lower Ince are part of that. Originally the Battalion had 8 Companies. A-E -Wigan - F G H, Atherton. Leigh and Patricroft. Its highly likely that Richard was in the companies A-E. The companies merged into 4 companies A-D. The platoons number 1-16. 4 in each company.
His medal card states that he disembarked in theatre 4a on the 25.9.1914. This is incorrect. There is a grey area here. He may have gone to Egypt with the original members of the Battalion. They sailed for Egypt on the 10th September 1914 arriving on the 25th September 1914. He would have arrived in the Dardanelles (Gallipoli) on 06 May 1915, or he carried out training with the 2/5th Manchester Regiment in Crowborough in Sussex and went to Egypt as part of a draft.
He was wounded in the Dardanelles and returned to the UK. I am currently researching this bit. However, as a full Cpl, his job was a section commander, he was in charge of 12 -16. They lived breathed slept ate and fought as one. Part of the role is to lead from the front. In doing so he was wounded. As he was returned to the UK he would have had to go through either one of the Military hospitals based in Malta or Egypt. He would have been assessed again and a decision would have been made to send him back to the UK. The largest and frequently mentioned Military Hospital is Netley in Southampton. From there he would have been sent onto one of the other Hospital (Not necessarliy in the Western Command area). He may have been assigned to the Woodlands Convalescant hospital in Wigan.
However, he was discharged on 5th May 1916 from the 5th (Reserve) Manchester Regiment, this was the depot. At this point in time the 3/5th,3/6 & 3/7 Battalions had merged into one unit (the 5th) and were based in Southport, moving to North Yorkshire in the quarter of that year. He was issued a SW Badge, No100238 and was discharged under the Kings Regulations 1912, paragraph 392 subsection XVI (No longer physically fit for war service).
He applied for a pension and was cleared for MR Training (Military Rehabilitation maybe?) on 02 Dec 1920. On his other pension card dated 07 October 1932 his address was given as 40 Bodden Street, Lowton.
He died on 23rd July 1935.
Hope this helps
He applied for a pension
