Greetings from Australia - Researching 35000 Pte William Gaskell MM

[Chris74]

Hi All,
I am the custodian of the medals for 35000 Pte William Gaskell MM who served with the 9th Battalion (Ashton Pals) Manchester Regiment. Linda from AshtonPals website sent me here as I am trying to research information about William.

Pte. 35000 W. GASKELL 9th Bn. MM Gazetted 14th May 1919.

He lived in Ormskirsk road, Pemerberton, Wingan for his entire life. Dying 19th October 1975 having never married.

In Australia we can easily look up citations for soldiers in our national archives however I'm struggling to find a photo of William or any information around his award.

I'm hoping someone may be able to help or point me in the direction of where to look.

Stay Safe Everyone.
Chris Gaskell
 

[charlie]

Hello Chris and welcome to the forum.

The remains of his service record are available on Ancestry but are fire and water damaged. He attested on 16.02.1916 and was mobilised on 30.03.1916 and posted to the Regimental Depot at Ashton and on 30.03.1916 posted to the 4th Battalion. After his training he was posted on (I think) 30.08.1916 (the writing is very faint) to the 13th Battalion in Salonika. He committed an offence on 19.09.1916 while at sea and was fined a days pay. The Battalion remained in Salonika till 1918 and was then sent to France, arriving in Abancourt on 11.07.1918. The Battalion was absorbed by the 9th Battalion on 13.08.1918.
Unfortunately the citations for the MM were not published in the Gazette and the copies of the citations were lost in the 1940 Blitz.

Charlie

[Chris74]

Hi Charlie,
Thanks for sharing that information. I am enjoying reading about he actions of the Regiment. My family came from the Manchester area to Australia 200 year ago, some not by choice.
Linn suggested I try searching through local newspapers for a mention of his actions. If he was gazetted in May of 1919, starting the search in Feb of that year. Is this a wild goose chase and any idea what would have been the local newspaper for a man from Pemberton at that time?


Great forum by the way, loads of information.   

Chris

[Tim Bell]

Try Wigan archives. I couldn’t spot any relevant notes https://archives.wigan.gov.uk/search/entities?q=Gaskell&action=search

[mack]

hiya chris

this is all i know

35000 william gaskell.475 ormskirk rd,pemberton
born 1-4-1896
parents william+margaret
battalion bomber
he worked in the mines and then became a railway goods shunter
died 19-10-1975 in billinge hospital
buried gidlow cemetery.grave details RC.19-118
he was still living at 475 ormskirk rd,pemberton

not been able to find a picture mate sorry

mack

[Chris74]

Hi Mack,
Thanks for sharing that information. I've found a photo of his grave, thanks for that. Given he had so many brothers and sisters I might try finding descendants through ancestry.com.

Looks as though to search the newspapers you have to be physically at the library.

Thanks for the help.

Cheers...Chris

[rafboy]

Hi Chris
Try the British Library Newspaper Archive, not sure if they will have the paper you want though, still worth trying:

https://www.bl.uk/subjects/news-media?gclid=Cj0KCQjwwY-LBhD6ARIsACvT72MfUgSI04unSXckCA_u96Wja2YmwxLtXhsJwR0vQCA_qrP_Y08gpKQaAitrEALw_wcB#

Cliff