Henry H Drake, Sergeant, IV Platoon, "A" Coy, 17 Btn Manchester Reg, s/n 8511

[geeceedee]

Hi I'm new here, and this looks like a great forum.  Can anyone help with details of my great-uncle Henry Drake? All I know is he was a sergeant in the unit mentioned in the title of this post.  He was Killed In Action at the Somme 27.3.18 (which from pg 142 Btn War Diary I guess would place him at Folies) and buried at Namps-Au-Val cemetery in plot IA25. 
That's all I got, but I'd love to know more about his military record if anyone can help?
Thanks

[Tim Bell]

Hi Gee,
See link to my blog with a profile, obituary & photos. Please come back to the forum with any questions.
Welcome
https://17thmanchesters.wordpress.com/afterwards/march-1918-the-german-spring-offensive-st-quentin/casualties-january-to-march-1918-german-spring-offensive/
Tim

[geeceedee]

Thank you Tim that's so great!!  Maybe you can help explain a few things to a newbie like me -
- what does "Time expired service with 7th Bn" mean?
- it looks like he was enlisted and then a couple of weeks later he was Promoted Sgt on 19/09/1914, is that normal to be promoted after only a couple of weeks?
- it says "France 08/11/1915. Reverted to Pte 02/12/1915. France 08/11/1915" what can that mean, was he disciplined for some sort of offence and relegated back down from being a sergeant to being a private?
- Provost Marshall's staff - is this like the police in the army?
- I assume sadly that GSW means Gun Shot Wound?
Thanks again this is so helpful!!

[Tim Bell]

Henry had served at least 4 years in the pre-war 7th (Territorial) Bn. This experience will have been evident & led to his prompt promotion. He certainly looked the part too!
We don't know why Henry reverted to Pte less than a month after arriving in France. This may have been through choice. He joined with numerous colleagues from Hallams & may have preferred to serve alongside them in France, rather than being in charge as SNCO.
You're right about Provost Marshall. Henry may have been downgraded in fitness for this attachment. Just speculation but I doubt he'd have chosen to leave what remained of his Pals.
GSW is gunshot wound. The cemetery is behind Amiens, so he probably died under treatment for his wounds.
It's fascinating to build a picture of your gt uncle & even better when we see what he looks like.
This is the inscription on his grave, as chosen by Florence - OH JESUS OPEN WIDE THY HEART AND LET HIM REST THEREIN.
If you visit let us know.
Tim

[geeceedee]

Hi Tim many thanks for that!  Yes he certainly looked the part; I never saw a picture of him before I found it on this forum, which is wonderful to see the man! BTW his brother Matthew was in 1st Grenadier Guards in WW1, and pictures of him show a very impressive soldier too!
I had no idea that gt uncle Henry was in the pre-war army, do you have any pointers where I might find out more about that, or about his time in 17th for that matter - like where to look up service records?
Thanks again for all your help, and for such a great forum!

[Tim Bell]

No Broadband over Xmas. My daughters are losing it!

A good record on 17 the Bn is here http://themanchesters.org/17th%20batt.htm. Others blogs are available 
His service record is on Ancestry. https://www.ancestry.co.uk/discoveryui-content/view/720298:1219?tid=&pid=&queryId=489cf4b1-2281-467c-a790-dbf0a29a6332&_phsrc=bma2210&_phstart=successSource  He died of wounds at 55th Casualty Clearing Station.

[geeceedee]

Hi Tim many thanks for the leads. Looks like that's another genealogy website subscription to pay! 
Maybe of interest to you - I've just stumbled upon a post about Henry's brother, Clement Aloysius DRAKE (Snr) who was my grandfather and served in WW1 in the RAMC which I believe was the Medical wing of the army (but I can't find their records anywhere yet) -
https://www.greatwarforum.org/topic/302345-pte-clement-aloysius-drake-95918-ramc-died-26-4-21/
Their brother Matthew DRAKE (s/n 19757 Pvt) was also in the army and served in 1 Btn Grenadier Guards, he was killed 1-Aug-17 at Boesinghe.
I believe there were two other brothers, George DRAKE and James Wilfred DRAKE, whom I haven't yet started to dig around for their war records, but I hope I'll find that they fared better than their brothers and survived the war!