5th Manchester Regiment

[dorothym]

Hi
After a long abscence from this forum, having had some great help, I have now been able to obtain my grandad's Attestation paper [Harry Haigh]

He joined the 5th Manchester Regiment in February 1902 at Ashton, which now explains why he had an early number [7499] in WW1 and is proof of my mum saying he was a regular soldier and a reservist when war broke out.

Does anyone know what the 5th would have been doing at that time and in the following years, preceeding the outbreak of war.

I have read that he would have served for 7 years with the colours and then 5 years as a National Army Reservist, so would in effect have not been a reservist at the time of the outbreak of war in August 1914, unless the date of February 1902 on the attestation paper is not the date he actually began his service.

Thank you for any information anyone may have.

Regards
Dorothy

[tisgrannie]

Hi Dorothym,
http://www.themanchesters.org/5th%20batt.htm
this the link off the main site. I hope I'm correct about this!
I'm sure one of the experts wiill correct me if I'm wrong. Great that you got the papers!
regards
tisgrannie

[harribobs]

He joined the 5th Manchester Regiment in February 1902 at Ashton, which now explains why he had an early number [7499] in WW1 and is proof of my mum saying he was a regular soldier and a reservist when war broke out.
Dorothy

i'm sorry Dorothy but the 5th Battalion was not a regular battalion, in 1902 it was volunteer battalion, in 1908 it changed to a territorial battalion

is the attestation form for the 5th Volunteer battalion?

cheers

chris

[mack]

hiya dorothy
your grandad never served with the 5th battalion
it does mention it on the first page of his attestation docs,i think that was the battalion that he wanted to join,but changed his mind.
he enlisted at ashton,on 18th feb 1902,[3rd battalion] and served on home duty,till 24-7-1902,he then went to st.helena,guarding boer prisoners,then on 21st dec 1902 he went to south africa till 28th oct 1906,he then served 3yrs in india,[1st battalion]from 28-10-06 till 26-11-1909
he returned home on 27-11-09 and posted to 3rd battalion at ashton,serving there,till the outbreak of war.
he landed in france,on 9-11-14 with the 1st battalion,he was wounded by shell fire,on 14th june 1915 and returned to england,on 15th july 1915.
he remained at home,then sent back to france with the 2nd battalion then on the 21st sept 1916,he was posted to the 21st manchesters.
on 12-1-17 he was wounded by shrapnel,sent to england on 24th jan 1917.
he remained in england with the 3rd battalion till april 1917,then he was posted to 70th training reserve battalion[instructor]
in december 1917 he was posted to the 8th manchesters,till may 1918
he then went to the NCOs school as an instructor,till he left the army,on 31st march 1920
total service.18yrs 42 days

mack

[dorothym]

Many, many thanks for the wonderful replies to my query about my grandad's army record. What Mack has said completely agrees with what sketchy information my mum told me and from what I know about his WW1 record.
She said he was in St. Helena and I now have proof of that.

Thank you again to all on this wonderful forum and it is especially poignant to find all this out on this special day.

Dorothym

[mack]

your very welcome dorothy

mack

[dorothym]

Me Again
I have a red face as in my excitement on finding my grandad's record on Ancestry, I only looked at the one record, which was the attestation paper.
I checked again this morning and found there are 40 pages devoted to him!!
I have downloaded them all and am about to begin a journey of discovery.

Just one question, does anyone know where in France on 14 June 1915, the 1st. battalion would have been fighting. This was when he was wounded for the first time.
I know where he was at the time of his second wounding.

Thanks once again for all this invaluable help and to Mack whose reply made me recheck on Ancestry
Dorothym