William Cox - 2nd Battalion 2449

[dmc]

New to the site and hope I can get some help in researching my grandfather William Cox - 2nd Battalion Manchester Regiment - I know he joined up in January 1913 and survived the war but there are a couple of things I'd like to know if possible - is it possible to find which Company of the 2nd Battalion he served with, what date is he likely to have returned to England after WWI being a regular soldier and how long and where would his initial training have been carried out ??

[timberman]

Hi dmc

Welcome to the forum.

Information on the regular soldiers without their service records is very thin on the ground.
Have you got his service number the only William Cox I can find in the 2nd Bn is this one.

This is the medal index card for the 1914 star.
Click on the picture to make it bigger.

Timberman

[dmc]

Thanks Timberman - yes thats my Grandad Pvte 2449 !

[tonyrod]

hi dmc,
on my medal thread i have a post for ,
PTE 41398  William R COX                        OCT 09
A pair of full size original medals consisting of World war 1 British war medal and Victory medal named to 41398 Pte W R COX Manchester Reg. Comes with Medal Index Card details confirming entitlement to pair of medals only.
Both medals in GVF condition
Item number: 320434078815
Item location: Chorley, Lancashire, United Kingdom .      could they be related ?
the 2nd battalion, link http://www.themanchesters.org/2nd%20batt.htm  tonyrod

[Wendi]

Hi dmc, and Welcome to our forum !

William joined up and would have finished his initial training before the war started.  He most lightly joined up with the view of being a career soldier, but instead was one of the first to be deployed to France and Flanders.

The medal card timberman has posted for you is a Silver War Badge Card and shows that William was injured in WW1, however it does not tell us anything about his wounds or whether they were serious enough to end his days in the field.

Further investigation of the actual Rolls would possibly tell you which Company he served with, but this would require access to the records at The National Archives in Kew.

Wendi  

[Wendi]

Hi again !

Timberman has corrected me    The MIC he posted is not a SWB Card it's the alternative MIC so disregard what I have said regarding an injury and I'll strike out that part of my post.

Thanks Neil 

Wendi 

[dmc]

Hi Wendi - thanks for the info - I do intend to visit Kew in the New Year so will try to find out more info there

Hi Tonyrod - I'm afraid its not the same W Cox - my Grandads number was 2449 and I know for a fact that my Grandmother threw out my Grandads medals when he died (in disgust at the way the soldiers were treated on their return from France !)

[tonyrod]

hi dmc, i posted thinking he could be related, i was aware of the numbers, and has for your grandmother she was not on her own when it came to throwing medals away, its always the same when soldiers come home not enough is done for them,
we can only hope things start turning in there favour with our forces serving now all the very best for the new year.tonyrod

[harribobs]

hi dmc

the 2nd battalion was based in Ireland before the war

have a look at this section on tthe main site for some more information on them

2nd battalion

chris