Harry K Haigh

[dorothym]

Hi All
As new to this I am unsure of procedure but here goes. My grandfather was Harry (not short for Henry) Kershaw Haigh and he was a reservist with the Manchesters when war began in 1914. He lived and worked in Heywood at the time.
From what I have been told by the museum at Ashton, his number 7499 was an early one.
I haven't been able to find which battalion he was with whe the war started.
I do know that when he was injured on the 10 Jan 1917 in France, he was with the 21st, battalion of the 1st. Manchesters "A" Company.
I was told that he wouldn't have been in this particular battalion from 1914.

I have his medals, the Mons Star, The Great War Medal and the Victory Medal but I can't find his war record. I also have some letters from his friend Sgt. Will Greenough, sent to him whilst he was in hospital in Glasgow.
After his injury he became a training instructor and was based on the east coast according to my mum.

The letters contain some names of other soldiers who were killied or injured on that day and a transcript of the letters, if anyone would like to read them can be found on www.todmordenandwalsden.co.uk in the People section, near the bottom.

I have read the book The 21st Battalion, The Manchester Regiment, A history, which gives an excellent account of the actual attack of that day.


Regards
Dorothym

[harribobs]

hi Dorothym

and welcome to the forum

hopefully i will get chance to have a look at the letters this afternoon

to answer your question about which battalion he was in when the war started, it was the 1st Battalion

    
Medal card of Haigh, Harry
Corps   Regiment No   Rank
1st Manchester Regiment    7499    Private
1st Manchester Regiment    7499    Serjeant

see also on the main site

http://www.themanchesters.org/1st%20batt.htm

cheers

chris

[dorothym]

Chris

I have the medal card for Harry Haigh and the reason I am confused is that you say he was in the 1st. Battalion and I thought it meant the 1st. Regiment.
Can't you tell I am new!!!

Dorothym

[harribobs]

 

if you aren't used to military terms, you can't be expected to know

the regiment is like a family, it has battalions that operate indepentantly within seperate army divisions. the basic make up of a battalion is approx 1,000 men

before the war, the regiment had two regular battalions, one in india, one in ireland. plus six territorial batts. as the war started the need for more troops meant the regiment increased it's battalions.  11th, 12th and 13th and then the pals battalions 16th - 24th

have a look at this article on the mother site

http://www.themanchesters.org/new%20army%20batt.htm

to get an idea of the regiment in the great war, have a look at the battalion index

http://www.themanchesters.org/batt%20index.htm

don't be afraid of asking questions 

chris

[mack]

sgt harry,charles mcgreaves was killed by a shell on 11-1-17 along with 5 other men.
ptes crombleholme,hilton,lockett and whitehouse are all buried side by side with sgt mcgreaves,in beaumont-hamel military cemetery.
pte crombleholme grave B71
sgt mcgreaves grave B72
unknown grave B73
unknown grave B74
unknown grave B75
pte whitehouse grave B76
pte hilton grave B77
they were all killed between the 10-12 january 1917.
ptes sam bennett+john houghton who were also killed at the same time,are still missing,along with 2/Lt dunderdale.
these 3 men could be buried in graves B73,B74+B75.

mack