1/9 MANCHESTER REGIMENT (F OULTON 2837)

[SWIFTY]

Hello All,  I am looking for any photographs of the 1/9 Manchesters and for any information for Private F Oulton 2837.  I would be grateful for any information.  I have been told that the Manchesters were the most photographed regiment during WW1.  Is this true?  If so, would the archive in Ashton have them?
Many thanks.

[kingo]

Swifty, Welcome to the forum. Follow this link :

http://ashtonpals.webs.com/

Private Fred Oulton's name is on the site and it will give you an idea of his service with the 9th Battalion.

[SWIFTY]

Thanks, Kingo,  a brilliant site but can only find when Fred arrived in Gallipoli and when he was discharged.  Any ideas where I can look next?  Any help would be appreciated.  I'm reading with awe what these men must have endured.  Fred never talked about it to his family.
Many thanks in anticipation for any help. 

[Robert Bonner]

Swifty.
As the author of the history of the 9th Battalion -Volunteer Infantry of Ashton-under-Lyne- I have  to disappoint you and say that the 9th were probably the least photographed regiment in WWI. There are lot of photographs of the battalion before and after the war in the archives but virtually nothing on their activities during the war.

[SWIFTY]

Thanks, Robert,
I was wondering about the 9th in photographs.   I've read your book which is simply brilliant, by the way.  I've gone from knowing virtually nothing to beginning to understand the complexities of what happened. 
Any further info on Fred gratefully received!
Thanks once again.

[mack]

hiya swifty
welcome to the forum.
during the war,the ashton reporter newspapers went to great lenghths to report everything they could about the soldiers+sailors of tameside,they interviewed them while on leave,or when recovering from wounds,they visited their homes and sometimes the local hospitals,when a tameside serviceman was killed or wounded,they did their best to make sure that they found a photo or at the very least,something about him and published it in their papers,i have all the ashton reporter newspapers from WW1,and there is nothing about fred in any of them,apart from what is on the colonels[linda] ashton territorials website,me and linda have scoured every inch of these newspapers,everything about the 9th manchesters,that appeared in the reporter,is on the colonels site,she didnt miss a single snippet.

mack

[rugbyremembers]

Robert,

I too am keen to uncover a 9th photograph, specifically any one showing 2/Lt Robert Jacomb Norris Dale who was with the battalion from 1915 to 1917 before transferring to 33 Kite Balloon Section where he met his death as an observer in 1918 on the Italian front.

There was mention in another strand of the archive being digitised by Autumn 2010. Knowing full well how long these things can take, this is not a chase but a polite enquiry.

Dale's story features in my forthcoming book, but he is the only one of the 15 rugby players for whom I have not photograph - a shame for him to be the faceless one!

Any tips most welcome.

best wishes
Stephen (rugbyremembers)

[Robert Bonner]

Stephen.
sorry.  I've never come across any mention of your man.  As Mack suggested in an earlier reply, local papers are a great source of information.  Where did 2nd Lieut Dale come from?

Robert

[mack]

pte 1656 robert,jacomb norris dale
28th london regt[artist rifles]
mobilised 4th august 1914
to france 20-10-14
commission 2/Lt 9th manchesters 18-5-15,later promoted to Lt,attatched to RFC
killed while observing the enemy in a captured balloon on 31-1-1918
born 1884 fulham
son of bernard+katherine,susan dale
married miss irene,rose mawer in 1917
resided 71 cttenham st,wimbledon
admitted to the bar in december 1909,worked for his fathers firm of solicitors as a managing clerk at dale+co,75 cornhill,EC
educated haileybury college

mack

[timberman]

Hello Robert

This is Stephens other thread on 2/Lt Robert Jacomb Norris Dale


http://themanchesters.org/forum/index.php?topic=5190.0

Timberman

[rugbyremembers]

Robert, et al,

As you will see there is no visible Manchester connection for Dale, but the Artist's Rifles seemed to be a clearing house for subalterns on an as needed basis - so origin did not matter so much as gaps in the battalion manning.

He has an intriguing story - a lawyer who gave it all up to be 'creative' - may be a case of 'cherchez la femme'?

My only hope is that he may appear in a unit photo, but as the 9th appear to have had a busy war, there may not have been the chance.

Stephen

[lock17west]

Hello Swifty (re your post Aug 2011)

It certainly is worth visiting the Local Studies Library in Ashton-under-Lyne

Copies of the "Ashton Reporter" for WW1 are on microfilm in the Library

They are worthy of a general read and of a tool for searching for specifice soldiers

Members of the Local History Society are available to help you in your search as well as the members of staff