Hello - to introduce myself - AC Taylor

[CliveT]

Hello,

I am a new member of the Forum, researching a soldier with the following medals:

George V Star 1914 Aug-Nov: 6278 L. Sjt AC Taylor 1 Manch. R.
George V Medal 1914-1918: 6278 AC Taylor
"The Great War for Civilisation 1914-1919" Medal: SJT A C Taylor. Manch R.

I assume these mean that the soldier was in the First Battalion of the Manchester Regiment (in 1914, at least - perhaps a different Battalion later?).

If you can supply any information at all about this soldier, it would be much appreciated. Thank you.

Best regards,
Clive

[george.theshed197]

Good evening Clive,
And welcome to the Forum, someone will be along very shortly and list all the goodies they have unearthed for you, enjoy.
Cheers,
George.

[tonyrod]

hi clive and welcome to the forum , not sure about the Ist battalion that group of  numbers is  with the 16th bn  1st city pals

6200s-7800s
Issued between August 1914 and June 1915 to men joining the 16th Manchester (1st City Battalion.
   
may be one of the other mods can help,
if he was in the 16th BN check out this link to the main site, enjoy tonyrod.

http://www.themanchesters.org/16th%20batt.htm

Medal card of Taylor, Alfred C
Corps   Regiment No   Rank
Manchester Regiment   6278   Lance Serjeant
Date   1914-1920
Catalogue reference   WO 372/19

[pete th]

Hi Clive, welcome to the forum.

Tony, he won't be in 16th Battalion as he has a 1914 star. The 16th didn't go overseas until November 1915 

He's more likely to be 1st or 2nd Battalion.

Cheers
Pete

[tonyrod]

cheers pete, I  missed the star, still got my xmas head on 

1st Battalion
August 1914 : in Jullundur, India. Part of the 8th (Jullundur) Brigade in 3rd (Lahore) Division. This Division left India on 29 August 1914 as part of the Indian Corps and moved to France, landing at Marseilles on 26 September 1914. It served on the Western Front until leaving France on 10 December 1915, whereupon it moved to Mesopotamia, landing at Basra on 8 January 1916. The Division moved to Egypt in March 1918 and later moved into Palestine.

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

[mack]

hiya clive
sgt taylor landed in france on 27th august 1914,so he would have been with the 2nd manchesters during their retreat from mons.

mack

[CliveT]

Thank you, everyone for your responses. 2nd Bat'n sounds more 'right' than 1st - nothing points to him ever being in India. Not sure why the medal says "1 Manchester" though. Did soldiers swap regularly between battalions? If he was in 2nd, would he likely have stayed in 2nd throughout the war?

[themonsstar]

6279 Sgt. Alfred Charles.Taylor. served in the 1st Battalion, The Manchester Regiment.

The 1st Battalion were  stationed at Dalhousie, Amritar and Jullundur. as part of the Jullundur Brigade. 3rd (Lahore) Division. The battalion was quickly collected together, and on the 29th August 1914 they sailed from Karachi for Europe.

The mobilisation for active service started in early August, but possibly the movement did not start until 27th August 1914. This is the date you find on most of their medal index cards (MIC).


Welcome to the site, have you tried going on to ancestor looking for his service record, pension record, or his MIC. As any these documents would possibly help you with your research.

[CliveT]

Yes, I will try to do more research, thank you. I'm not really sure where or how to look but getting better at it. I managed to buy a MIC image from national archives yesterday, albeit for the wrong A. Taylor. 

Thanks again, everyone.

[CliveT]

OK, I've definitely found the MIC now - image ref 160142 / 27758 ("Campaign 1914") - 6278 Taylor AC. Definitely 1st Manchester Regiment. Qualifying date for 1914 Star = 27 August.

Anyone like to suggest what my next research step should be? I'd like to confirm where he spent the war - was it with 1st Manchester as they moved around France and the Middle East? Or could he have been posted elsewhere? Or stayed in France the whole time?

[themonsstar]

Hi Clive

The next step would be looking for his service records on ancestor, there are two types of service record contained on ancestor.

The service records which were kept for all servicemen.

The pension records, all regular serviceman who served the full-time (22 years) are entitled to a service pension, however any other serviceman who was serving and was injured ( it had to be attributed to his service) was entitled to a war pension.

Not all service records survived from either of the collections, the first collection of service records, were severely damaged in the Second World War, the pension records are slightly different, if a serviceman died soon after applying for a pension, there could be a chance that after a certain number of years  this record could have been destroyed, this is my own opinion after years spent researching them.

The next step would be looking at the national census to see where your man is from, there are also local papers you could check out, and do not forget the archives of the Manchester Regiment which are at Ashton under Lyne.

If there is still no joy in your soldiers research, the last thing would be the war diary, which will give you an insight as to what the battalion was doing in the First World War.

I'll start you off with some of your research, here are  the medal rolls for the 1914 Star & BWM & VIC medal rolls.

[CliveT]

Dear The Monsstar,
Thank you. You are a star. 
Several other people have also mentioned 'looking on ancestor', but I'm not sure what this is - presumably, this means looking on one of the websites for finding people from the past, like FindMyPast, or GenesReunited, or similar?

[Wendi]

Clive it's

www.ancestry.co.uk

it's a pay to research site, but rather good, especially if you are a first time researcher.  They do a 2 week free trial, and although you have to record with them your card details when you join for the free 2 weeks, if you make a diary note to cancel before the 2 weeks is up, you will not be charged.

Good luck!

Wendi