Family Historian User Group

I have an uncle who was awarded the Order of the British Empire but I am damned if I can find out what it was awarded for! Can anyone help?

I have checked the London Gazette for 6 June 1919 and 15 Sept 1920 (as the envelope was date stamped 9 Sep 1920) but these do not appear to hold any reference to him been awarded the honour.

Can anyone help?

I have attached a copy of the letter received from St James Palace

Further to my previous post, here is a copy of my uncles medal card. I have tried in vain to find his military records despite many searches on Ancestry. Can anyone help??

As a start see 1919 Birthday Honours: "For valuable service rendered in connection with military operations in France" — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1919_Birthday_Honours

Mervyn

It's very possible they were part of the 'burned records' destroyed by a bomb in World War 2. Try looking for newspaper reports (I found my great uncle who was awarded a DCM that way).

I am indebted to you for that!

Aye imac_boy,

Rather than digging in Ancestry, I have found 'FindMyPast' to be very good for WWI records and I took the liberty to make a search using your Uncle's details from his Medal Card.

I took a screen dump of the top 5 results and wondered if the 3rd, 4th and 5th entries are of the same man as those of the first 2 records, with his 1st and 2nd names reversed and I have added the link at the bottom of this message.

Also, may I ask if this Field is related to Basil Field the locomotive designer for the Southern Railway Company at their Brighton Depot in the inter war years? If he is, I may have some personal items of interest, if you would care to contact me.

My regards, Bill

William_Samuel_Field_WWI_records_search

Aye imac_boy,

Having re-read your posting, I am confused! The letter from St.James's Palace refers to the award of the OBE and yet the envelope addresses your Uncle as having been awarded the MBE! I leave that mystery to you.

After a bit more digging, I believe I have come across the entry in the Supplement to the London Gazette, 12th February, 1919, page 2231 that I believe refers to your Uncle. I have attached a pdf copy of the page, with a link in a 'sticky note' to the London Gazette website. Might I suggest that you widen the date range that you use to search the London Gazette by? I am sure there are other references in there.

I hope this helps.

My regards, Bill

themoudie wrote:... The letter from St.James's Palace refers to the award of the OBE and yet the envelope addresses your Uncle as having been awarded the MBE! ...

Hope no-one minds me jumping in but it took me a while to work out that Order of the British Empire doesn't become OBE but just the BE bit.

Here, he is a Member of the Order of the British Empire. Hence, MBE.

The Order of the British Empire encompasses, Members, Officers, right up to GBE = Knight or Dame Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire.

You may have already read this, but it goes along way to explaining the lack of records.

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/help ... fter-1913/

also have you tried looking at the RCL Site

http://www.rlcarchive.org/Welcome

Aye Adrian, thank you for the enlightenment towards OBE and MBE, much appreciated and another reason "Why?" I enjoy genealogy. I am still trying to get my head around William Samuel Fields lack of appearance, so far, in the London Gazette of the time.

However, I shall leave further 'digging' to imac_boy, so as not to spoil his pleasure!

Good health.

My regards, Bill

Thank you Jane, for the link to the RLC archive site. The RASC where my Grandfathers mob, before he joined the MGC and I am still digging after 15 years! Slow progress is possible.

Good health.

My regards, Bill

Hi Adrian,
Have you thought about approaching military records in Glasgow, providing you can provide links to the person, and pay the fee they will supply you with a copy of the persons military records

I am still trying to get my head around William Samuel Fields lack of appearance, so far, in the London Gazette of the time.

He is listed in the pdf attachment earlier on in this listing

a2zprobates wrote:Have you thought about approaching military records in Glasgow, providing you can provide links to the person, and pay the fee they will supply you with a copy of the persons military records

The MoD don't have WW1 records. However, if your ancestors served after that, the records they do have can be very useful. My grandfather's, for example, led me to discover a bigamous marriage and some first cousins I would never otherwise have known about. (Plus enugh information about his military service to know he was a really bad boy -- I shuld have known it wasn't going to the story of a hero when the MoD rang me to double- and triple-check they were going to send the right set of records before posting them.)

Of course, you don't know what they'll reveal until after you've paid for them.

johnmorrisoniom wrote:He is listed in the pdf attachment earlier on in this listing

I think that one is just a promotion to Captain not the award of an MBE.

ColeValleyGirl wrote:... I should have known it wasn't going to the story of a hero when the MoD rang me to double- and triple-check they were going to send the right set of records before posting them. ...

Crikey. The best (i.e. worst) I've found so far is my G-GF's brother, discharged in 1902 as "Incorrigible and worthless". The Army had tried for 211 days before giving up....

Adrian, the Army tried from 1928 to 1946 with my grandfather (including 5 years AWOL and a bunch of time in the glasshouse). I suspect they would have wanted to be shot of him sooner, except the war intervened.

Full story at http://www.colevalleygirl.co.uk/work-in ... definition if anyone is interested.

Good morning Helen,

May I ask if you have had a browse through these newspapers available at the Hampshire Archive for your Grandfather?

Hampshire_Library_Service_newspaper_archive

My regards, Bill

Bill, not yet -- it's on the list for when/if I ever get to Hampshire. It does seem likely that there's some kind of newspaper mention coinciding with the query by Winchester CID.

Good afternoon Helen, those "To do" items.

Good health and good luck, Bill