Historic Records Men of 1914

Arrived overseas: 4 October 1914. Connection: Prisoner of War postcard. 'Madge', also known as 9023 Lance-Corporal Arthur Woolley of the 1st South Staffordshire Regiment, was captured by the Germans on the 26th October 1914 and would spent the rest of the war as a guest of the Kaiser. This photograph of him was taken at one of the Munster PoW camps. Arthur, born in 1894, had been a soldier since 1911, and he would be discharged in February 1919 with disordered action of the heart. His home address was given as 20 St Luke's Road, Derby.

Arrived overseas: 7 August 1914. Connection: 1914 Star trio. William Henry Fecamp was born in Bermondsey in 1882. On the 8th July 1901 he got his first taste of military life when he attested with the Kent Artillery, a militia unit. His suriving attestation papers show that he was aged 19 years and five months, living at 7 Claxton Grove, Hammersmith and working as a gas fitter for Mr Burgeman in Fulham. He stood five feet, eight and a quarter inches tall, had a pale complexion, blue eyes and brown hair. He also had a number of tattoos including a heart, clasped hands and the intials  WHF on his right arm, and clasped hands and a woman on his left forearm. Henry trained for 49 days and then immediately enlistaed as a career soldier with the 5th Dragoon Guards. Although no papers survive for William, he probably enlisted for seven years with the colours followed by five years on the reserve. Certainly, by the time the 1911 census was taken, he was back working as a gas fitter an...

Arrived overseas: 6 August 1914. Connection: QSA and 1914 Star trio, plus father's Afghanistan and army LSGC medals. Frederick Gris was the son of Thomas and Louisa Gris and was born in Ranikhet, India on the 3rd December 1879. Thomas Gris was a farrier sergeant serving with the 6th Dragoon Guards, and in due course, on the 28th January 1898, Frederick would also join the regiment.  Frederick served overseas during the Second Anglo-South African War (Boer War), earning the Queen's South Africa Medal with clasps for Cape Colony, Orange Free State, Johannesburg, Diamond Hill, Belfast and South Africa 1901. By 1911 he was still serving with the regiment, still a private, and stationed at Orange Free State, South Africa. He had almost certainly re-engaged to complete 21 years with the colours by this stage and he returned to England with the regiment in January 1913. The regiment was stationed at Canterbury when Britain went to war, and a day after being mobilised on the 5th August...

Arrived overseas: 23 October 1914. Connection: 1914 Star trio. George Hogg had an interesting army career service in the First World War, enlisting with the Royal Scots as a Special Reservist on the 23rd September 1914. He was then 42 years old and had previously served as a career soldier with the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders, serving for 12 years. His earlier regimental number, 1717, suggests he joined the Argylls as a 14-year-old boy in 1886, almost certainly signing up in the band. Boys always enlisted for 12 years with no reserve service, and this prior military experience may help to explain why George, with precisely one month's service with the Royal Scots under his belt, found himself disembarking in France on the 23rd October 1914 as part of a draft for the 2nd Battalion. George served with the Royal Scots until November 1915 when he was discharged with "early locomotor ataxy". Not one to be put off by the small matter of muscle control, George re-enliste...

Arrived overseas: 11 November 1914. Connection: Victory Medal. Arthur Hurst's Victory Medal cost me all of £22 when I purchased it online a while ago. The medal ribbon is a modern replacement, and he was also entitled of course to the 1914 Star and the British War Medal. Medal records show that he also applied for the clasp for his 1914 Star. Arthur enlisted with the Royal Warwickshire Regiment on the 4th June 1912 and he arrived in France on the 11th November 1914. He'd been born in 1893 and so was a young man of 19 when he joined the army. At some point in time Arthur was wounded, receiving a gunshot wound to his leg, albeit it is sickness which is recorded on his silver war badge entry and  which led to his discharge in June 1916. Various addresses appear on a pension ledger entry:  48 Queen Mary’s Road, Coventry; King’s Heath, Birmingham;  13 Little Francis Street, Saltley, Birmingham; 30 Grange Road;  65 Ravenhurst Street;  320 Dudley Road, Birmingham and l...

Arrived overseas: 7 November 1914. Connection: 2nd Middlesex Regiment football team photo 1912.  John Ainger was a corporal when this photo was taken of him in 1912, but he'd been tried by a district court martial later that year and reduced to the ranks. Surving papers show that his 'crime' was "Conduct to the prejudice of good order and military discipline - being in the corporals' room during prohibited hours". He'd been in the army for six years by then, and undeterred by his demotion, in 1913 elected to extend his period of colour service to complete 12 years with the colours. He landed in France as a corporal on the 7th November 1914, having been promoted to that rank just two days earlier. John Ainger was killed in action on the 23rd December 1914. He was 26-years-old, the son of Christopher and Kate Ainger of 14 Sothern Road, King's Road, Fulham. He is buried in Rue du Bacquerot No 1 Military Cemetery in Laventie. His grieving parents paid to h...

Arrived overseas: 15 August 1914. Connection: Postcards (x3). These two photos of Private George William Clarke of the 2nd Suffolk Regiment were taken when he was incarcerated at Chemnitz PoW camp. Born in 1888, George had joined the Suffolk Regiment in 1906, and in the photo on the left, you can clearly see the three good conduct chevrons on his lower left arm which indicate at least 12 years' service. As the photo dates to 1918 this ties in perfectly with George's 1906 enlistment. It also confirms that men's GC badge entitlements were updated, even when they were prisoners of war. George had arrived overseas on the 15th August 1914 and he was captured at Le Cateau on the 26th August 1915. His Chemnitz PoW number can clearly be seen above his left jacket pocket, whislt the number 12 on his collar his an anachronistic nod to the 12th Regiment of Foot which would become the Suffolk Regiment in July 1881.

Arrived overseas: 7 October 1914. Connection: Postcards (x2). You could be forgiven for thinking that this man was serving with a Scottish regiment. Nothing of the sort. Charles Hulbert, an infantryman with an English line regiment, has swapped his uniform with a Scottish PoW and posed in what would have been novelty dress for him. Charles's regimental number indicates that he joined the Wiltshire Regiment on about the 20th January 1910, and he was stationed with the 2nd Battalion in Gibraltar when Britain went to war with Germany in August 1914. The battalion returned to England on the 3rd September 1914, and a little over a month later, on the 7th October 1914, the men, 1100 strong, disembarked at Zeebrugge. Seventeen days later, on the 24th October, Charles was captured. By now, the battalion strength had now been reduced to 450 of all ranks, with just two officers, and by the end of the month, shellfire would reduce the total by a further 200 men. The location and date of this ...

Arrived overseas: 20 August 1914. Connection: A series of eight postcards. When Sidney Clark attested with the Royal Engineers at Dover on the 17th February 1908, he was a 22-year-old carpenter. He signed up for three years with the colours and nine years on the reserve, all of that colour service being undertaken with 56 Field Company.  Three years to the day after he had attested, Sidney was transferred to the Army Reserve, to all intents and purposes a civilian again. His conduct was reported as "Very good. No offence in whole service of three years. He is sober, hardworking, reliable, and thoroughly satisfactory." He was also rated a "superior carpenter." On 5th August 1914, Sidney was mobilised with his old company, arrived in France on the 20th August, and was promptly captured three days later. He would spend the rest of the war as a Prisoner of War. He's in this photo somewhere, almost certainly one of the corporals on the back row, and would have been a...

Arrived overseas: 13 August 1914. Connection: PoW Postcard. Joseph Phillip Milcoy of the 2nd Battalion, Royal Munster Fusiliers, was captured by the Germans on the 27th August 1914 during the battalion's heroic last stand at Etreux. By then, he had been overseas for precisely 14 days, and he would spend the rest of the war as a guest of the Kaiser. Here he is at Friedrichsfeld camp in 1918, heading up the prison camp orchestra, and sitting proudly in the middle of a group of British and allied soldiers. Born on the 21st February 1890, Joseph had enlisted in the regiment in 1904 as a 14-year-old boy, the terms of that enlistment being 12 years with the colours (and no reserve service). Joseph survived his time as a prisoner of war and by the time the 1921 census was taken he was working as a clerk for the Air Ministry. The 1939 Register has him living in Slough and working as an electrician's mate.

Arrived overseas: 3 September 1914. Connection: 1914 Star and Victory Medal. John Cain was discharged from the army with shell-shock on the 18th May 1916. Born in 1881 he had been a soldier since the 7th April 1902, but may have only served for three years - that is, until April 1905 - before being transferred to the army reserve. When Britain went to war in August 1914 he would have been mobilised and, when he was fit enough, sent as part of a draft to France. The 1st Loyal North Lancashire Regiment had arrived in France on the 13th August but John Cain did not disembark there until the 3rd September, lending weight to the theory that he was not in uniform in August 1914. John's service overseas was short-lived. He was admitted to the American Women's Hospital on the 30th October 1914, one of a party of sick and wounded men, and would be discharged as a result of sickness in May 1916. That 'sickness' was neurasthenia, or 'shell-shock'. Upon discharge, John gave...

  Arrived overseas: 7 October 1914 Connection: Photograph Private Richard Wenlock was the recipient of this postcard, sent by his cousin in 1909. Richard had attested with the Scots Guards at Liverpool in February 1909 and, typical of Foot Guards attestations, signed up for three years with the colours and nine years on the reserve. He was actually transferred to the reserve after having served two years and 296 days and would not wear uniform again until mobilised on the 6th August 1914. Richard arrived overseas on the 7th October 1914 and appears to have served continuously with the regiment until blinded on the 6th May 1915, his papers recording, "GSW [gunshot wound] both eyes". He was first sent to Lewisham Military Hospital on the 20th May 1915, and afterwards transferred to St Dunstan's in Regent's Park. He was discharged from the army in September 1915 and received a weekly pension of 25 shillings for life. It was whilst he was being nursed at St Dunstan's ...

  Arrived overseas: 21 November 1914 Connection: 1914 Star trio Henry James Brookman was a 34-year-old motor driver living in Cambridge when he attested with the Army Service Corps on the 27th October 1914. The following day he presented himself at Grove Park in London. The regiment had an urgent requirement for many skilled trades, and within a month Henry found himself in France as a driver with the 8th Ammunition Park. He would serve with the ASC until January 1919 and, apart from receiving treatment for a septic hand early on in November 1914, appears to have survived the war unscathed.

Arrived overseas: 7 September 1914. Connection: 1914 Star. William Banbury's first introduction to the British Army was in April 1901 when he joined the 3rd (Militia) Battalion of the Royal West Kdnt Regiment. He was 17 years and nine months old, a wood chopper by trade, and living at 30 The Stowage, Deptford. Deptford born and bred, William stood five feet two inches tall, had a fresh complexion, blue eyes and brown hair. He drilled for 49 days and then, deciding that he wanted to make a career of soldiering, enlisted with the Buffs (East Kent Regiment) on the 19th August 1901. Papers for his service with the Buffs survive in WO 364. William's trade this time was recorded as "timber porter". He initially served with a provisional battalion before being posted to the 2nd Battalion in October 1902. In August 1904 he was transferred to the Army Reserve and remained on the reserve until August 1913 when he re-engaged as a Section D Reservist for a further four years. The...

Arrived overseas: 21 September 1914. Connection: 1914 Star trio. Hot off the press, these medals were purchased today. Ernest's regimental number 7103 can be dated to late October or early November 1904 and he joined the British Army at a time when standard terms of enlistment for the infantry were three years with the colours and nine years on the reserve. I think he probably did transfer to the Army Reserve in 1907 and would then have returned to civilian life until mobilised on the 5th August 1914. The 1st Wiltshire Regiment arrived in France on the 14th August 1914 but Ernest's medal index card notes that he arrived overseas on the 21st September which suggest that he spent a month getting 'match fit' before he was despatched as part of a draft. Ernest's fighting career was quite short as he was captured by the Germans at Neuve Chapelle on the 27th October 1914, one of 350 men reported 'missing' by the 1st Battalion war diarist. He would spend the rest o...

Arrived overseas: 11 August 1914. Connection: 2nd Middlesex Regiment football team photo, 1912. Herbert Thomas Mantell enlisted with the Middlesex Regiment as a career soldier on the 23rd October 1906, joining at Mill Hill. After training at the regimental depot, he was posted to the 2nd Battalion and remained with that battalion until October 1913 when he was transferred to the Army Reserve.  On the 5th August 1914, Herbert was mobilised, posted to the 1st Middlesex Regiment, and arrived with it in France on the 11th August. He remained with the 1st Battalion until killed in action on the 22nd October 1914, leaving behind a wife and three children aged five, two, and five months. Herbert has no known grave and is recorded on the Ploegsteert Memorial in Belgium. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission notes that he was the son of David and Caroline Annie Mantell of Plumstead, Kent, and the husabnd of Louise Mantell of 171 Crescent Road, Brentwood, Essex.

Arrived overseas: 26 November 1914 Connection: British War Medal I picked up Charles Older's BMW from the London Medal Company in November 2023. Charles was born in Bersted, near Bognor, Sussex on the 10th September 1893 and by the time the 1901 census was taken he and his older brother William were living at the home of Thomas and Susan Stent in Arundel, their relationship to the head of house recorded as "Boarder". The 1911 census records Charles at the same address, now aged 17 and working as a grocer's assistant. Seven days after Britain went to war with German on the 4th August 1914, Charles attested with the Coldstream Guards at Worthing, and by the 26th November 1914 he was in France as part of a draft for the 1st Battalion which had been overseas since August. Charles received a gunshot wound to his right arm and hand and was returned to the UK as a wounded soldier. He subsequently transferred to the Labour Corps, served overseas again between January and Sept...

Arrived overseas: 30 November 1914 Connection: Victory Medal Lachlan Carruthers's regimental number with the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders suggests that he joined the regiment in July or August 1913. In the normal course of events he'd have trained for a while with the home battalion (which was the 2nd Battalion) before being posted overseas to the 1st Battalion which was stationed in India. However, war in 1914 changed all that. The home-based 2nd Battalion landed at Boulogne on the 14th August, whilst the 1st Battalion was recalled from India, arriving at Plymouth on the 19th November. Lachlan was probably part of an advance party with the 1st Battalion as it did not fully embark until the 20th December. There is no surviving service record for Lachlan Carruthers but we know that he was wounded twice as his name appears in casualty lists published on the 31st January 1915 and again on the 26th May 1915. On both occasions he was wounded whilst serving with the 1st Battal...

Arrived Overseas: 20 December 1914 Connection: postcard 4245 Rifleman Frederick George Alexander of the 4th Rifle Brigade was the recipient of a postcard from his parents when he was a patient at the Wish Rock hospital in Blackwater Road, Eastbourne on the 8th February 1915. Frederick had arrived overseas with the 4th Battalion on the 20th December 1914 and so to be back in an English hospital six weeks later suggests that he had either been wounded or fallen sick in France. Frederick had joined the Rifle Brigade in May 1911, and he would have been about 23 years old by February 1915. He obviously recovered sufficiently to bhe sent back to France as he was killed in action on the 8th May 1915 and, having no known grave, is commemorated on the Menin Gate at Ypres. The postcard in my collection, and my connection to Frederick, is a scene of the memorial at Hastings. The message on the reverse reads, "Are they anything like this? M&D. This is M's idea not mine. D." The C...

For some while now I have been building a collection of British Army soldiers who arrived overseas in 1914. The 'collection', which is incomplete, is comprised of single medals, medal groups, postcards, photos, autograph album entries, letters, and interviews with surviving veterans. In short, anything tangible, that connects a man to an arrival date overseas in 1914.  Great Britain went to war with Germany on the 4th August 1914 and within days, men of the British Expeditionary Force were arriving overseas, even though the first shot fired by the British Army would not occur until the 22nd August. Ascertaining when a man arrived overseas is easy enough, as the date appears on medal index cards. At the time of writing this post - 8th April 2025 - I have a connection for the majority of dates in 1914. The earliest date I have is the 6th August 1914 when Frederick Thomas Gris disembarked with the 6th Dragoon Guards -  I have his medals and those of his father too - whilst the la...