Historic Records Men of 1914

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: 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...