Historic Records Men of 1914

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...