Historic Records Men of 1914

Arrived Overseas: 14 October 1914. Connection: Victory Medal. Years ago I swore I'd never buy a single medal that had been disunited from its group. But I was young[er] and foolish then, and have since bought hundreds of single medals, and even re-united a couple. For those starting out on their medal collecting hobby, and even for grizzled old hoarders like me, the Victory Medal from the 1914-1918 War can offer hours of researching pleasure for a very modest investment and, besides which, like all British designed medals - and perhaps some from other countries too - it's an object of aesthetic beauty. This particular Victory Medal, which cost me £28 in March 2022, was once owned and earned by 54571 Gunner Edward Brown of the Royal Field Artillery. He'd joined the regiment on the 20th January 1909 under his real name of Milward, deserted in 1910, and then almost immediately re-joined under the alias of Brown. He served overseas with IV Bde RFA in the 7th (Meerut) Division f...

Arrived overseas: 23 August 1914. Connection: Victory Medal. Frederick Vincent Keen was technically still a boy - he was 17 years and 10 months old - when he attested with the Royal Field Artillery at Oxford on the 8th March 1909. He signed up for six years' service with the colours and six years on the reserve and so was still in uniform when Britain went to war in August 1914. He served in France from the 31st December 1914 and remained there until 1915. A detailed service history does not survive for this man but we know that he was in Salonika between 1915 and 1917 and then in Egypt from 1917 until 1919. He was discharged on the 7th March 1921, 12 years to the day since he had attested, and having been issued with a new army number, 1003005, in the interim. Notes in a Royal Artillery enlistment register record that his rank on discharge was that of corporal and that his character was rated as very good. There is also a note that prior to service as a career soldier, he had serv...

  Arrived overseas: 23 August 1914. Connection: Photograph. William joined the army on the 10th March 1913 and he was still in the UK, completing his training at Dover, when Britain went to war in August 1914. This photo of him is undated but probably dates to about June or July 1913. Wiliam set foot ashore on the same day that the BEF first engaged the German Army at Mons, and shortly afterwards, William too was in the thick of the fighting. He was an early casualty, reported wounded and recuperating in the 2nd Northern General Hospital in Leeds by October 1914. He did not return to France and was discharged as a result of wounds on the 24th July 1915. Nothing else is known about this man.

Arrived overseas: 12 August 1914. Connection: Victory Medal. Extensive paperwork survives for Gordon Henry Bridger in series WO 363. This shows that he was born in Eastbourne, Sussex and enlisted with the Worcestershire Regiment at Brighton on the 7th June 905 aged 18 years and two months. He stood five feet, seven inches tall and weighed 115 lbs, which is 8.2 stone or 52kg, and seems incredibly light by today's standards. Gordon served with the 3rd Battalion, Worcestershire Regiment until he was transferred to the Army Reserve in July 1911. Three years later, on the 5th August 1914, he was mobilised and, despite not having served in the army for three years, found himself in France a week later. He was diagnosed with VDH (Valvular Heart Disease) in March 1916, re-diagnosed with DAH (Disordered Action of the Heart) five days later, and returned to the UK. He remained in the UK until November 1916 when he was transferred to the Royal Engineers and sent back to France. He was wounded...

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...