Medal Roll Index Cards but no service record

[Colin Rowledge]

I have found what I believe is the Medal Card for Frederick Charles Golley, born Redruth 4th q. 1897. He was in the Royal Engineers with the Rank of Driver and #71779

He was awarded the Victory, British & 15 Star. He went to France on 12 October 1915. I cannot find any service records for the war years on either Ancestry or FMP.

Many things are consistent with this man being my Fred. C.
1] He survived the war years
2] He became a bus driver in Cornwall and married in 1928 to Elizabeth Mary Ahlstedt [I'm sure you'll recognise her surname]
3] In his later years he became a bus conductor rather than a driver - this would be in the early 1950's
4] He was my mum's uncle. In the late 1950's she had a 'falling out' and never wrote or mentioned his name afterwards.
5] He died in Redruth in 1965 age 67. His wife died 3 years earlier also in Redruth.

Can someone assist me with finding the service records of this man so that I can confirm his relationship to me?

[jac65]

Hi

Unfortunately some 60% to 70% of WW1 Service Records were destroyed by fire during WW2.

Andy

[Peter Goodey]

I cannot find any service records for the war years on either Ancestry or FMP.

You wouldn't find them on FMP. If they're not on Ancestry they are presumably lost although in a very very few cases something can be found in TNA Class PIN

If I were you I would work through these signposts -

https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/r...%5Cdefault.htm

[Coromandel]

Judging from FreeBMD there only seems to have been one other Frederick Charles Golley (in England/Wales that is). His birth was registered Q1 1889, Truro district. There's a probable death registration for him in the first quarter of 1915, on the Isle of Wight. FreeBMD just gives the middle initial 'C' but the Isle of Wight BMDs site confirms that he was a Frederick Charles. Since he died before the Frederick in the Royal Engineers went to France, it seems quite likely that the latter is your Frederick.

It might be worth trawling through newspapers for Redruth for the First World War period. My local paper carried lists of those serving, some photos, letters sent home from the Front, accounts of injuries/deaths/medal awards, and so on: sometimes much more than I have been able to find in any 'official' sources.

[Liane Hawes]

Hi Colin

I'm heading off to the National Archives at Kew in early October so if you want me to look for this chap for you, then I'm happy to do so. Just mail me all the details you have and I'll see what I can find although as has been said above a lot of WW1 service records were destroyed in WW2.

Liane

[Coromandel]

Just to confuse matters . . .

I see that there is another medal roll card for a Frederick C. Golley, Private no. 29236, Hampshire Regiment (Victory & British War medals). This could perhaps be the one whose death was registered in 1915, but I cannot see him on CWGC or Soldiers Died in the Great War, so if it is the same man he was presumably no longer in the army at the time of his death.

[Colin Rowledge]

Just to confuse matters . . .

I see that there is another medal roll card for a Frederick C. Golley, Private no. 29236, Hampshire Regiment (Victory & British War medals). This could perhaps be the one whose death was registered in 1915, but I cannot see him on CWGC or Soldiers Died in the Great War, so if it is the same man he was presumably no longer in the army at the time of his death.

I found this one as well, but somehow I don't think it's my Fred C. I know [or think I do] that my chap served in France in late 1915 or early 1916.

Thanks though, Coromandel, for your assistance.