Where can I find out about him?

[Hill Top]

I'm looking for info on my husbands relative Lance Corporal John Henry Smith who served with the Durham Light Infantry 19th Bn. He was killed on 19/10/1918 and is buried in Harlebeke New British Cemetery.
His regimental number was 19/817 and he was awarded the Military Medal.
We have searched everywhere we can think of and can't find anything about him. We would love to know why he got the MM.
Grateful for any help thanks.

[Lesley Robertson]

"Soldier who died in the Great War" has 2 entries for John Henry Smith, but it looks like 2 separate people.

1: John Henry Smith, b. Crook, County Durham; D. 19 Oct 1918; L Cpl; 19 Btn Durham Light Infantry;; 19/817; KIA; MM
2: ditto, b. Wolverhampton; d 19 Oct 1918; DVR; Army service corps, Numer T/213517, KIA; formerly 2367, 3rd NM Field Amb.

I've given the details of guy 2 because with identical names and death dates, other info might be needed to tell them apart.

There's another 2 John Henry Smiths in the DLI in the medal cards, plus 6 John H Smiths, one of which is yours. They show him as having the British and Victory medals, which means that he didn't join up until the start of 1916.

There are 2 sets of surviving service records for John Henry Smith of the DLI, neither of which is yours.

Your best bet to find anything about why he got the MM might be either his regiment's war diary (see the National Archives site) or local newspapers where he was living.
Sorry I can't give URLs - they're bookmarked on my pc and I'm at the office waiting for a traffic jam to die.

BTW, thank you for such a clear query, with all necesary information included!

[timbo58]

Have to be honest -I haven't seen many MM citations at all in the London Gazette, as there were 115,500+ of these medals awarded in WWI alone it is extremely uncommon to find out why by the LG anyway.

It might be mentioned in a war diary although usually from the diaries I've seen only officers are mentioned unless it's a chap winning a VC.

[Hill Top]

Hi Lesley & timbo58, thanks so much for your help.
Lesley - my J H Smith was the first one, born in Crook.
I'll have to try and check the regiment diaries.
Thanks again.

[janbooth]

His full service record is on FindmyPast website and can be downloaded for a small fee. It does mention the fact that he has a Military Medal, but not why he was awarded it, plus a Victory Medal and gives other personal information such as his short Will and the fact his body was exhumed and reburied. Unfortunately I cannot give full details, as subscriptions to FMP preclude this, but if you do not already have a copy of his war record it makes fascinating reading and gives a list of all family members and where he served obviously.

Janet

[Peter Goodey]

His full service record is on FindmyPast website

It's in series WO363 (the "burnt documents") and is available on Ancestry which the questioner may be able to see at her library.

[Hill Top]

Thanks Janet,

I'm all excited now!! I'll have to see what I can find on Findmypast.

also thanks Peter, although I've trawled Ancestry and can't seem to find anything. Maybe I should try again.

[Peter Goodey]

I've trawled Ancestry and can't seem to find anything. Maybe I should try again.

You need to focus the search and look at the specific database where his record is likely to be. Ancestry call this one "British Army WWI Service Records, 1914-1920" (dbid 1219)

There's no point looking at both Findmypast and Ancestry for this particular record (although there might be a point if you were looking for other records).