Help Needed - Grandfather WWI

[trcopeland]

Searching for my Grandfather who served in WWI.
Name: William Key
Two regiment number: 172078 & 26011

[Pamelawagster]

Found this,perhaps a member can help explain This!
First name: W
Last name Key
Service number 26011
Regiment -
Unit / Battalion ?
Originating Record WO 363. 24861 Herbert Lanning, Gloucestershire Regiment
Series WO 363
Record set British Army Service Records 1914-1920
Category Military, armed forces & conflict
Record collection First World War

[christanel]

On the WWI Service Medal and Award Rolls there is this

Herbert Lanning
Rank -Private
Medal Awarded -British War Medal and Victory Medal
Regiment or Corps -Gloucestershire Regiment
Regimental Number -24861
Previous Units -14th. Bn. Glouc. Regt. 24861 Pte.

There is also a Medal Roll Index Card with the same name and number but no reference to a W Key. Also when I search for the regiment numbers without a name of the 30+ results none of them are for the surname Key.
Medal Roll Index cards are free to search and view on ancestry until the end of the year.

I was hoping the medal card would cross reference the two names and numbers as it did for my Dad's birth father. He actually enlisted in the army prior to WW1 in his own name then went AWOL. Joined up for WW1 using his mother's maiden name = went AWOL. Joined a third time under a completely different name with no connections to family. Had the cheek in 1925 to ask for his medals to be reissued in his correct name! His service records survived and helped explain all this.

I can't see any service records under the names Key or Lanning.

Is Lanning a family name by any chance?

Christina

[almach]

Searching for my Grandfather who served in WWI.
Name: William Key
Two regiment number: 172078 & 26011

Where and when was he born?

[almach]

Originating Record WO 363. 24861 Herbert Lanning, Gloucestershire Regiment

There is a record for a John Thomas Key regiment number 24861. He was from Nottingham,

[christanel]

There is a record for a John Thomas Key regiment number 24861. He was from Nottingham,

Good one almach. Now why didn't that come up for me?! Sometimes I think these sites have it in for me. Persecution complex me ? No way.

I am going to go and try again.

Christina

[christanel]

There is a record for a John Thomas Key regiment number 24861. He was from Nottingham,

WWI Service Medal and Award Rolls, 1914-1920
John Thomas Key
Military Year- 1914-1920
Rank - Private
Medal Awarded - British War Medal and Victory Medal
Regiment or Corps - Labour Corps
Regimental Number -24861
Previous Units - 37267 Pte Linc R

Medal Rolls Index Cards
John T Key
Regiments -Lincolnshire Regiment, Labour Corps
Regimental number 37267, 24861

So we can discount this bloke? As I understand it numbers could be repeated in different regiments at this time?

Christina

[almach]

Good one almach. Now why didn't that come up for me?! Sometimes I think these sites have it in for me. Persecution complex me ? No way.

I am going to go and try again.

Christina

I didn't find it on Ancestry, Christina, but the other site!

[almach]

So we can discount this bloke? As I understand it numbers could be repeated in different regiments at this time?

Yep. Coincidental that a chap named Key had the same reg number. So, back to the drawing board.

[christanel]

Bingo! Told you these sites have a mind of their own.
Medal Roll Index card
William Key
North Staffordshire (Prince of Wales' Regiment) Machine Gun Corps
26011, 172078

These medal Roll Index cards are free to view on ancestry until the end of the year. They are one of the sites which are licensed to put them online. The other is The National Archives and Findmypast. All pay per view.
I haven't found a service record for William Key as yet but be aware that 60% + of WW1 records were destroyed in WW11 by bombing/fire. These records are also only available on ancestry and findmypast. There is a free version of both in many public libraries so yours may have one of them or both.