Mandie
06-09-2005, 10:37 PM
My partner's Grandad (Eliazer Cuthbert Bell - born 1906) joined the Coldstream Guards c1929 and left c1947. We believe he was in the 2nd battalion. On his wedding certificate his occupation is given as Corporal in Coldstream Guards. When he left it is believed he was a Sergeant. He was a batman for an officer and spent some time at Trent Park. His service number is not known. He died in 1965.
We wrote to the Coldstream Guards at their Regimental Headquarters at Wellington Barracks, Birdcage Walk, London and they initially sent a form which we put all the info we had and then returned it with a cheque for £20. They have just sent back a standard letter saying there are 150,000 files and they cannot tell us any more than what we told them.
Does this mean that we'll never find out if he received any medals? He never claimed them because it was 'just his job', but his children and grandchildren were hoping to know what he had recieved and if any photos existed of him - since they only have one.
Do you think it's worth ringing them up or even hiring a professional genealogist? We've never tried to look for military records before so we don't know if we've broken some military etiquette we were unaware of. [We had copies of all the certificates ready to send to them, but they never requested them.]
Help!
We wrote to the Coldstream Guards at their Regimental Headquarters at Wellington Barracks, Birdcage Walk, London and they initially sent a form which we put all the info we had and then returned it with a cheque for £20. They have just sent back a standard letter saying there are 150,000 files and they cannot tell us any more than what we told them.
Does this mean that we'll never find out if he received any medals? He never claimed them because it was 'just his job', but his children and grandchildren were hoping to know what he had recieved and if any photos existed of him - since they only have one.
Do you think it's worth ringing them up or even hiring a professional genealogist? We've never tried to look for military records before so we don't know if we've broken some military etiquette we were unaware of. [We had copies of all the certificates ready to send to them, but they never requested them.]
Help!