William Henry Eyles number 6550 joined from the Kent militia in 1899 at the age of 18, he served during the Boer war until 1902, received Boer war medal with 2 clasps, not sure what two clasps signify although according to this site he only had one, there is very little to go on with the forces site, he remained in the army until after the end of ww1 doing 19 years service he was captured by the Germans and was a POW until the end of the war and received a pension,
I have a copy of most of his service however where he served in South Africa,and in France seems to be a mystery both to the internet in general and this site in particular as his WW1 records are non existant his name not appearing at all for WW1, so I could tell them a thing or two, has anyone any idea where an accurate detail of his service may reside, you don't do 19 in the British army without some footprint, I thought that here would be the definitive answer but how wrong can you be , I have paid for a month so hopefully someone will have an answer in the next 28 days..
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28-01-2018, 3:27 PM #1
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pvt William Henry Eyles South Wales Borderers
Last edited by christanel; 28-01-2018 at 6:43 PM. Reason: bits of text obscured from end
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28-01-2018, 5:53 PM #2
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I have seen an image with a W H Eyles of the South Wales Borderers,its a roll of soldiers receiving Kings South Africa medal and clasps for 1901 & 1902 however the number for him is 6220.
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28-01-2018, 6:57 PM #3
Welcome to the British-Genealogy forumsixtis16
I think you may have come to us from Forces War records so reading this will tell you a little about us and why you came to the Brit-Gen forums
WW1 service records can only be found on FindmyPast or ancestry as they are the pay per view companies licensed to hold them. However more than 60% of WW1 service records were destroyed by bombing/fire in WW11 so it is a very lucky person who finds their relatives record.
All sites do have a section where you can view which records are held by them as do FWR - it is at the bottom of the home page. If you wish to talk to admin at FWR you can contact them by clicking on Help in the top right hand corner then on Talk to Us from the drop down menu or by emailing them on this email address [email protected].
Can you give us his date and place of birth, his parents/wife's name? Anything to sort him out from others and we will take a look to see what is to be found. He may not have served in WW1 with the same service number because they could change regimental numbers if moved from one unit to another.
ChristinaSometimes paranoia is just having all the facts.
William Burroughs
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28-01-2018, 8:01 PM #4
Ancestry's index of WW1 medals has a 6220 Pte William H Eyles, S Wales Borderers, with the 14 Star, clasp and roses, as well as Victory & British medals. It says that he was a P of W on 21 Oct, 1914. Arrived in the Theatre of War on 13 Sep 1914.
This corresponds with Pamela's note 2. There are quite a few other William H Eyles, but not in the SWB.
Ancestry also has pension records for 6220 Pte Eyles. He's the only one of that name & regiment. Was your guy married to Florence Annie, with children Florence and Elizabeth? If so, it looks as though 6220 is your man which is lucky for you as his record has been included with the pension papers. As Chris says, over 60% of WW1 service records were destroyed during WW2. Enlistment form is dated 6 Jul 1899, he was 18 years & one month old. S.Africa 1900-1902.
If this isn't your guy, his life was remarkably similar to your description in #1.
It looks as though he had 3 clasps on his SA medal plus other related medals.
PS British Genealogy is free to use - you don't have to be a member of FWR.
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28-01-2018, 9:13 PM #5
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Thank you this is my uncle Bill I have copies of his enlistment and discharge papers, I was wondering what battles he was engaged in in the Boer war, I assume that the clasps had the names of the places he fought at, he was a chimney sweep after he was discharged, quite a character if family history is correct, he used to mix ordinary soil with soot and sell it to gullible folk as high quality peat based soil probably killed anything it came into contact with, I could not decide if his number was 6220 or 6550 as the writing on his enrollment papers were all joined up and could have been either.anyway thank you for the information, i wonder what became of his medals.Any chance do you think of me finding out the circumstances of his capture I knew it was 1914 it would be a great help to a relative who is writing a book on the Eyles family. Regards Chris Fagan
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28-01-2018, 9:18 PM #6
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I only have his photo of about 1930, the number would be 6220, it is just that on the enlistment papers the number are joined up and could have been either, is there any way I can get his photo.
Regards
Chris FaganLast edited by ixtis16; 28-01-2018 at 9:26 PM. Reason: misspelling
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28-01-2018, 10:52 PM #7
This is The National Archives guide to researching the Boer War.
I think the only chances of you getting a photo of him is if someone else in the family has one or the local paper did a piece on him after the war as local boy made good.
This is The National Archives research guide for WW1 war diaries. You may be able to get a general idea of where he served because you know his regiment but it would be unusual if he was mentioned by name.
ChristinaSometimes paranoia is just having all the facts.
William Burroughs
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29-01-2018, 8:58 AM #8
You could try his regimental archives/museum. My GUn let George served with the Black Watch in the Boer War, and we found that the regiment had photographed every soldier before they shipped out, said photos being in the Black Watch archives.
Regarding details about individual battles, etc, your best bet would be to track down the Regimental Diaries, as Chris suggests, and see what they were doing in that day. They don’t normally mention the rank and file by name, but they should at least tell you where the regiment was.
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30-01-2018, 12:22 AM #9
Hi...do you have his prisoner of war records ?
Gortonboy. Mike.
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30-01-2018, 12:22 AM #10Gortonboy. Mike.
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