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  1. #1
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    Default 147th Field Ambulance RAMC

    Hi,

    I am new to this forum and just finding my way around...

    Last year, I came across a lovely old little suitcase full of letters from a CPL Stephen Collier (7747866) of the 147th Field Ambulance RAMC to his young amour, called Betty Acheson.

    The letters start from Jan/Feb 1941, when Cpl Collier was based at Necarne Castle, Irvinestown, Co Fermanagh in Northern Ireland. Betty was the local Doctors daughter and they met at a dance and their romance blossomed.

    Stephen Collier was a Sheffield lad (324 Manchester Road, Crosspool), along with fellow Sheffield friends (Frank T Marsden and Kenneth Andrews) were based here until they were moved to Rosebrook Camp in Carrickfergus,Co Antrim, before being moved again to Doagh (Near Ballycastle). He was subsequently posted in 1942 to Loxley Hall, Utoxeter and then onto Misperton Hall near Malton in Yorkshire. Sadly, Stephen broke young Betty's heart and the letters stopped, and what happened to him after that remains a mystery I am keen to find out. frank Marsden wrote to Betty in 1945, saying that Stephen Collier was doing well at the 99th General Hospital BNAF in Rome.

    The letters are lovely to read, and at times very descriptive - for example the night of Belfast Blitz and when he went back home on leave to Sheffield, recounting the bombed out streets of his home city.

    So far, I have found out next to nothing about the 147th Field Ambulance RAMC, so I would welcome any pointers or advice. There are many dots to join - I guess I am just at the start of the journey!

    H

  2. #2
    Super Moderator christanel's Avatar
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    Default

    Welcome to the British-Genealogy forums.
    If you came to us from Forces War records this will explain the connection.

    As a start I checked on the CWGC site and he is not there so he survived the war.

    This is the National Archives WW11 guide to researching.
    Be warned, I don't find it an easy site to navigate but that may just be me. Like you I can't find much about the 147th Field Ambulance RAMC online

    Someone else will probably be along to help

    Christina
    Sometimes paranoia is just having all the facts.
    William Burroughs

  3. #3
    Famous for offering help & advice simmo1's Avatar
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    Hi

    The only thing I could find on National Archives UK was this -
    https://discovery.nationalarchives.go...eld+Ambulance+
    Googling brings up a lot of WW1 stuff, but I can only see this for WW2 - https://britishfriendsofnormandy.org...elsh-division/
    So a couple of clues??

    regards

    Robert
    Remembering

    My Father 1819170 Lance Bombardier Robert Simpson 39/14 L.A.A. R.A.

  4. #4
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    Someone has posted a family tree on Ancestry which says that Stephen married in 1942 and died in 1996 in Sutton, Surrey.

  5. #5
    Famous for offering help & advice simmo1's Avatar
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    Hi

    From Free BMD it looks like he married -

    Marriages Dec 1942

    Rogers Eileen A. Collier N.E.Cheshire 8a 290

    regards

    Robert
    Remembering

    My Father 1819170 Lance Bombardier Robert Simpson 39/14 L.A.A. R.A.

  6. #6
    Newcomer to Brit-Gen
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    Default

    Thank you all so much for your kind responses, hints and tips!

    In one of the letters, which must of been hard to write - Stephen Collier explains to Betty that he hadn't written for a couple of days when he was back in Sheffield on leave. The reason being, he had run into his ex-girlfriend and they decided to get back together. Maybe he married this lass? He was genuinely very sorry towards Betty though. Betty never married. She died about 10 years ago.

    H

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