Frank Hayes WW1 Gallantry award

[Mickmac]

Hi all, my name is Michael and I've just started to do some research about my grandfather Frank Hayes who fought in the first world war in the Loyal North Lancashire regiment. He was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal in 1917 for rescuing an airman from no-mans land but I have been unable to find out where he was at the time. I look forward to trying to uncover more information about his war record and I hope that some of you will be able to point me in the right direction during my search.

[Peter Goodey]

1. Check his medal roll index card.
2. Search the actual medal rolls (campaign medals, not gallantry)
3. This suggests he was in the 1st battalion.
4. Examine the war diaries for the 1st battalion

eg https://discovery.nationalarchives.go...ls/r/C14052709 (assuming the incident was in 1917)

Also see the Long, Long Trail

[gortonboy]

[gortonboy]

doesnt look like his service record survives.


First name(s) Frank
Last name Hayes
Service number 18861
Rank Private
Corps Loyal North Lancashire Regiment
Service record Soldier Number: 18861, Rank: Private, Corps: Loyal North Lancashire Regiment
Archive reference WO372/9
Archive reference description Campaign Medal Index Cards and Silver War Badge Cards

[christanel]

Welcome to the British Genealogy forums Mickmac

I have moved your post from the Introduce yourself forum to the WW1 forum as it is a research query. I also gave it the new title Frank Hayes WW1 Gallantry award.
If you came to us from Forces War Records then reading This will tell you a little about us and introduce you to the full Brit-Gen site.

Christina

[Mickmac]

Thanks for the info Peter. I have a copy of my grandfathers medal index card from the National Archives but it makes no mention of his DCM. The only medals on the card, (I assume they are medals), are, Victory, British and Star. It also gives his qualifying date as 27/4/15. Another family member has provided me with a copy of the citation which has, in brackets, after his name LG Sept 1917. One more piece of evidence, which more or less confirms the date of his act of gallantry, is a letter from the aunt of the airman he rescued dated 23rd Dec 1918. In it she refers to him rescuing her nephew in, "July last year", which would be July 1917. I am having great difficulty deciphering her handwriting, (I can't figure out her surname, which is the same as her nephew), but with a bit of perseverance I'm sure I'll get there in the end. Thanks for the link to the National Archives. I'll get a copy of the record and try to discover where my grandfather was in July 1917. Once again thank you for your help.

[gortonboy]

the LG is the reference to the award being listed in the London Gazette in Sept. But it usually doesnt give any detail.

[Mickmac]

Just a quick update on my search for info on my grandfather, Frank Hayes (18861) Loyal North Lancs Reg.I obtained a copy of the war diaries for the 1st Battalion as suggested by Peter but found no mention of my grandfathers rescue of the airman or his award of the DCM. So I assumed that he wasn't in the 1st Battalion but had no way of knowing which battalion he was in. I decided to concentrate on deciphering the letter from the airman's aunt and to try to ascertain the airman surname from her spidery handwriting. This is were I had a bit of good fortune. I could make out the surname ended "sley" but couldn't fathom the first bit, but decided to take a chance on it being Mawdsley.
I then entered Lt J B Mawdsley into a google search and when the results came up there was one for a Private J B Mawdsley that caught my eye because in the short preview it mentioned an "airman shot down on 22nd July 1917. When I clicked on the link what was revealed answered a number of questions regarding my grandfathers award of the DCM and references in the aunts letter to her nephew being transferred to the Canadian Forestry Corp.
I had always assumed that the airman was British but it turns out he was Canadian and Pte J B Mawdsley and Lt J B Mawdsley was the same man. Very briefly, he joined the 38th Battalion, CEF, in April 1915. He then transferred to Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry in July 1915 and came over to fight in the war. In late 1915 or early 1916 he was wounded and subsequently transferred to the Royal Flying Corp in February 1917 in order to be commissioned. Shot down on the 22nd July 1917 when he was rescued by my grandfather and others from no-man's land.
Also, with the information on the airman Lt J B Mawdsley, was a post by the relative of the other stretcher bearer who went out with my grandfather to rescue him but was unfortunately shot and killed. This post contained his name as being, Pte John Wilbraham (12970) of the Loyal North Lancs Reg. Subsequent searches revealed that Pte Wilbraham was in the 10th Battalion 'D' Company of the LNL so that indicated that it was my grandfathers battalion as well. I have now gone through the war diaries for the 10th Battalion LNL and although my grandfather or Pte Wilbraham are not mentioned in the entry for the 22nd July 1917 my grandfathers award of the DCM is mentioned on the 5th August 1917 and it states that the rescue took place "East of Oostaverne". One downside to the reading of the Battalion diaries was that in February 1918, the 10th Battalion of the LNL Reg was disbanded and were transferred to the 15th Entrenchment Battalion, for which no records have survived.
One last thing to note. In the details I found about Lt James Buckland Mawdsley were these: at the time of his enlistment in the 38th Battalion CEF he was an engineering student. After the war he went on to become " an eminent Professor of Geology at the University of Saskatchewan", he was also awarded an MBE. It makes my grandfathers efforts in rescuing him all the more worthy.

[Lesley Robertson]

That's a nice piece of research.
I see from CWGC that Wilbraham is listed on the Menin Gate.

[Mickmac]

The information I obtained about Pte John Wilbraham, my grandfathers fellow stretcher bearer, was from the website for the St Helens Rolls of Honour. It gives a detailed history of him and his family. He enlisted in St Helens, Lancs and lived in Haydock, Lancs which is a short distance from my grandfathers home town of Wigan. He was born in Port Stewart, County Derry and prior to the outbreak of war, he was employed as a coal miner. His brothers, Cuthbert and David Noel also served in the Loyal North Lancs Regiment. He was 32 years of age when he was killed and he is indeed buried at Ypres (Menin Gate).
My next task is to find out more information about my grandfather after WW1 ended. My mother always told me that after the war my grandfather rejoined the army. I don't know how long after the end of the war it was when he rejoined but she said he served in Ireland. I haven't a clue what regiment he was in, so if anyone can point me in the right direction I will be very grateful.