My dad's crazy WW1 records

[Katelew]

Hi, this is complicated. This is the story my father told us over many years which I really believe is true. The timeline of the documents ties in perfectly but I can't find all the records to prove the truth as we know it. In a nutshell my dad Robert Healey, born in Liverpool 1898 said he joined the army at age 16 because he wanted 3 meals a day in 1914. We can't find the record of this and later record shows a join up in 1915 when he was 17 but said he was 19.
His service number shows (59123). He told us he was bomb blasted on the Somme while on active service with the Cheshires in September 1916. His regiment was at Guillemont at that time holding the lines at Flers-Courcelette. He told us he had no external injury but that his heart was displaced by the blast. He was fighting one minute and then he woke up on a stretcher in Scotland with a nurse putting a cigarette in his mouth and promising him a cup of tea. No record of this but the records do show that he was sent back to Liverpool to work on the Mersey defences. In 1916 he was only 18 and yet he was never sent back to France on active service.
He must have got bored as he bumped into friends who had just finished an Atlantic crossing with the Merchant Navy and they talked him into joining them on their next ship. My dad paid £1 for another sailor's pay book called Harry Brown and did several trips to New York. He said his ship Took two torpedoes during this time off the coast of Ireland but I am not sure if we have the timeline wrong but when he got back he was arrested for desertion in June 1917 and we have records of this. He wasn't badly punished as I suppose although he was technically AWOL he had been transporting troops and provisions for the war effort during this time and he was sentenced to two months in Preston Jail after which he was posted to Ireland with the 3rd Battalion.
On 6th July 1918 he was medically discharged from the army with a heart condition and the records are there to prove it and this is the strange thing, my dad lived until he was 92 and the doctors said during his last week of life that he had the heart of a 22 year old. This is what makes me think he was injured on the Somme otherwise why did he get an early medical discharge for a heart condition?
We can find nothing about his injury and nothing about his time in the Merchant Navy because he was using someone else's pay book. He mentioned that one of his trips to New York was on the Carpathia which was torpedoed in the right place on the way to New York and he also mentioned being on board the Missanabie which was also torpedoed in the right place. He could have been torpedoed on either of those ships or another completely different one that was travelling between Liverpool and New York and went down off the coast of Ireland. This is a huge ask of all you experts but I would like to get his record straight before all of his 11 children have gone to the big beyond and his great, great, great grandchildren do not know what really happened. His story sounds a bit far fetched but he was an orphan kid from the Cottage Homes in Fazakerley and was sent down the mines in Yorkshire at 12 years old so he just tried to survive as best he could. Thank you for taking the time to read this

[geneius]

I presume this is your father


Name: Robert Healey
Birth Date: 14 Jul 1898
Date of Registration:Apr 1990
Age at Death:91
Registration district: West Lancashire
Inferred County: Lancashire
Volume: 40 Page: 2043

The son of John & Charlotte ( nee BENSON ) HEALEY
John Lowery HEALEY
John L Healey
Birth Year:abt 1856
Age:48
Death Year:abt 1904
Burial Date:13 Jan 1904
Parish: Ford Cemetery, Lancashire, England

Charlotte b1859 died 1907

Robert was one of several siblings

The maternal grandmother with whom the family appears to reside was Charlotte BENSON ( nee STANGER) b 1827 London died 1915 by 1911 she was an inmate at Walton work house

It looks as if the family unit was broken up circa 1907 -1911

British Army WWI Medal Rolls Index Cards, 1914-1920 for Robert Healey
Robert Healey

Regiment or Corps:
The Cheshire Yeomanry Earl of Chesters
Regimental Number: 59123
Private
Enlisted 29 Oct 1915
Discharged 6 July 1917 para 392 (XV1a )KR*
Action taken CG/550


* https://www.military-researcher.co.uk...roduction.html

[christanel]

Regiment or Corps:
The Cheshire Yeomanry Earl of Chesters
Regimental Number: 59123
Private
Enlisted 29 Oct 1915
Discharged 6 July 1917 para 392 (XV1a )KR*
Action taken CG/550

This card in the Medal Card Index roll doesn't actually show any medals awarded and is a different format to the usual cards.
I wonder if anyone can tell us what Action taken:- CG550 means. This card looks more like an application for medals. I can't find a record of medals awarded to a Healey regiment number 59123 in the WWI Service Medal and Award Rolls records.

There is a Robert Healey age 16, a stowaway, being returned to England 28 August 1912 from Australia. There are 8 stowaways.
Just thought I would mention it but as your dad seems to have been very frank about all his other exploits there wouldn't have been any reason not to have told you about this, if it was him.

I see his pension record survives which is very lucky for you. What I have gleaned from them after a quick look.
I see on the first page there are 3 other possible service numbers. The one which appears to have been written first on the line - 17/30092. below this 52024. Above the number 17/30092 is 28265 with a black line through it and above it is 59123. There are lines all over these numbers.
There is also reference to the Machine Gun Corps 17th Batt (The Bantams) in the top RH corner of the first page.
His discharge note says his physical physique is not good and he is surplus to requirements. He was also treated in Dublin for an aortic systolic murmur in 1918. They were still examining him up until 1922 when he was declared fully fit for work. His papers are all over the place on ancestry.

I wonder if there is anything to be found under the other regimental numbers.
Christina

[SueNSW]

This card in the Medal Card Index roll doesn't actually show any medals awarded and is a different format to the usual cards.
I wonder if anyone can tell us what Action taken:- CG550 means. This card looks more like an application for medals. I can't find a record of medals awarded to a Healey regiment number 59123 in the WWI Service Medal and Award Rolls records.

This card is a record of his being awarded the Silver War Badge. The "Action Taken" actually says CY/550 - it refers to page 550 of the "Roll of Individuals entitled to the War Badge" compiled for Cavalry soldiers - where Robert Healeys's details are recorded - it confirms he was discharged from the Cheshire Yeomanry on 6th July 1918 - with an enlistment date of 29th October 1915. He was recorded as aged 18 when discharged - so again some flexibility with his age?

[christanel]

This card is a record of his being awarded the Silver War Badge. The "Action Taken" actually says CY/550 - it refers to page 550 of the "Roll of Individuals entitled to the War Badge" compiled for Cavalry soldiers - where Robert Healeys's details are recorded - it confirms he was discharged from the Cheshire Yeomanry on 6th July 1918 - with an enlistment date of 29th October 1915. He was recorded as aged 18 when discharged - so again some flexibility with his age?

Thanks for this explanation Sue

Christina

[Katelew]

Thank you for taking the time to do this. I know my dad actually joined up at age 16 in 1914 but I can find no record of it. It has been suggested that although he was accepted in while pretending to be 18 he may have been found out further down the line and thrown out and then tried again the following year in 1915. The records show that he was 19 yrs and 2 months old when he joined in 1915 when he was actually 17yrs and 4 months old. Why would he have not only have changed his age to a year older than what he needed to be to join but to also change the month of his birth? He was born on 14/07/1898 but this record shows a birth date of September 1896. Is it possible that his records have been mixed up with another Robert Healey?

[Katelew]

Also you mention about him being unfit for work and being treated for a heart murmur. My dad was one of the healthiest people I have ever met. He died just before his 92nd birthday and his heart, like him, was fit and healthy. He was 5ft 10 ins and weighed 12 stone all of his life and never suffered with any serious illnesses except a stomache ulcer. This just doesn't seem to fit in with what the records are showing. Is it possible that the heart problem he had was caused by a bomb blast on the Somme like he said it was?

[Katelew]

Yes thank you so much for all this information. It is so sad to learn that my great grandmother died in the workhouse. I am no good at researching so this is a real treat for me and I am so grateful that you have taken the time. This is definitely my father but I still can't get any proof that he was injured on the Somme or that he was originally sent to Scotland on a stretcher. I also can't identify which Merchant ship he was on when it was torpedoed. When I have done a timeline all the information my dad gave me fits in but without the proof it looks like he was lying. For 40 years my dad would tell these stories to me in such great detail that I honestly don't believe he was lying. He was not a dishonest man or the type to brag and his recounts were very consistent. There is so much more to his life's story like on one of the trips to New York he met Jack Dempsey the boxer. He didn't just repeat facts, he recounted ordinary conversations and interactions and everyday occurrences. In other words, we didn't just get the bare bones of stories we got the meat as well. Even down to French recipes he learned in France and accounts of the terrible mud in the trenches and how they would take food from dead bodies because they were so hungry. I would dearly love to find something that proved his service

[christanel]

Hi

Is it possible that his records have been mixed up with another Robert Healey?

This is possible. In the 1901 census there are 3 Robert Heal(e)ys born Lancashire c1898. There is also one born Bradford.

I will take another look later.

Christina

[Katelew]

There is also one born 1896 and 1893 I think and as my dad lied about his age to join up at 16 it makes me think. Thank you so much for doing this for me and if there is a cost involved please let me know. I am just not very good at the research.