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  1. #1

    Default Kings Royal Rifles in Sheerness 1916

    My grandfather married my grandmother in June 1916 at Sheerness Registry office. He claimed to be 27, although he was born in 1885, and she claimed to be 17 ,although she was born in 1900. Family legend is that he was given the choice of war or prison because my uncle arrived not long after, and under 16 pregnancy was viewed differently. According to their marriage certificate, he was a rifleman in the 6th battalion, KRR , stationed in Sheerness. According to records, 6th Battalion stayed in Sheerness until 1918 in reserve, but he was gassed and discharged , so he must have transferred units. He died in 1932 ,while my grandmother was carrying their ninth child.

    Using the war records for Thomas Edward Dowding , I can find no record of him . He was from Newcastle , his father was an Irish publican.

    Is the best place to look in Winchester at the regiment library? I have just started digging into my family's past, and he seems a great place to start.

  2. #2
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    I can find no record of him
    There's a medal index card

    https://discovery.nationalarchives.go...ils/r/D2673857

    Also available on Ancestry. He was entitled to the Victory and British War medals. He had transferred from KRRC to the Labour Corps.

    I can't spot anything else. He is NOT listed in the Silver War Badge list (if he had been discharged on health grounds, he would have been eligible).

  3. #3

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    Thank you, at least I know he did exist! The transfer is the key, I'll dig into when .

    The Labour Corps seems to be where they put the injured and infirmed , so it is difficult to find anything on that.

  4. #4

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    Welcome to the British Genealogy Forum. I hope that you realise that you're starting an addictive hobby!

    Over 60% of WW1 service records were destroyed by fire in WW2. However, some things can be found:
    There is a medal index card for Private Thomas E Dowding, firstly 8961 of the Kings Royal Rifle Corps and then 623512 of the Labour Corps. He had the Victory and British medals, which means that he reached the Front after the end of 1915 (had it been earlier, he would also have had the 14/15 Star).
    His service records do not appear to have survived, and there's nothing in the pensions catalogue, which means that if he was gassed, he wasn't considered by the army medics to be disabled. That is possibly why he was transferred to the Labour Corps.

    I'm afraid that finding info on men who survived WW1 is not always as simple as one might hope. However, is IS easily found in the census and birth marriage & death databases, so it might be a good idea to make a start with his civilian life as well.I've always found it a good idea when starting a new line to put family legends to one side (I treat them as clues rather than facts) and just follow the paper trails.
    Assuming that you're in the UK, enquire at your local library about access to one of the genealogy databases - Ancestry or Find my Past are often available to library members. However, this is a good weekend to start as it looks as though Ancestry are offering free access to Commonwealth, UK & Ireland records over the long Easter weekend - see their website on @ncestry.co.uk (change the @ to a and add the usual www). You will have to register with them.

  5. #5

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    Thank you ,Lesley.

    Yes , I do realise this is addictive and my grandfather is a great source of amusement. I suspect that the KRR transferred him to the Labour Corp because of his morals !Thanks for the tip on ancestry, will dig deeper.

  6. #6

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    Oh, I suspect that there were worse men than him in the army at that time.
    On 2 March 1916, voluntary enlistment in the army stopped and conscription began. I suspect that he was conscripted.

    You got into the Labour Corps because you were considered unfit for service in one of the regular units for some reason, but not incapacitated enough to be discharged from the army.. That didn't mean that they were not at risk - they served at the Front as well. There's a very good article about the Labour Corps HERE. As WW1 went on, the heavy losses in the fighting regiments meant that men were moved around to make up the numbers and, as that articles says " In the crises of March and April 1918 on the Western Front, Labour Corps units were used as emergency infantry."

    BTW Try and think your way into the mindset of the period - premarital pregnancy was a scandal whatever your age, and sex with a girl below the age of consent could get a man sent to jail. Stick to hard data for now - birth, marriage & death certificates, etc.

    Also please note that we don't allow details about potentially living people to be published on the open forum - if you're sure someone is dead it's OK.

  7. #7

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    BTW I'm a bit puzzled about why they had 2 children called Clifford, even though the one born in 1916 didn't die until 1988... Either there were 2 Miss Ballards married to Mr Dowdings, living in the same place and having children in the same period....

  8. #8
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    Ah ha. As my cracked old record says...the GRO index is not a list of registrations

    Insofar as we can guess what certificates look like from the index, it looks as if the birth was initially registered under the name of Ballard in 1916 without a father's name being quoted. It was then re-registered in 1930 under the name of Dowding. For indexing purposes, a manuscript entry was added to the 1916 index under Dowding.

    The word "See" followed by a date in the index usually implies a re-registration (as opposed to an amendment)

  9. #9

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    Uncle Clifford was born before Nan's 16th birthday and was followed by 8 others, including my mum. My grandfather died when my grandmother was carrying no. 9, Uncle Dick.

    The 1911 census has my grandfather as a rifleman in India, and has him as 'married'.


    The plot thickens.

  10. #10
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    The 1911 census has my grandfather as a rifleman in India,
    You're drip-feeding us information, aren't you? I hadn't realised he was a regular. This is significant because it has a bearing on where to look.

    There's a service record for him on Findmypast which you need to look at. It appears to relate to an earlier period than 1911.

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