WW1

Tracing My Grandfather During WW1

 I never knew my paternal grandfather as he had died almost 35 years before I was born similarly my paternal grandmother had died almost 3 years before I arrived . My father died shortly after my 12th birthday and with him perhaps lots of answers regarding my ancestors. I am lucky that I can access quite a bit of information without leaving home and hopefully before 2018 I shall be able to trace my grandfather's military past during World War One. So I suppose I should start . My grandfather was Maurice Cooper born in /march 1886 in a house that had belonged to the family for over 50 years that occupied the corner of Bradwall Road and Chapel Street in Sandbach , Cheshire. As the twentieth century approached his family moved to The Hawthorns, Marsh Green Road, Elworth . The 1911 census listed the household as my widowed great-grandmother,my grandfather, his sister , 4 of his brothers , 1 orphaned male cousin and an aunt . By the end of 1918 5 men from that household had joined the army one sadly not to return home. I vaguely remember my father opening a metal tin when I was about 10 and inside were some metal badges and buttons and something being said about a brigade or similar and Manchester . I was far too young to retain all the information and later in life the photographs that were in my possession were not clear from the uniform which regiment my grandfather had been in . Luckily for me the son of one my father's cousins had this photograph of Maurice which clearly show the Manchester regiments badge on his left shoulder.

 Due to a transcription error it took my several years to locate Maurice's army number 40464 and the first set of army records that I viewed were fire damaged during WW2 and not very clear but then in September 2015 I just happened to run another search and suddenly a much clearer set of discharge papers appeared before my eyes. 

 The discharge papers consist of 16 pages altogether so quite a bit of information which will hopefully enable me to piece together a least a small part of my grandfather's life albeit back to front.

•  6th August 1917 discharged at Preston, Lancashire "Being no longer physically fit for War Service Para 392 XVI " . It says he served with the Manchester Regiment , 3rd Battalion . At the bottom of the page it says he was part of the British Expeditionary Force serving in France from 11th August 1916 to 30th December 1917 . His military character was described as "good" and his character described as "a steady sober man . Very reliable." . At the time of his discharge Maurice's description was : "31 years and 5 months old. Height , 5 feet 5 and a quarter inches tall . A 33 inch chest with a 2 and a half inch expansion. His eyes were grey , his hair was brown. He was an assistant overseer by trade and he lived at the Hawthorns." 

• 25th July 1917 confirmed discharge date of 6th August 1917. It says Maurice served in the army for 1 year and 239 days. 1916 was a leap year so in total Maurice served 604 days in the army.

 The third page page is the start of Maurice's short service papers and takes us to his enlistment :

• 11th December 1915 Maurice enlists at Crewe originally in to the Cheshire Yeomanry with the army number 2147 prior to it changing to 40464 . He's 29 years and 9 months old . He's an assistant overseer for Plant at Bradwall . 
• 28th Feb 1916 Maurice is transferred from the army reserves. 

 Maurice's height is given as 5 feet 4 and 3 quarter inches tall . apparently he grew half an inch whilst in the army. His chest measured 34 inches with a 3 and a half inch expansion . He listed his mother as his next of kin . In the Military History Sheet section it says :

 Home 27th Feb 1916 to 10th Aug 1916 . France 11th Aug 1916 to 30th Dec 1916 .

 Home 31st Dec 1916 - 6th Aug 1917 .

 Page 5 below is proving a little more difficult to translate and work out the numbers from the Base Depot France posting in August 1916. 

It says transferred to 4th T(erritorial) F(orce) Res(erves) Manchester Regt

under authority of A O 204 of  19169 A - -  1899 of 18169 to maintain former ---- -- ----.

( Any help with translating and understanding will be gladly appreciated ) 

  Page 6 is merely calculating the total number of days service which amounted to 604 in total.