Military Heritage

Are you a Pilgrim?

2009-08-19T21:39:00.007+01:00

"Baldrick, what are you doing out there?
I'm carving something on this bullet, sir.
What are you carving?
I'm carving "Baldrick", Sir.
Why?
It's a cunning plan, actually.
Of course it is.
You know they say that somewhere there's a bullet with your name on it?
Yes.
Well, I thought if I owned the bullet with my name on it, then I'll never get hit by it. Because I won't ever shoot myself.
Shame.
And the chances of there being two bullets with my name on them are very small indeed."

Most readers will recognise this as an extract from the hit comedy Blackadder Goes Forth which starred Rowan Atkinson and Tony Robinson, who then went on to feature in Time Team and many other interesting history programmes.

Many soldiers during the First World War, quite understandably, developed a fatalistic approach to life and many of those who survived the experience spent the rest of their days wondering why they had been spared when so many of their comrades had not.

As for a bullet with their name on it - well perhaps not quite as literally as Baldrick's interpretation - but what would the chances be of the only two casualties of the war with a certain name dying on the same day?

Whilst researching the casualties of my grandfather's regiment, the Honourable Artillery Company, I discovered that the only two casualties called Percy Pilgrim who are listed in Soldiers Died in the Great War both died on 5th June 1915.

Private Percy Pilgrim, 1082, Honourable Artillery Company was born in New York. He enlisted at the regimental headquarters of the HAC at Armoury House, London giving his place of residence as Crouch End, London. He was killed in action on the Western Front on 5th June 1915.

Private Percy Charles Pilgrim, 1805, Royal Army Medical Corps enlisted in Cambridge and died at home on 5th June 1915.

What are the chances of that I wonder?

1911 Census triumph!

2009-08-11T22:20:00.001+01:00

A great way to start researching your family history is to talk to the older generations of the family. Some years ago Deb spent some time gleaning information from her grandmother. One of the things she told her was that Deb's great grandfather had stayed to look after the family business when his brothers went to the First World War. Having had an interest in the war for some years prior to the conversation, Deb was intrigued but her grandmother was talking about her husband's side of the family and knew very little detail.

Some years later I decided to try to investigate but initially this proved far more difficult than I had expected. I set off in search of connections but could find very little to prove or disprove the family story. What I did discover was that this was no run of the mill family.

It turned out that Deb's great grandfather, Charles Myers, was the illegitimate son of a printer and publisher from Southampton. In fact he was one of eight illegitimate children born to James Myers and Annie Chrisp. Born in 1882, inconveniently the year after the census, Charles first appears on the 1891 census as Charles Myers but his older brothers appear on the earlier census with the surname of Chrisp. When Annie Chrisp died in 1889 James Myers had to take over the children. The mystery was beginning to unfold - perhaps I should have been looking for Chrisp, not Myers.

The 1901 provided disappointing results. The family had split up by that time, with the girls in service, James Myers in the workhouse and Charles lodging with his future mother in law. However despite extensive searches I could not find Charles' brothers under the name of Myers or Chrisp.

Like many of you reading this I was extremely excited about the early release of the 1911 census - and this time I was not disappointed. I found Bertram Myers, Charles eldest brother, and I couldn't believe my eyes! There it was - Occupation - Staff Sergeant in the Royal Engineers. Charles' brother was a professional soldier! I had been looking for a volunteer, or a conscript, maybe even a casualty but no, Bertram Myers had been serving his country for about 20 years before the outbreak of the First World War. The explanation for his absence from the 1901 census was also clear to see as he had a ten year old son who was born in Aden.

Using the medal index cards and the pension records I have been able to find out much more about Bertram Myers' service. It makes for fascinating reading. He served throughout the Great War and was entitled to the 1914 Star, the British War Medal, the Victory Medal and the Meritorious Service Medal. I don't hold out any hope of locating the medals but now have keepsake medals to remember him by.

It just goes to show that sometimes there is truth in those family stories but you may have to search long and hard to prove it!

Family history events 2009

2009-08-09T15:27:00.000+01:00

We are looking forward to meeting you at the following events:-

Hampshire Genealogical Society Open Day at Horndean Technical College, Horndean on 20th September 2009

Find Your Roots, Matford Centre, Matford Business Park, Exeter on 10th October 2009.

Information on further events to be attended by Military Heritage will be posted on the blog as known.

See you soon!

My Military Heritage

2009-08-05T02:51:00.000+01:00

Some years ago I became interested in my family history. My interest was triggered by the arrival of my “mysterious” uncle. I had thought that my father was the eldest of two children and from Somerset, whereas he was in fact the youngest of eight children and from Birmingham. Having been evacuated at during the second world war, in common with countless other children, he never returned to his family but was adopted by his “new” parents. I was about eight years old when my mystery uncle turned up out of the blue. A hasty history lesson ensued.

I decided to find out more about my family history, and not just the pre-adoption side, but there was a limit to what I could at the tender age of eight years old. There was no such thing as the internet - I seem to recall that our TV was black and white. However, I did establish that my great grandfather’s brother had been killed in the First World War, or Great War as it was known, and was commemorated on the Memorial to the Missing at Tyne Cot, Belgium. My family is not well travelled – my mother has vowed never to have a passport – and so Belgium seemed to me some far off land that I could only imagine. Remember, I was only eight!

Family history research is a great hobby. You can pick it up and put it down (although be warned, it is addictive) whenever time permits or allow yourself to become sidetracked (or obsessed) by a particular line for a while. The events have already happened, and so the information is always there waiting for you to discover. Sometimes you find yourself wandering back to it from the most unlikely source. And so it was that may years later, having left school after my A levels and started work, I found myself on an O level psychology evening class course. I had gone there because a friend was fed up with being overlooked for promotion at work, needed to get some more formal qualifications but didn’t have the confidence to go back to college on her own. She asked me whether I would take some classes with her and psychology was one of them.

What has O level psychology got to do with family history or the First World War I hear you ask? Well, the course finished a couple of weeks before the exam and the lecturer suggested that we could all meet in the local pub to discuss any revision issues. During the general chit-chat the lecturer mentioned that he was going to the battlefields and cemeteries of the Western Front. Remembering my great grandfather’s brother, I asked him whether he knew of a place called Tyne Cot. It seems ridiculous now, but, bless him, he didn’t laugh at my ignorance (Tyne Cot is the largest cemetery in Passchendaele and the Memorial to the Missing commemorates over 32,000 men who have no known grave). Instead he told me that the trip was being organised by some members of the local branch of the Western Front Association and that there was one space left on the mini bus.

And so it was that on a beautiful September day in 1989 I stood looking at the name of A J Hill of the Grenadier Guards on the memorial at Tyne Cot. I still can’t quite believe that I went on a mini bus trip with people I didn’t know to a foreign land (complete with British Visitors Passport – remember them?) but I am so glad I did. After that first trip I was overcome by “withdrawal” symptoms and just knew that I had to go back. I now return to the battlefields and cemeteries as often as I can and although this is usually only once every three or four years, each time I leave I know that it will only be a matter of time before I am back there again.

On a family history note, I have since discovered many more ancestors who had an involvement in the Great War – some who survived and some who did not – and, not content with researching my own connections to the war, I am now researching Deb's family history and those commemorated on local war memorials.

You can see a part of my Military Heritage on the Military Heritage banner – that fine looking chap on the end is A J Hill.