Can anyone suggest a site that I could obtain a reliable military record for Thomas Alfred Boyington, 2nd Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment. Thomas was killed 22.11.1916 and is buried at Etaples. We are very lucky in Australia to have all our WW1 records digitised and free to view. I understand that many British records were destroyed in WW2 but according to Forces War Records website they have information on Thomas, however I'm wary of paying for unofficial information and hesitate to subscribe. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Regards, Kate.

Hi Kate, I wouldn't bother with the Forces War Records - if the record exists Ancestry would have it, and they don't. I currently have 327 names in my database, all of them WW1 Veterans who are buried in our local cemetery. While most served in the New Zealand Expeditionary Forces (NZEF) there are also plenty of British and Australian servicemen, and so fare one lonely Canadian. I have struck it lucky with some of my Brits and the surviving 'burnt' records of their WW1 service have turned up on Ancestry. Not all the headstones or RSA plaques include regimental numbers and most use only their initials, however, full names can be obtained from the burial records. Armed with a name I first search (via Ancestry) the Medal Index Cards and they generally provide me with a service number. I then switch to the 'All Military Records' option and have been rewarded a few times. For instance five brothers from Northumberland all served, two emigrating to NZ after the war (1926) and they and their wives and families remained here (locally) for the rest of their lives and some of their children (grandparents themselves now) still live nearby and I was able to contact them. Anyway out of the five, there were two surviving records. Another source which will also come up in Ancestry 'Military' search results are the UK, Soldiers Died in the Great War, 1914-1919 additional (to CWGC) info states died of wounds, Western European Theatre place of death France & Flanders - the apparent oddity of having died in two places is probably where he was wounded as well as where he died. The Battle of the Somme took place 1 July - 18 Nov 1916. The third phase from 15 Sep - 18 Nov, you will find most sources show in that period six distinct actions/battles, the last being the Battle of the Ancre, 13th to 18th Nov. I would suspect with a death date of 22 Nov that is when Thomas was wounded, to put it bluntly the wounded in most cases would not have lasted very long. He is buried at Etaples where many General Hospitals were located; he would first have passed through a Field Ambulance Station and/or Casualty Clearing Station. It might be possible to find out which regiments were at the Somme. I suggest you search The Long, Long, Trail website  http://www.1914-1918.net/training_reserve.htm     Good Luck Kara, Papakura, New Zealand (where we are catching up with Australia and Canada and have almost completed digitising all our WW1 records, including those of men (boys!) who grew up and also served in WW2.)  ________________________________ From: Kate <kcutting@alphalink.com.au> To: NOTTSGEN-L@rootsweb.com Sent: Monday, 3 February 2014 1:52 PM Subject: [NTT] WW1 records Can anyone suggest a site that I could obtain a reliable military record for Thomas Alfred Boyington, 2nd Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment. Thomas was killed 22.11.1916 and is buried at Etaples. We are very lucky in Australia to have all our WW1 records digitised and free to view. I understand that many British records were destroyed in WW2 but according to Forces War Records website they have information on Thomas, however I'm wary of paying for unofficial information and hesitate to subscribe. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Regards, Kate. Notts Surname List http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~hughw/notts.html ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to NOTTSGEN-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Morning Kate The information forces war records give a hit for is almost certainly from soldiers died database, also available on Ancestry and findmypast I do not believe fwr have any service records and very little not on other sites UK, Soldiers Died in the Great War, 1914-1919 about Thomas Alfred Boyington Name: Thomas Alfred Boyington Birth Place: Nottingham Death Date: 22 Nov 1916 Death Location: France & Flanders Enlistment Location: Nottingham Rank: Private Regiment: South Staffordshire Regiment Battalion: 2nd Battalion Number: 18648 Type of Casualty: Died of wounds Theatre of War: Western European Theatre His medal card shows BOYINGTON Thomas A S Staff R Pte 18648 Victory medal British War medal 1915 Star Theatre of war first served in (2B) Balkan Date of entry therein 11th Sep 1915 I think you will find the most useful site on the subject which will help you further is <http://www.1914-1918.net/soldiers/research.html> As others have suggested I would seek out the war diary for the unit, they rarely give names but should give an idea of where they were and what operations they were involved in He appears to be the only casualty from that unit on that day, with 117 casualties 1st to 22nd of November on various days The highest amount of casualties being 17 on the 5th Nov, 36 on the 13th, 26 on the 15th and 10 on the 21st, he could have been wounded in on any day of course Nivard Ovington in Cornwall (UK) On 03/02/2014 00:52, Kate wrote: > Can anyone suggest a site that I could obtain a reliable military > record for Thomas Alfred Boyington, 2nd Battalion South Staffordshire > Regiment. Thomas was killed 22.11.1916 and is buried at Etaples. > > We are very lucky in Australia to have all our WW1 records digitised > and free to view. I understand that many British records were > destroyed in WW2 but according to Forces War Records website they > have information on Thomas, however I'm wary of paying for unofficial > information and hesitate to subscribe. > > Any suggestions would be appreciated. > > Regards, Kate.