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Archiver > GREATWAR > 2000-11 > 0973586573


From: Tom Morgan <>
Subject: Re: [WW1] Soldiers Who Died / Primary Source
Date: Tue, 7 Nov 2000 08:42:53 +0000
References: <000201c04868$329ca820$124f86cb@default><5.0.0.25.2.20001107051957.00a5f0e0@127.0.0.1>
In-Reply-To: <5.0.0.25.2.20001107051957.00a5f0e0@127.0.0.1>


In article <>, Iain Kerr
<> writes
>At 02:01 07/11/00, Bernard Carroll wrote:
>>Hello List
>>
>>Could someone please tell me what the primary source of information was for
>>the compilation of the Soldiers Who Died Volumes.
>
>Bernard,
>
>The Roll of Honour - "Soldiers Died in the Great War" was originally an
>HMSO publication in 81 volumes and reprinted by J B Hayward and Son.
>Essentially it was compiled from the consolidated lists of war dead
>prepared by the War Office and submitted to national and local newspapers
>for publication during and immediately after the war on a daily basis. The
>Roll of Honour lists soldiers from every regiments and corps of the British
>Army. A companion volume records "Officers Died in the Great War". Copies
>of the original books are held at the PRO, Kew and in some local libraries
>in the UK. The books are collector's items and there have been some
>reprints over the years. The Roll of Honour is arranged by regiment, and
>by battalion within that regiment. For ease of search you need to know
>which regiment the casualty served in. However, it is possible to find
>individuals through systematic searching using the Medal Rolls to identify
>his regiment.
>

Within the framework of Iain's excellent answer, I would add that the
information contained in "Soldiers Died......" seems to have come, in
the very first instance, from the soldiers themselves at the time of
enlistment, and must have been taken down longhand by army clerks. Their
written records would have had to be transcribed at some later date to
produce various casualty returns and, in the end, "Soldiers Died....."
and this could explain some of the errors which are found in the printed
version.

You often see obvious reading/transcription errors in "Soldiers
Died....." Not long ago, in this list, a writer asked for help in
finding information about a soldier called LEE who didn't appear in
"Soldiers Died......" If fact, he was included, but under the name LEO.

I have also been researching a soldier whose soldiers died entry says he
came from BRADLAND in Kent. There is no such place and the soldier came
from SNODLAND. It's easy to see how someone could have misread the
entry, especially when trying to make sense of what must have seemed an
unlikely place-name.

Some soldiers' places of birth or residence are also misleading. One can
imagine some young soldiers about to go away from home for the first
time, not realising how big the world is and innocently declaring that
they were born in "Stone Cross" or "Mesty Croft" - the local names for
the part of town they came from. These names were duly written down by
the clerks, who probably had no local knowledge. As a result these
soldiers' are not found when searching for their home towns.

The most vague place-of-birth in "Soldiers Died...." is probably that of
Pte. William Tompson of the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light
Infantry, whose place of birth is recorded as "The Bush, Australia."

Best wishes -

Tom








--
Tom Morgan -
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