Military Awards
 

Another Amble MM:

Morpeth Herald 2 April 1920:

"Sergt. John Weddell, Northumberland Hussars, has been awarded the Military Medal for bravery on the field of battle. The exact incident which marked him out for a decoration was when on patrol duty in front of Epney, on the Somme front. The townspeople well appreciate his long and faithful service in the army and his gallant action."

Hauxley Military Medal
 

Have we got John Smailes yet?



Hauxley
Military Medallist - Corporal Jack T Smailes, Northern Cyclist Battalion, has been
awarded the Military Medal for Gallant conduct and good work with the Lewis Gun
on June 5th, 1917. He Also received the Card of Honour for distinguished
service on the battlefiels of Arras on Easter Monday 1917.

Newcastle Journal 11 August 1917
It says Northern Cyclist Battalion but it will be with the Northumberland Fusiliers.

Possibly been a bunch of guys from Hauxley enlisting together into the Northern Cyclists?:

TWO HAUXLEY HEROES

Recent communication from the front has brought sad news to two houses at Hauxley fishing village, and that news is that two cousins have paid the great penalty. These men are John Robert Taylor son of Mr Ben Taylor, and Lance-Corporal Harry Taylor, both belonging to the Northumberland Fisheries [sic Fusiliers?]. The former was killed in action on Easter Monday and the latter on 19th April. They both enlisted on 12th May 1915, joining the Cycle Corps, and both went out to France in 1916. where they have seen some desperate fighting, to which both fell on the above dates. John Robert Taylor was an athlete, and in the world of sport perhaps he excelled in the art of swimming, for which he held many prizes.
Among the most important of these prizes was the Gray Challenge Cup, which he won at Alnwick about four years ago. He was at that time the best swimmer in a very wide district, and his handicap was seen to when the next year's gala event came off, which was a compliment to his prowess in the art. In addition to this he was a singer of no mean order and his fine bass voice was heard at many concerts in the district. These two heroes were esteemed to a great degree throughout the district.


Morpeth Herald 04 May 1917

The Northern Cyclist Battalion . could have been part of the Northumberland Hussars !! Most Cavalry regiments were Dismounted after the initial failure of their outdated tactics , and reformed into Machine Gun Corps and Cycle Battalions . My self a Hussar . Was very proud to discover that my Grandfather served with NH , in their cyclist brigade in first War . the NH is an affiliated regiment of the Light Dragoons . For interest a lot from the MGC and the cavalry regiments went on to man the Little Willies for runners of the RTR regiments . I will look see if I have info in my NH archives re Cycle Corp.

info not fully correct

The Northern Cyclist Brigade Was a unit in its own right with no affiliation to NF , DLI. . formed 1908,, Northern Cyclist Battalion
1/1st Battalion: Headquartered at the Drill Hall on Hutton Terrace, Sandyford Road, Newcastle upon Tyne, the battalion moved on mobilisation in early August 1914 to its pre-planned war station at Morpeth. By 1916 it had moved to nearby Alnwick where it remained as part of the Tyne Garrison.
2/1st Battalion: Formed in late 1914 as a second line unit. By 1916 was at Skegness and in June 1918 was at Burton Constable as part of the Humber Garrison.
3/1st Battalion: Formed in 1915 as a depot/training unit. Disbanded in March 1916 and its men posted to the 1/1st and 2/1st, with some going to the Machine Gun Corp

One of the books I use for sorting out the transitions between the old Volunteer Force and the new Territorial Force (1908 on) is Ray Westlake's "The Territorial Battalions, A Pictorial History 1859-1985"

But he's not clear on this one. In the Northumberland Fusiliers part of the book he states:

Which is wrong for a start as we know there was an 8th Battalion in Kitchener's Army during WW1.

Then, in a separate section on the "Cyclists" he says:

:)

http://www.coquetandcoast.co.uk/imag...sts_badges.jpg


The label is perhaps wrong - may be they were Northumberland Fusiliers from 1908 - 10, I don't know!

"Northern Cyclists"
 

I don't think much has survived in regards to paper records in the archives as far as I am aware. Think I tried a search with the National Archives and it produced nowt.

There are quite a few cyclists on the Alnwick absent voters' list for 1918, or ex- cyclists that have been posted elsewhere.

Only one Cyclist in Amble on the absent voters' list, and he is in the "Cyclist Corps" which is a different animal.

Bet you've not seen that Shoulder Title being worn - I have a couple of post cards, - to follow.

http://www.coquetandcoast.co.uk/imag..._cyclist_2.jpg


http://www.coquetandcoast.co.uk/imag..._cyclist_1.jpg

Nothing on these postcards to indicate who they are unfortunately, but the cards were picked up locally donkey's years ago.

Tiny possibility they could even be a couple of Hauxley guys!

Found a few of the badges over the years , When the Cycles left Hutton Terrace drill Hall sandyford
one battalion went to Alnwick,

From The Long, Long Trail
The British Army in the Great War of 1914-1918,,
Battalions of the Territorial Force

When the TF was created in April 1908, three of these four Cyclist Battalions were established. The fourth was not created until 1913, as explained below. They are listed here collectively, but were independent units. In addition to these, certain infantry regiments also created TF cyclist battalions. And all of these were in addition to the Army Cyclist Corps.


Northern Cyclist Battalion
1/1st Battalion: Headquartered at the Drill Hall on Hutton Terrace, Sandyford Road, Newcastle upon Tyne, the battalion moved on mobilisation in early August 1914 to its pre-planned war station at Morpeth. By 1916 it had moved to nearby Alnwick where it remained as part of the Tyne Garrison.
2/1st Battalion: Formed in late 1914 as a second line unit. By 1916 was at Skegness and in June 1918 was at Burton Constable as part of the Humber Garrison.
3/1st Battalion: Formed in 1915 as a depot/training unit. Disbanded in March 1916 and its men posted to the 1/1st and 2/1st, with some going to the Machine Gun Corps.

http://www.1914-1918.net/armycyclistcorps.html


My Grandfather Alec Johnson originally of spittal was in the Cycle Corps or possible Battalion . I understood he was a Northumberland Hussar . could be wrong . I tried to find his details at Key but could not the documents they had been block reserved by a researcher , even tho only there for a few hours they could not let me see them . which I thought was disgusting .

This they say is a family group of medals plaque etc , NF, and Cycle Brigade

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/WW1-LARGE-...item48626e5aa9

Oops, yes we have got him, but I stuck him under a Radcliffe thread:o And he was NF according to the Morpeth Herald.

Hauxley Taylors and Smailes
 

Definitely three amigos these Hauxley guys. They must have enlisted together as they have sequential army numbers in the Northern Cyclists Battalion; 1853, 1854, 1855. Casualty rate of 66.6% sadly for them.

Who is the R. Smailes on the Radcliffe War Memorial?

No idea what the Commonwealth War Graves website have done to their search facility. It's useless now. :mad:

Hi,
I hope you're still interested in this and still on the forum.
The R Smailes on the Radcliffe memorial is my great-grandad but it was a mistake. He wasn't killed just wounded, (lots). It was a source of family laughs allegedly.
Richard was Jack's brother and their mother was Isabella Taylor, so I reckon the Taylor's who Jack signed up with were cousins, not just mates.
All Jack's military info says Northumberland Fusiliers after a certain point, but the fact that he's called John Thomas and was known as Jack smcauses some issues with the research.
If I find a definite link between the Taylor's who signed up with Jack, I will post it up here.

In this new data set the western front association has (pension ledgers) shared with ancestry and Fold3 sites, there is a Richard Smailes, Pte 34630, Northumberland Fusiliers, address looks like "School House, Hansby, Acklington, North'd", also says ' GSW Back' (GSW = gun-shot wound)


I assume Hansby is Hauxley and the rest ties in nicely with the AVLs (apart from the nature of the wound which is new info)


If you have an ancestry account they are here for a few more hours for free:

https://www.fold3.com/image/643595988?xid=1022 (that's the smailes card)

or the search page is here: https://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/db.aspx?dbid=61588

Hi,
That's the correct service number for him. My dad has his certificate hanging in his house. I knew about three wounds; shot in the nose, shot in the head, shrapnel to the leg. I never knew about the GSW to the back.
Thanks for the link. I think I need to do some more digging on Ancestry and Fold3.

By the way, what are AVLs, please?

AVL = Absent Voters' List March 1918

Here's the relevant page for Amble and Hauxley (Radcliffe) on the other site =


https://www.fusilier.co.uk/northumbe...fe_togston.htm

I can see lots of new names on the latest pension documents release. We can probably get quite close to a definitive list of those that served in the Great War, although I can think of a couple of groups of men that will still be missing.

How interesting those pensions ledgers are! Discovered some info about one of my great uncles. Enlisted in the NF in 1909 but never posted overseas in WW1 and discharged in 1918. He got himself a pension.
Found more stuff on FMP in the NF service records.
Looking for my other great uncle's records, he had what seems to have been shell shock. Only one that is a possibility was classified as having dementia at age 30. Wonder if that covered shell shock back in the day :(

Do any of you know why a soldier might be listed as being at the Command Depot N.F. Catterick. H.D.L?
There is a family rumour that Richard was investigated, along with others, for shooting at an officer.

I think it's just men recuperating from wounds or at home for some other reason had to have a parent unit to which they were allocated, it's very common to fine these men allocate to the 'Depot Battalion' or '3rd Battalion' in the UK. Their original active service battalion still being overseas in most cases.

Regarding 'H.D.L.' I never got to the bottom of that abbreviation, but almost certainly Home..D.. something. All the men marked 'H.D.L' are in the UK I believe.

Cheers. That makes sense. The family thought he might have been investigated in Canterbury but I can't find any records alluding to an officer being shot by their own men in the NF.

Rob, I don't know whether you have access to the FMP website which carried service records for the NF. https://www.findmypast.co.uk/transcr...SILIERS/047623

The site usefully explains abbreviations used:SGG, St George's Gazette; SWB, Silver War Badge; AVL, Absent Voters List; MIC, Medal Index Card; MR, British War Medal and Victory Medal Roll Books. On the notes it also states that information from the family gives a service number 7/2657.

That's great. Thanks.

Well, this new resource is turning out to be the rosetta stone for me. Finally -- finally found my Great Grandfather, not on the AVLs, but at 2 Swarland Terrace Red Row on the pension ledgers with his inlaws. His brother-in-law at that address is on the AVLs. G-G Served 10th Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers from 1915. Gunshot wound to the knee. He served many years on the Amble Colliers after the war - fireman to 2nd engineer. died 1967, I can clearly remember him. I played in his backyard in Newburgh Street as a kid.
My Gran said he would not talk about the war but he was Battalion stretcher bearer at one time.

Kitchener's 10th battalion N.F. serve Italy and France and Flanders. Perhaps shot by the Austrians in Italy?

So... 30 year puzzle put to bed as I had no idea what battalion or unit he served, just that he was 'in the war'.

Remember Who was William Griffiths? Ground to a halt with that one - gave up on it.

Have him now with the pension ledgers, he was renumbered 290319 and with that number he appears in the ledgers at 82 Hartside Terrace, Chevington Drift.

Ecstatic about that as I don't have many medals to Drifters.