William Gray, Northumberland Fusilier

[Coquet]

An auction house (in Staffordshire) I buy from frequently had some 7th Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers medals in their last sale. The recipient apparently came from Amble, one William Gray.

So I now have his 1914-15 Star and Victory Medal. He would be entitled to a Silver British War Medal (which is missing). Bizarrely, same auction, in another lot was a British War Medal to another William Gray, also Northumberland Fusiliers; but a different number and battalion. I'm wondering if they are related?

I'll jot down my findings as I go in this thread - it's quite a good medium for notes, also someone else might know something regarding the life and times of our William Grays.

[Coquet]

the other chap:

6-2003 Pte W. Gray North'd Fus.

[Coquet]

So.... from the medal index card, our 3049/Gray was also numbered 290836. Also on the card is another number '3051', a couple of digits away from his original number, not sure what that is.

Card on ancestry (will require login to site)

The card gives his entry date to a theatre of war as 1st November 1915, so did not go with the bulk of the original battalion that went in April.

The card also has a date in pencil "30/4/58"

[Coquet]

On our AVLs our man is recorded with his six digit number, address '22 Church Street'. So definitely an Amble man at some point in his life!

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In 1911 the '22 Church Street' address is occupied by widow Martha Hart and her daughter, also Martha.
So I went to the new 1921 census and '22' is missing from their list of Church Street addresses. Not sure if that means it was unoccupied or numbers changed? At this time you have to pay to view the 1921 census so you cannot browse around the census without incurring high costs.

If our Mr Gray has moved on between the 1918 AVL and 1921 census I'm getting the feeling I might have major problems tracking this man down.


Anyway, sort of off topic but they are doing a wonderful job of renovating those two houses at the top of Church Street. No idea what numbers these are.

[Coquet]

Regarding 22 Church Street on the 'findmypast' 1939 Register, there's something up regarding what they are claiming to be '22' in their transcription. It appears to be number '3' on the document itself? There are also other errors in the transcription.

findmypast transcription

findmypast actual document photo for that transcription