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Old 26-03-2017, 05:21 PM
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Default Who was William Griffiths?

Here's a medal that has come my way. To a soldier in the local battalion of the Northumberland Fusiliers.

Not having much luck pinning down who he is. (As is often the case)

We can assume in April 1915 he was aged between 19 and 41 and he lived somewhere between Wansbeck and Berwick. (Unless he lied about his age and was younger)

According to his medal index card he sailed with the originals to France on the 21st April 1915, and his christian name was William.

He survived the war, but another man, with the same name in the same battalion, didn't.




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Old 26-03-2017, 05:53 PM
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Perhaps not as bad as first thought. Putting a filter on for age I'm left with four options for this man on the 1911 census Two at Bedlington, and two at East Chevington.


[There is a risk here in that he might have arrived in the area after 1911]

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Old 26-03-2017, 05:55 PM
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Surviving the war, if he was from East Chevington, he should be on the absent voters list on the other website, which he is not.
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Old 26-03-2017, 06:04 PM
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So I am down to two options, 2 and 4 in the list above? No. 4 is probably too old and has a middle name. Most likely is no. 2.
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Old 26-03-2017, 06:25 PM
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Next step I suppose is a trip to Woodhorn to look at the Bedlington 1918 absent voters list to see if it is this man. Thing is, some of the lists are missing for that area.
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Old 26-03-2017, 11:13 PM
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This is the likely individual:

William Griffiths, 27, son of William and Marth(a) Griffiths, 4 Walker's Terrace, Havelock?, Bedlington. Coal Miner (Hewer) Ancestry page


Curiously, a set of service papers exist for a 30 year old (in 1915) William Griffiths from Bedlington. He joins the Tyneside Scottish but he is discharged in Feb 1915, 'not likely to become an efficient soldier', cause is a compound fracture of the fibula and tibia, and caries. Initially I wondered if it could be the same man, as there does not appear to be any other options for a second William Griffiths in the 1911 census. I then noticed this chap was married Jan 1911. As the census, which was taken on the 2nd April 1911 has him as single, this must be a different man. BUT........Going to the actual marriage index his marriage is actually in 1912. So the army service papers have the wrong year for his marriage.

So.. the possibility that these papers are the same man as the medal is back on. Could he be recovered from a broken leg in time to join the 7th Btn and be shipped off 21st April?? that seems unlikely, but if so why is there not a second William Griffiths in the 19111 census?


Some of the Ancestry users are linking the 1911 census Griffiths with the army service papers Griffiths in their family trees.
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