Manylion y Cwestiwn
- Cwestiwn:
- In 1914 Lloyd George set about creating a Welsh Army to fight in WW1. He had great success in the cities and the valleys but in Carmarthenshire there were insufficient young men, who were surplus to the agricultural requirements of the area, to form an effective battalion. Because of this, over 300 young men were recruited in Bolton, Lancashire, and after training in Rhyl they became part of the 15th Bn The Welsh Regiment.
I believe that my grandfather was one of those men. According to the medal lists held at the National Archives in Kew there was a Pte 20304 Richard Lofthouse who served with this Bn on The Western Front. Later he was transferred and became Pte 63615 with the South Lancashire Regiment. I have completed just about every search I can think of but I'm still looking for that one piece of information that would prove, one way of the other, whether the Richard who served with the 15th Welsh was one of the 300 plus volunteers who came from Bolton.
I appreciate that it is easy to lose track of an individual soldier or indeed a small group of soldiers after all this time. However, a group as large as 300 must have left some evidence of their existence. I have done all the usual searches and contacted the regimental museum in Cardiff and the archives in Carmarthen but they couldn't help.
I would be eternally grateful if you could help me.
My email address is harry@learnrite.fsnet.co.uk
Harry Lofthouse
- Ateb:
- Dear Mr Lofthouse
Its obvious that you have already done a lot of research yourself and I am not sure if I am goin to repeat any organisations that you have already contacted, so I apologise in advance. Can I suggest you visit these sites to see if they can further assist you.
THe Royal British Legion
http://www.britishlegion.org.uk
The Western Front association
http://www.westernfrontassociation.com
The Imperial War Museum
www.iwm.org.uk
South Wales Borders Museum
http://www.breconbeacons.org/visit-us/easy-access/places-to-visit-with-easier-and-disabled-access/south-wales-borderers-museum
I think by reading your text that the reason you are not sure its the same Richard Lofthouse is because he has 2 service numbers, maybe the Imperial War Museum would be able to advise you on the military history involved in allocating service numbers to soliders.
You can also visit our website www.libraries.swansea.gov.uk
This will allow you to check our catalogue where you will find some books on welsh regiments. If you are interested in any of these books then if you visit your local library they will be able to make an interlibrary loan requet for you. Hope this information is of some assistance to you and good luck in your quest.
- Atebwyd Gan:
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