Can anyone help me find a soldier...?

[SoupDragon]

I was wandering through a cemetery and came across a war grave. It was all alone with nothing near, right on the edge. I have no connection to this young man at all - I was attracted by the regimental dragon carved on his headstone.

Looking at the inscription, he seems to have been awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal and what I can find via Google seems to say this was awarded on 18th April 1916. I would really like to find out what he was awarded it for but, with no memberships of any sites, I've found very little. He died in 1920, so after the end of the war but I would assume it was because of injuries sustained during it.

Can anyone help with my idle quest please?

There are a few places you could try.

I'd start with the Regimental Association, which may or may not hold the Regiment's records, but should know where they are. I found this on google, and there's an address on the "join us" page, so you could post an enquiry to them (page looks a bit old, but probably still worth a shot). They may have Regimental Histories which would have the info (some units have a museum, whose archivist would know where to look)

Join Us - The Friends of the Buffs - Royal East Kent Regiment (friendsofthebuffs-rekr.com)

Or there's the Commonwealth Graves Association

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission | CWGC

Otherwise it would be one of the other places where military records are held. IIRC, these could be the National Archive at Kew, the National Army Museum or the Imperial War Museum

One likely source would be the Regimental Diary (which would hold the record of what action they were seeing - not the same as personal diaries) as that should contain info on the sort of meritorious conduct which led to the citation and the award. These are official records and are at Kew

British Army war diaries 1914-1922 - The National Archives

See following from April 1916. As found inThe Gazette

Thank you!

I don't feel I can go so far as contacting a regimental group given it's just curiosity on my part. I know the regimental museum seems to have closed a this soldiers medals were sent from there to the archives of somewhere I can't remember! They are catalogued with a lot belonging to other soldiers (which actually seems rather sad).

I found mentions of the Gazette but never managed to find "my" soldier. It sounds like he was a good, brave man though from that snippet. Sad that his grave is stuck out all alone for whatever reason. Odd.

Arthur John Newman, birth registered Q2, 1887 in Woolwich Registration District. Son of Mary Elizabeth [aka Elizabeth Mary] Newman (nee Adams) and Charles William Newman.
There is a record of attestation 03 Oct 1906 for the Militia/Reserves also with "The Buffs" (but different service number). At this point he was living in Herne Bay and working as a pastrycook. It looks like he was one of 8 children.
According to "Family Search" he married Jane Pettitt in 1917 in Croydon.
Don't know how he died, but at some point he was wounded by shell fire (although the outlook was deemed "favourable").

Thank you!

He is buried in Croydon cemetery so that makes sense. He came home.

Now knowing his wife's name, they seem to have had a daughter in the June before he died. There is another girl born in 1911 (not in Croydon) with the surname Newman and mother's surname of Pettitt. Interesting.

Family history is interesting, even when it isn't your own family!

I would urge caution. There are several trees on Ancestry with Arthur John Newman, but only one of these suggest a wife Jane and two children (one of whom died in infancy).

Could it be two different Arthur John's? The Arthur of the headstone is recorded on CWG as son of Mary and the late Charles, but no wife mentioned. Also, the grave registration document on CWGC records a sister, Mrs M Allen as NoK, again no wife mentioned.

As it's only curiosity, I'm not worried about getting the wrong person. The one with the wife Jane Pettitt in Croydon makes sense as he is buried in Croydon. The child born in 1920 was born in Croydon so that looks right too. The other child looks less likely.

I think I have satisfied my curiosity (other than wondering why the grave is all alone and why he died after the war). I know he was probably married and had a small family and I know what the medal was for. I hadn't managed to find any of that! Always trust Mumsnet!

I think it would be very easy to go down a rabbit hole!

Just in case you aren't aware, and your curiosity on why he died after the war is still piqued, you can purchase a digitial copy of his death certificate for £2.50 via GRO.

The rabbit hole often is deeper than you think 🙂.

It is tempting but I think that would be a step further onto the slippery slope!

Just to add to the above, here is a copy of the Medal Roll Index Card for him.

It shows that he first arrived in France on 17th Jan 1915. So he qualified for the 1915 Star medal, but was 17 days too late to qualify for the 1914 Star medal.

(The first British soldiers arrived in France around 13th Aug 1914, Britain had declared war on Germany on 4th Aug).

He also received the Victory Medal and British War Medal.

The card states that he was discharged from the army on 11th Oct 1916 and that he qualified for the Silver War Badge. This was a badge provided to men who had been discharged so that people wouldn't call them cowards or shirkers.

Thank you. Presumably the poor man was discharged because of the injuries from shell fire a useruserna mentioned.

The amount of information available from home is amazing if you know where to look. The effort put into scanning all the paper records must have been a huge task.