Found my grandad's medal from world war 1.

[charlietangoteakettlebarbeque]

Hello

we found his medal from world war 1. It says the following:

4870
Pte d white
R. Muns. Fusi

he was from Ireland. I know that Fusi is short for fusilier (I think)

I've Googled everything that's on the medal but nothing is coming up

I told my irish family I would investigate, find out what it was he did in the war etc. He did survive, albeit less one eye, but that's all I know.

I'm at a loss as to where to go from here!

Can anyone shed any light or help at all? Here are pics

I tell a lie. It says "B.W. + V Medals Retd"

Ie British War and Victory Medals returned. Interesting...

According to 1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=82333, 1743 King's Regs 1912 reads "Medals which, at the end of 10 years, still remained unclaimed, will be sent to the India Office (If granted for India Service), or to the deputy director of ordnance stores, Royal Dockyard (Medal Branch), Woolwich (if granted for other services) to be broken up. A.O. 402 1913"

So the 4870 Pte Donat White I'm looking at didn't claim his other medals. The 1914-15 stars were issued earlier, from 1918. The two medals from 1919 onwards I know from my own family still hadn't all been distributed by 1921.

There may be a story there, OP. I would suspect something along the lines RedToothBrush has mentioned, of political issues.

It was just a transcription rather than an actual record. I did spot the different number, but the rest of the details do seem to match.

In general, I have found service numbers to be a little unreliable for various reasons (can be as simple as a transcriber assuming a number is a service number when its a number that relates to something else). I've also found service numbers change on numerous occasions.

Given that the OP's D White lost an eye, I would expect to find a record for a silver badge award - and this was the only one for a Donat White and the battalion did match.

It is possible they are different men, but I think it more likely they are the same man, different/wrong number.

Hmm, I'm not finding a Dona* White in the 1901 or 1911 Ireland census.

Curious.

Nor in the England & Wales 1901 or 1911 census, or 1901 Scotland census.

Curiouser and curiouser.

Namechanger? Professional army? According to Wikipedia, the Munsters were posted in Burma from 1899, which would fit.

Agree, likely to be same man. Am a bit tired, so don't fancy transcribing medal card right now.

Might do anon, but OP if you can access it free on Ancestry, that's much clearer for you.

I couldn't find one either. Or in England or Wales.

There is some data missing from the census though... or again transcription issue (donat is unusual and it wouldn't surprise me).

But I also couldn't find a birth or death for a Donat White in either. Middle name perhaps?

Yes, if it's middle name that'll be fun to find.

I doubt he would be in the Munsters in Burma if he was in the 8th Battalion as this was a WWI only battalion. As a professional solider he would have been in the 1st or 2nd and their movements don't match with the date given that he arrived in France. Also as a professional solider he would probably have been on the front line prior to Dec 1915 (and the 1915 enlistment date on the silver badge award wouldn't fit).

But with the date of him entering theatre of war being quite early, my money would be on him being a professional soldier before the war.

In which case I imagine the regimental museum/association might have something.

X-posted.

The card I'm looking at has (among other confused stuff in different inks):
"Theatre of War: (1) France
Qualifying date 17-12-15"

So I'm taking that as date of entry into theatre.

But you're right, I hadn't clocked it was as late in 1915 as Dec.

I'm so glad I found this thread. I'm currently researching my great grand uncle who I only found out a week ago was in WW1. The local paper ran a story on it and it appears he was killed in action. My father remembers a medal but the other side do the family got it. I'd like to find out what the medal was.

On another note I'm not really finding the family in the census either. I can find various christenings and marriages listed here though
churchrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/

Helga, you can either search for a medal card on the national archives or through ancestry.co.uk. It costs you to view through the National archives, but it is free through ancestry until the end of the year (its a right pain to sign up without subscribing, but it is possible)

Medal cards are a bit hit and miss as they have often have limited information on them - they are usually best used if you have a little more information or your relative has a more unusual name. They can often just have an initial and surname making it impossible to identify individual men if you don't have more info.

They should detail all medals awarded though.

Service/pension records can also be tracked down, however 60% were destroyed by fire in WWII as the building they were in was bombed so its pot luck whether your relative's records survived.

Both Ancestry and findmypast have these records. Ancestry's are indexed far better (findmypast index of these records is currently pretty shocking in comparison imho). Both offer one month deals or pay as you go options (though these can work out v expensive).

In all honesty, looking for any solider from WWI, is really down to luck about what was recorded at the time and what survived. I have family members who have been very easy to track and others who have proved impossible. Having ANY additional information about a person really helps - particularly service numbers, date of birth and place of birth.

Helga, if you'd like to give us a name and any more details, I can have a quick skim through my sources.

Useful info, if known:

• name
• date of birth
• place of birth
• regt served in
• place lived, if don't have regt
• service no
• rank
• place & date served in army (where and how he won the medal, for example).

The more common the name, the more info needed.

By all means PM me if you'd rather not publish the name, BTW.

Good morning all

Well I woke this morning to see so many posts on this thread. I want to thank you all for taking the time to post, for your interest and for the research you have done on my behalf. It is fascinating stuff to read, and also a lot to digest. I will be reading and re-reading each post and clinking into all the links etc.

Mumsnet really blows me away sometimes.

Right, well, from what I can gather, Donat White should have another two (or is it 3) medals? We have the 1915 Star, but he was also awarded Victory and British medals. And the Silver medal (for being wounded) – is this a separate medal? These medals were not collected by him and so will either be with the India Office or Woolwich? So perhaps I can contact them and see whether I can claim them back – would this be possible? Who would I need to contact?

I spoke to my mum this morning and she did think he served in Burma. The only other things she remembers about him was the patch on his eye, he was very short, and he liked his whiskey

So he first landed in France (Le Havre) on 17th December 1915 and discharged 04 July 1916 – I am assuming because of the loss of his eye?

It sounds like an intriguing story! Why wouldn’t he be on any of the census? What is that all about? And no birth or death record for him? This is turning into a bit of a mystery. Really sorry we have no idea of middle name or DOB or place of birth. If I could find out the name of his wife, would that help?

Also he seems to have two different serial numbers – but this was a common thing?

Also I am getting the vibes that the medal I have is quite rare?

I am especially interested in finding out about the political side of things and how he would have been treated when he got back home. The vibes I got from my mum is that he was very unhappy when he returned and turned to the drink. So would it have been likely that he enlisted from Ireland? It wasn’t compulsory was it? Why would he do that? My mum didn’t know whether he was already a professional soldier prior to the world war.

OK…well today I am going to devote some time to going on the links posted and to researching some more. I will keep updating and please, if any of you find anything else out, please let me know

Oh and Helga, welcome to the thread, and good luck! Keep us posted!

If he WAS a professional solider, he is unlikely to be on the census as he would be out of the country. If he was in Burma, I actually think he was likely to have left the army at some point between then and WWI as he is recorded as having enlisted in 1915 (it would have been a re enlistment if he had been a solider previously). I can't see a previous enlistment on the records, but that doesn't mean it didn't happen. In all likihood he would have been in a different battalion if he was in the army before which further complicates things.

If this is the case, he was a professional solider, then I would expect him to be into his 30s - perhaps well into his 30s - by the outbreak of WWI (he would have had to service so many years in the army before leaving and then re enlisting). So if you can find out his age, this might confirm/discount a few possibilities.

Summary of medals:

– 1914-15 Star was only awarded to men who served between 5 August 1914 and 31 December 1915, but didn't qualify for the 1914 Star. So it's not rare exactly, but awarded to a minority.

– British War Medal and Victory Medal were awarded to everyone who served between 5 August 1914 and 11 November 1918. These are the uncollected ones, which alas according to my link will have been melted for scrap.

– Silver War Badge was awarded during the war, to people who had been honourably discharged due to sickness or injury. It was to protect discharged men from oh-so-patriotic civilians giving them white feathers and generally persecuting them.

The name of his wife might be useful, as it might be able to work out a marriage (and from there name and dob).

Where does your transcript of a medal card come from, Red? I'm trying to marry it up with the image of the card I've found.

CharlieTango, it is indeed common for soldiers to go through several serial numbers - some of mine have had three. There was lots of renumbering as the army reorganised, and re-enlisters might also get a new number.

I'm typing as my 12 month old is rampaging around the place so sorry for typos!

I'd LOVE to be able to research this all myself by aforementioned 12 month old isn't giving me a chance!

So I'm jumping on the VERY kind offers of help. What I have:
Name: Jeremiah Finnerty (slightly unusual)
DOB: 26/02/1882 (found on church records, the location is right but they've spelt the surname wrong so not sure how accurate they are)
Regemint: royal Munster fusilliere
Service no: 7990
Rank: private
Date of death: 27/08/1914
Place of death: etreux france

Update: I've found his grave and I'm suddenly gone all weepy for a man I never knew who died so far from home

twgpp.org/information.php?id=3176326

The significance of not being on any Ireland, England, Wales or Scotland census for 1901 or 1911 (although haven't ruled out Scotland 1911) is that either:

a) there's an omission/error/transcription error in both censuses, or
b) he was going by a slightly different name, or
c) he wasn't in the (then) UK.

And when I looked up the Munsters on Wikipedia, I found they'd been in Burma from 1899 - which would fit perfectly with him not being in the (then) UK for 1901.

Also, rereading dubdurbs post at Thu 14-Aug-14 22:00:20, his serial number would put his enlistment between 1892 and 1893.

Aww, Helga, it does that to you, doesn't it?

If you like, pop over to my thread We will remember them and say a few words about him.

charlie I'm sorry for hijacking your thread!

You too, Charlie, if it appeals to you - the remembrance thread isn't just about those who died.