Our grandfathers and fathers and relatives in military service!

[HARRY THE MOLE]

More family members. But unfortunately we don't have names for them apart from Harry Moss who served in the Royal Engineers. He was the son of my wife's great aunt Bella. All her sons went to war, and as far as we know they all came home - although one of them lost a leg.

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The last picture is of my wife's Uncle Stan who served in India. He once openly admitted to me that he was terrified of combat and did everything he could to avoid it.

[HARRY THE MOLE]

The last relative from my wife's side of the family that we have information on is Rifleman Richard Partington of the Kings Royal Rifles. We don't know if he is one of the pictures we have, as the visible cap badges are not of the KRR. But there is a possibility that he may have been with a different regiment earlier in the war. This is is the newspaper report covering his death. The village of Rixton which is metioned in the article is part of Hollins Green. All of my wife's family lived in the immediate area of the village - which was at that time only very small. Many volunteered, and many were killed or injured. In the local cemetery is the grave of a soldier from the Manchester Regiment who was home on leave. He was killed in a tragic accident in December 1915 when he fell off the back of a lorry.

HOLLINFARE RIFLEMAN PARTINGTON KILLED

Mr and Mrs T. Partington. School Lane, Rixton, have this week received word that their son, Richard, of the Kings Royal Rifle Corps, was killed in action on October 1st. The Major of the
battalion, in a letter for the parents wrote; 'I would ask you to accept the expression of my deepest sympathy with you at his death. He died nobly serving his country, and his battalion mourns the loss of a brave comrade.'

The Reverend A F White , vicar of the parish, has also received a letter from the leutenant from the battalion, confirming the news. From the letter, and one received from his mate, it transpires that he was killed by shell fire. In his letter the leutenant says; 'Rifleman Partington can have suffered no pain, I am glad to say, as he must have died instantaneously. His death was a great shock to me, as he was a man I had complete confidence in, and one who always did his work thoroughly and with all his might. Please communicate my deepest sympathy to Mrs Partington at her loss.

Rifleman Partington, who was a fine figure of young British manhood voluntarly joined the forces in September 1914, and went to the front in July 1915. He was in the trenches until February 1916, and was afterwards attached to the transport service.

[Jerry B]

More family members. But unfortunately we don't have names for them apart from Harry Moss who served in the Royal Engineers. He was the son of my wife's great aunt Bella. All her sons went to war, and as far as we know they all came home - although one of them lost a leg.

A few of the units ID'd. Obviously you knew the RE and RN already, though with hindsight you probably knew them all anyway.

[Jerry B]

The one I marked as Labour corps? could be one of the Manchester regiment battalions.

[HARRY THE MOLE]

Hi Jerry. It is indeed the Manchester Regiment. The picture of the soldier in the Fusiliers dates from around the 1860's. The cap tally on the sailor is HMS Pegasus. I also have a picture of the same sailor wearing a cap with the tally to HMS Vivid. There is also a picture of a naval officer from the same period, but we are not sure if it is the same man.

I have pictures of my wifes family going back to the Victorian era. I know more about her side of the family than I know of my own. I heard a tale many years ago that my father put out an incendiary bomb at the height of the blitz in Manchester. I also have a certificate issued to him by the Royal Humane Society for saving the life of a young boy. The inscription reads... 'This honorary Testemonial of this Society inscribed on Parchment be hearby given to Harry Corbett for having on the 5th August 1938 gone to the rescue of a boy who was in imminent danger of drowning in the Rochdale Canal at Ancoats, Manchester, and whose life he gallantly saved... It is signed by Admiral Sir Michael Hodges, KCB, CMG, MVO. My mother used to work on Lancaster Bombers, constructing the rear section.

My father died when I was 15. And my greatest regret is that he wasn't there to see me on my passing out parade at Woolwich in 1969. My mother never bothered about me being in the army. She didn't even have a picture of me in uniform in the house. I feel I will be leaving a good legacy for my own children though - now that my book is actually in print! Many thought I would never do it, but I have.

[jwp]

these pics come from my grandmothers old family album, one has a photograhers studio on the back which is local to me, sadly don't know who they are and have know idea of the regiments as I can't make out any insignia,
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ps. maybe they are not military.(apologies if they are not !)

[Wilhelm Saris]

GreekMilitaria asked in a seperate thread:
Do you have any family members that served in ww2?

What about including them here also. What do we do: HPL2008 and Adrian Stevenson?
To know more about other relatives, as uncles, brothers or whatever it might upgrade
this thread even more, isn't?

[Adrian Stevenson]

I think we could add them here too!

[Vegard T]

GreekMilitaria asked in a seperate thread:
Do you have any family members that served in ww2?
What about including them here also?

Ditto Might want to change the title though

[Wilhelm Saris]

Adrian, please add the word relatives (uncles and brothers) to grandfather's and father's to the
title of the thread.