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Finding WW1 service record for Officer

Gspragge

Well-Known Member
Premium Member
I'm just wondering if there is a way without paying a fee to some greedy organization to find out
about wartime service of an individual. On one site I got this, but have to pay to see more, if there's more?
It's to do with an inscription as shown. I have This for Lt A.B. Spedding.
A BSpeddingLieutenant1917Cheshire Regiment
A BSpedding2nd Lieutenant1916Cheshire Regiment

He was in the 46th Provisional Batt. which was a coastal defence unit made up of individuals
not fit for overseas service. He started in the 46 btn (made up of members of Cheshire Rgt. members)
but with later changes this became the 23 Batt. Cheshire Regt. They were billeted at Walcott on the Norfolk coast.
The idea was to get these individuals up to standard so that they could serve in France.
"23rd Battalion was originally a " Home Service" battalion but went to Calais in Spring 1918, initially as a Garrison Guard battalion."
It looks like he may have gotten to France, this last line says initially as a Garrison Guard Batt., so what happened next ?
He must have been well thought of for everyone to chip in on this, though as urns go it predates ww1 by quite a bit.
I have though sent an inquiry to the Cheshire regt. museum so they may have good records.
 

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There doesn’t appear to be a marriage record on Ancestry to tally with the inscription on the cup.

A.B.Spedding might be the following man, however there might also be an A.B.Speeding as there are two medal records so there is the possibility of two people with similar names being confused.

Arthur Bennet Spedding born 5th March 1888 (Ancestry)

The Cheshire Regiment. Serjeant Arthur Bennet Spedding to be Second Lieutenant and seconded.Dated 17th September 1915. (London Gazette)

Prov. Bn. The undermentioned 2nd Lts. to be Temp. Lts. 10th June 1916. A.B.Spedding. (London Gazette)

Cheshire Regt. -2nd Lt. (temp. Lt.) A.B.Spedding, Ches. Regt., relinquishes temp rank of Lt. 28th Aug 1917. (London Gazette)

Cheshire Regt. -Lt A.B.Spedding is restored to the estbt. 26th Feb. 1918. (London Gazette)

One of the 1930’s electoral roles has an Arthur Bennet Spedding listed with an Ethel May Spedding. This may or may not be the same man and his wife. At different dates there are listings for Arthur Bennet Spedding, at different addresses without Ethel May being listed. (Ancestry)

Images of the two medal record cards posted below.




 

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If you can get access from your local library to the web, it may be that your library has free access to Ancestry and Findmypast (FMP) as family history resources. FMP has much info about WW1 casualty records. If you input SPEDDING and his regimental number(s) you might find out some dates and places if he was ever hospitalised. This is how I found out that my stepfather's maternal grandfather was repatriated temporarily via a hospital ship back to the UK when he was suffering from piles. Mundane, but it was there in the `burnt' records. If he was promoted to commissioned officer from a sergeant (then spelled Serjeant) it might have been via an act of gallantry. You may be able to download for a small fee from The National Archives (TNA) a copy of his unit's war diary. They always named the officers. As an NCO it looks like he was in 6th (Territorial Force) Battalion of the Cheshire Regiment when he qualified for the 1914/15 star. Good luck, XT.
 
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