William Cousins

This return benefited from a combination of an uncommon surname and a regional town making narrowing down the family I was looking for relativity easy. 
This British War Medal was awarded to 2125 William Stanley Cousins. He is listed as being posted to 1st Battalion, AIF as well as 1st Australian Light Railway Operating Company. It would have been interesting to see the medal named to a railway unit. 
I received the medal the other day and it took a little while to work out that after WWI, William married but was divorced not long after. They didn't have any children. There weren't many public records available other than a few electoral roll entries. However, the search opened up once I found his funeral notice which I've added below. The key was the name of William's sister, Mrs R Leslight. This turned out to be Dorothy Leslight, nee Cousins. This information aligned with a letter from Dorothy to the Army in 1968 applying for the Anzac Medallion. The letter also stated that Dorothy was William's next of kin.William had died in 1948.
Dorothy lived in Murwillumbah and a quick check of her surname and this town in the White Pages led me to the correct family. As it turns out the family member I spoke to has, over the years, collected up other medals awarded to members of this family. Now William's BWM will be added to the collection.     
William's nickname was Nugget, I wonder why?
Thanks to Christopher W who sent me the medal.
The returned medal tally is now 2480.

WWI Royal Artillery KIA

Searches involving medals awarded to British soldiers can be a little problematic. The main issue is the lack of service records available online. Many were lost during WWII as a result of the Blitz.
When a service record is accessible, the search becomes so much easier. These records contain the name of the next of kin, their address as well as the names of any children. This provides a great starting point. This particular search benefited from having a complete service record available.
My part in the travels of this British War Medal commenced with the arrival of a package from the Directorate of Honours and Awards. The Honours and Awards staff had received three WWI medals from the NSW Police Liverpool station but where they came from before that is unknown to me. One of the medals is the BWM awarded to 103269 Gunner Albert Stanley Christian, Royal Garrison Artillery.
From Albert's service record I knew that he was a 31 year old drapers assistant from Lancaster, UK. His wife was Harriet (nee Hudson) and their son was Cyril. Albert enlisted on 10 July 1916 and was a gunner in the 2/3rd Siege Battery. Albert was killed in action in France on 28 April 1917. He is buried in Henin Communal Cemetery Extension.

Not only did this search get off to a great start with access to Albert's service record but he is also included in many Ancestry family trees. 30 minutes after I started looking for Albert, I was looking at a picture of his wedding to Harriet in 1910.

This is the full wedding party.

One of the Ancestry family trees appeared to be owned by Albert's grandson so I fired off a message. Overnight I've heard back from John and sure enough I have the right family.
How this medal traveled from Lancaster, UK to Liverpool, NSW is a mystery. A reverse journey will now occur when I send this medal back to John in Lancaster.
The returned medal tally is now 2474.

Walter Speechly

The incorrect spelling of a name and two regimental numbers really complicated this search.
It all started in September 2017 when I received three sets of medals from Stuart H. All three searches are now resolved.
What caused the confusion was that Walter Charles Speechly often had his surname spelt Speechley. Even on the original service record Walter has manuscript amended the spelling in his own hand and crossed out the last 'e'. This error continued all though his records and even on his medals. The naming on the 1914-15 Star is different to the BWM and Victory Medal. To top this off Walter had the regimental numbers of 1208 and 1330.
Having all three WWI medals, especially when not mounted in one group, is rather exciting. It looks like they were pinned on to a jacket with safety pins (we all know what Bill's opinion about safety pins is). Walter was at Gallipoli and was wounded in action on 22 May 1915 when he received a gun shot wound to the left thigh. He was later wounded in action a second time in August 1916. This time a gun shot wound to his right leg.
Walter was pretty difficult to follow through the records, the search had to be doubled to cover both spellings. I couldn't find any evidence of him having children so my search extended to this siblings. This lead me to an Ancestry family tree which included Walter's sister Christine. The tree owner in Walter's great nephew, Michael. He has an interesting story of his own. Michael was originally from the UK but 35 years ago moved to Connecticut, USA. His interest in his family history has uncovered several times removed grandparents buried in the same area which he never knew about prior to starting his own research. Michael's interest in this family makes him the ideal person to receive Walter's medals.
The returned medal tally is now 2340.   

 

 

 

John Hayes

Another pair of WWI medals that came to me from the Grafton RSL is the BWM and Victory Medal awarded to 4174 PTE John Desmond Hayes.
Hayes was a 24 year old blacksmith when he enlisted in September 1915. Following his training he transited through Egypt and allocated to 47th Battalion AIF. Less than 12 months after enlisting, he was wounded in action on 9 Aug 16. Hayes died of his wound two days later.
My search put me in touch with Kay who is Hayes' great niece. Kay had posted a tribute to Hayes on a notice board which I came across and sent her off a message. As part of her research, Kay has found some photos of Hayes and I have been given permission to publish them here.
I'm a bit intrigued with the condition of Hayes medals. The Victory Medal is in very good condition. By comparison the BWM has had a rough life with the suspender rather damaged and the rim suffering several bruises.
The returned medal tally is now 2261.

William Burke

This medal is another that was sent to me by Stuart H, the previous success was the return of the Ryan medal.
I was originally a little surprised by the regimental number which is five digits long. Just by the nature of the numbering by unit system used by the AIF it was uncommon for numbers to go beyond four digits, but that is a whole other research subject.
This BWM was awarded to 66878 William Frederick Burke and is impressed with his unit initials GSR. This, along with the longer than usual number, stumped me for a while until I found a reference to General Service Reinforcements. This was an enlistment arrangement used towards the end of WWI to fill individual gaps as it became apparent the war was drawing to close. I found this article to explain how soldiers who were GS Reinforcements would be employed.

The GSR even had a dedicated colour patch.
William's enlistment date was in June 1918 when he was just 19 years. He was from Mogo on the NSW south coast. Mogo is well know to RMC Staff Cadets from my era as there is a large state forest there that was used as a training area.
Even though William missed the main effort for WWI he wasn't finished serving his country. He enlisted for WWII in 1942. However, it is a bit difficult to work out exactly what he did during his 18 months.
I was unable to find any evidence that William had any children but I have located a relative who lives close to me and I'll be meeting her shortly to hand over William's British War Medal. 
The returned medal tally is now 2152.

Percival James Chandos Mellor

It often mystifies me how medals end up where there do. Especially when they originate from the other side of the world and there is no obvious explication as to how they got to Australia.
The BWM awarded to 329149 Sapper Percival James Chandos Mellor was sent to me by the Narrogin RSL. Narrogin is a small farming community about 200km south east of Perth but when I had a close look at Percival's history there is no link with this part of Australia.
Percival was a 42 year old, single schoolmaster from Birmingham UK, when he enlisted in August 1918. His corps was the Royal Engineers and he arrived in France just before the armistice.
Percival married in 1929 aged 53 but there is no other record I could find until the probate of his will in 1960. His estate was valued at a little over 3000GBP and the beneficiary was named as Andrew John Perry, schoolmaster. The only other lead I found was on an Ancestry tree which put me in contact with the family of Percival's brother.
Without some serious research I don't think that I'll be able to work out how the medal got to Narrogin. Thanks to Lorraine of the Narrogin RSL who trusted me to complete this research on their behalf.
The returned medal tally is now 1982.

Edgar Winslow

I've mentioned my friend Catherine Hindson in several posts and this is another occasion where our paths come together again.
Catherine contacted me recently about some medals a friend of hers had. One of the medals, a BWM, was awarded to 3128 Edgar Wade Winslow. Winslow was easy to follow through the electoral rolls. I had the name of his daughter which was Olwyn and that of her daughter Judith. Then the trail ran cold.
Searching further afield I found a family tree which included all these names so I contacted the tree owner and they are all related. I'll send the medal back to this family shortly.
Thank you Catherine and Yvonne for sending the medal to me.
The returned medal tally is now 1979.

Charles Birch

This search has been very difficult.
The BWM awarded to 3011 Charles Arthur Birch was sent to me by David R of Gosford. It didn't take long to work out that Charles was killed in action on 3 July 1916 while serving with the 3rd Battalion AIF. That is when the difficulties started.
Charles' farther was Alfred McLennan Birch and his mother was Elizabeth (also known as Eliza) Leah Birch. SOme records also used Leah as her first name. Alfred and Eliza had three children before Alfred died in 1911; Charles who was KIA in 1916, Emily who died during child birth and Violet who married but died childless in 1921.
Eliza went on to live with a man name Colbert who she cleaned for. She sometimes used his surname but they never married.
Eliza's maiden name was Schofield and I found a family tree for her. I sent a message to the tree owner but I never got a reply. I then looked for descendents of one of Alfred's siblings and one I found a descendent I sent them a message. Once again I received no response. In order to be fair to that branch of the family I allowed them ample time to reply.
Recently David enquired about any progress, so last night I started from scratch. I spent six hours going over my extensive notes eliminating each of Alfred's siblings to search through to the current generation. The most promising was Alfred's brother Edward. His son was Arthur Edward and his daughter was Norma who married Robert Henderson. I found this branch of the family on Ancestry and sent off a message to the lady who owns the tree. This morning I had a reply saying that her husband is Norma's son making him Charles' first cousin twice removed.
Thank you David, for your patience.
The returned medal tally is now 1667.

Launcelot Owen MC

This search has probably been one of the most taxing I have completed. In the end it was broken down in to three distinct areas. First, who were the medals awarded to, second, who was the officer and finally who was his family?
Following the ACA story on Anzac Day 2013 I was contacted by Bev and John S. They had two medals that had been recovered many years ago from a house that a relative of theirs cleared out on behalf of the Master of Lunacy. A bit of digging showed me that this was a common term used by the Supreme Court of NSW for the Office that acted on behalf of those unable to look after their own affairs due to mental incapacitation.
When the package from Bev arrived I received the first surprise. The package contained a cased Military Cross and a British War Medal. The MC was not engraved at all which didn't surprise me. The BWM was simple impressed to LIEUT L Owen. Not much to go on. A search of the Australian WWI MC recipients didn't offer up any likely candidates. So I started to look at British Officers. Once again there was no immediate answer to this problem.
On a hunch I looked at the Australian WWII nominal roll and found a likely candidate. This was N280817 Lancelot Owen, born in Terfriw Wales in 1888. The sums added up that this man could have served during WWI. However, a search for Lancelot Owen didn't lead anywhere.
I enlisted the help of the British Medals Forum membership and was soon pointed (by Kay) at a possible link in the London Gazette. This was the break I was looking for. The entry was about the awarding of the MC to T/LT Launcelot Owen. The spelling was slightly different and might not have been my man. It had taken me three days to get to this point. This is the citation.

The next step I took was one I should have taken when  found that Launcelot served in the 2nd AIF. I searched the National Archives of Australia website and to my surprise found that Launcelot's WWII service record had been digitised. This record confirmed the citation was for the right officer, it gave his wife's name, his WWI service history, that he had received the MC and was Mentioned is Dispatches. However, it was the letter on page 20 that provided many answers as well as posing more questions.
The letter was from the Master's Office of the NSW Supreme Court, other wise know as the Master of Lunacy. I have added the letter below but the most interesting bit of information was that Launcelot was lost without trace in a plane accident to the north of Australia.

Once I had the correct spelling of his name it was easy to follow Launcelot and his wife, Phyllis as they traveled around the world. Launcelot's civilian profession was as a geologist and he is recorded on many passenger manifests as he moved from job to job. In 1933 he moved to Australia and is mentioned in many news paper articles. He spent some years working as the Managing Director of an onshore drilling company exploring PNG for oil.
From the records and letters I was sure that Launcelot and Phyllis didn't have any children so turned to the final problem of finding his family. I stared in the small Welsh village of Trefirw only to discover that every second family was named Owen. This shouldn't have surprised me. Luckily not many have the first name of Launcelot and I soon worked out his parents were named Hugh and Eleanor. From the census records I put together a family tree which consisted of Hugh's parents and his siblings but not much else. I wrote to the Trefirw Historical Society but unfortunately did not hear back. By now I had spent several weeks on the search so I parked it for awhile.
On 15 September 2013, quite by chance, I came across a post on the Great War Forum about the Owen's of Trefirw. I contacted the originator, Rich, and received a reply almost immediately. Over the the next 12 hours we established that the Owens that Rich was related to was not the family I was looking for. But this inspired me to look at Launcelot's case again.
Using another series of search combinations I stumbled across a family tree which had exactly the same details of the Hugh's generation that I had worked out previously. Following the tree I could work out who were Launcelot's cousins right though to the current generation. The one person I could identify has been completely uncontactable despite months of effort.
I then had to return to square 2. I had had little luck with Launcelot's father's siblings so I looked at his mother's family. Her name was Elenore (sometimes referred to as Ellen) Roberts. Her brother was Richard Rowland Roberts. To my surprise I found that his son, Roland Cecil Roberts, died in NSW in 1987. Thanks to another Ancestry family tree I have been able to contact Roland's grandson. After all that I'll soon be able to return the medals to Launcelot's second cousin.
Thanks go to Bev and John for wanting to return the medals. Thanks also to Rich who was very generous with his own families information. He also provided me the picture of the the headstone of Robert and Jane Owen, Launcelot's grand parents. Donna and the Dolgarrog Genealogy Group Face Book page were all very helpful. Final thanks goes to Mas who provided the final link to the Robert's family in NSW.
The returned medal tally is now 1536.

David Fair

The search for the family of 238 PTE David Fair started last Friday when I received an email from the NSW RSL. The email started as a request from the NSW Police Force to look for David's family after his medals, Silver War Badge and ID disc were found near Liverpool, NSW. What struck me immediately was that the medal group consisted of the BWM, the Victory Medal and the Croix de Guerre. This was quite unusual so I checked to see it this was actually awarded to David.
As I was checking on my iPhone, I found it easier to look at the basic details on the AIF Data Base rather than the NAA web site. From the AIF page I could confirm that this medal was indeed awarded to David and this is the citation:

'During the Battle of MESSINES Corporal FAIR commanded a Lewis Gun Section on the right flank of the whole attack: immediately the mine was exploded he rushed forward and occupied the crater. Although subjected to very heavy artillery and machine gun fire and although all but one man in his section became casualties he kept his gun in action throughout the operations and did most excellent work.'

These links give details of David's unit, the 33rd Battalion, AIF and the Battle of Messines. 

With David Fair's details confirmed, I traced him and his family through Ancestry. David was a farmer and I could see that his son farmed the same property after David died. On a hunch I had a look in the White Pages and saw that property was still listed as having a member of the Fair family living there. However, I also noticed that the son was living in a town near by. I then provided this information to the Police Officer who made the initial enquiry. Arrangements are now being made to return the medals to David's son.
The returned medal tally is now 1187.  

Langdon Reuben Rule - British War Medal

This is another example of all the research pieces falling in to place thanks to Ancestry.
The BWM awarded to 6581 Langdon Reuben Rule also came to me from Graham Docksey of the Albury RSL. Rule served with the 8th Battalion AIF and the search for him was a little difficult as his first and second names are often reversed and different spelling is used. After a few hours focusing on Rule, I had run in to the inevitable brick wall.
I then started to focus on his wife and I stumbled across his her name in an Ancestry family tree. Then the whole story opened up. Within 10 minutes of that discovery and taking an educated guess, I was talking to Rule's grand daughter.
I'll be returning the medal to Dianne in the near future.
The returned medal tally is now 1158.

Harold Wilfred Casey - British War Medal

I received the BWM awarded awarded to 238 Harold Wilfred Casey (to access the service record follow the steps in this tutorial) in yesterday's post and became very engrossed in searching for his family. After close to five hours of research I've located the family. Not the fastest bit of work but certainly rather quicker than average.
Harold was born in Bowral NSW, a lovely town which we often go through when travelling between Canberra and Sydney. He had two brothers and four sisters, however one brother died in 1896 aged 10. In the early 1900s he moved to WA with his parents, one brother and one sister. The remaining sisters stayed in NSW, they all married but I could find no evidence of them having had any children.
Harold was initially allocated to the 4th Machine Gun Company but later moved to 16th Battalion, AIF. Harold was killed in action on 4 February 1918. His brother George also served with 16th Battalion during WWI and was a POW of the Germans. He later served during WWII.
Harold's Will names his sister Eileen as his beneficiary but I had some trouble working out if she married. What confused me for a bit was that George's NOK during WWII was listed as T. Stapler. This sent me on a wild goose chase until I stumbled on a marriage in WA of an E. Casey to a T Staples. A bit of cross checking confirmed that the NOK on the WWII nominal roll was misspelt so it was the Staples family I was looking for. Once this was confirmed the search was straight forward. I found the names of Eileen and Thomas' Staples children and a browse of the White Pages offered two possibility. I took yet another punt and sure enough I ended up speaking to the right family. During this conversation I was able to confirm that George didn't have any children so there is no one of the Casey line left. The medal will be forwarded to the family in the near future.
Thanks to Rodney D who sent me the medal.
The returned medal tally is now 1144.

British War Medal and Victory Medal - William Henley

The search for the family of 632 PTE William Henry Henley was one of the most difficult I've conducted (to access the service record follow the steps in this tutorial). Henley's British War Medal and Victory Medal came to me from the same source as the Maddock medals. Henley service record shows he was 18 years old when he enlisted with his parents consent as he was under 21. The hand written note signed by his mother agreeing to him enlisting is at the bottom of the first page of his service record. His enlistment date was 23 March 1915 and he was allocated to 24th Battalion. Henley transferred to 61st Battalion, 5th Battalion and 21st Battalion before returning to the 24th in September 1917. In October 1917 the 24th Battalion was fighting at Ypres and on 10 October Henley was killed in action.
Henley's service record makes interesting reading from a social sense. After his death there was little information provided to his family and the allotment made from his pay to his mother was ceased. This caused his sister to write to the Army asking for verification of his death so that a pension could be arranged. Henley's mother was in such financial distress that she had to sell her furniture to pay the rent. Henley's sister states in her letter that he was actually 17 when he enlisted not 18 and a half as indicated on the enlistment papers.
Henley had two sisters and one brother. One sister died shortly after being born. The other sister married but later divorced not having had any children. Her husband also served during WWI. Henley's brother served during both WWI and WWII. He married but also divorced without having had children. He was a bit of a rat bag and I came across several newspaper reports about his different court appearances. This was during the 1930 which might explain things. By the 1950s the Henley line had died out.
I couldn't work out if Henley's father had any siblings so I looked at the mother's line. Henley's mother was Henrietta Callow. She and her brother, William Callow, were born in Tasmania in the 1850s but later both moved to Victoria. William had seven children some of who died young or never married. One daughter, Laura, married Charles Watson. They had three sons. I found the wife of one of the sons (now deceased) but since she had married in to the family she thought it better that I talk with her niece from the Watson line who is the keeper of the family history. Today I spent quite some time talking to this lovely lady, now 80, about all the connections and her third cousin William Henley.
Once again thanks to Rod S who forwarded the medals to me and to Catherine who wanted the medals returned in the first place.
These medals are in as issued condition and unfortunately is a broken group. Henley was also entitled to the 1914-15 Star which is missing.
The returned medal tally is now 1128.

The BWM and the Victory Medal were issued some years apart, the BWM in 1921 and the Victory Medal in 1923. The variations in the naming is easy to see. I'm not sure if it because the impressing machines were wearing out or what but the 'W' and 'H' on the Victory Medal (the bottom one in the pictures) are struck so that the left hand leg of each letter is barely visible.

Queen's South Africa Medal and British War Medal

This pair of medals is quite an unusual combination. The first one is the Queen's South Africa (QSA) Medal awarded for service during the Boer War. The QSA covered the period 1899 to 1902 and then the King's South Africa Medal was awarded after 1 January 1902 as Edward VII had come to the throne.
The QSA of this pair was awarded to 170 George Hamilton Sydney Maddock. George served with the 4th Contingent of the Queensland Imperial Bushmen. The clasps with the medal are for Transvaal, Orange Free State and Cape Colony. The Australian War Memorial Boer War nominal roll indicates that George was also with the 6th contingent. The QSA is named to the Queensland MR (Mounted Rifles). George's brother Arthur also served with the 7th Battalion of the Australian Commonwealth Horse.
George enlisted to the 11th Australian Light Horse for WWI. This link is to his service record. (To access the service record follow the steps in this tutorial.) He was later allocated to the Imperial Camel Corps. His British War Medal is named to the Camel Corps which makes the pair of medals unusual. The BWM is his only entitlement from WWI and this is confirmed in a series of letters in his service record.
George was from a rather large family, he married and had one son. All of his siblings who survived past childhood also married and had children but the family has been difficult to find. George and his brother Arthur married the Queale sisters but all of the close subsequent generations have died out. George's son and Arthur's three sons all served during WWII with one being a POW. However, none had children of their own.
I have found a relative who has considerable family history material for the Maddock family and I'll return the medal to her. Thanks to Rod S who forwarded the medals to me and to Catherine who wanted the medals returned in the first place.
The returned medal tally is now 1118.
The QSA:

 The BWM:

Robert Adams - British War Medal

This post was updated on 12 May 15. Please scroll to the bottom.
 
This particular search has been typical of many that we do. We often get a lot of information initially that seems to be leading us to an easy result. However, as is often the case, we end up getting to a point where all the information seems to dry up. 

I received the BWM awarded to Lieutenant Robert John Adams in Feb 09 and there is a fair amount of information about him and his early life in Tasmania. All the leads I had dried up in about in the mid 1920s. Tim has had a fresh look at this case and has had a wonderful bit of success. Here is what Tim has put together.

Robert John Adams emigrated from the Ditton, Lancashire with his wife Leah to Tasmania prior to WW1. They appear to have separated in Hobart around the start of the war, with three children (Robert, Leah and Trixie), being left in the care of a Mrs Fitzpatrick. Robert was a Boer War veteran and former British Army RAMC regular serving 4 years with the colours and 8 in the reserve. 
Robert somehow made it to Townsville and enlisted there in March 1915, initially serving with the 4th Light Horse Brigade Field Ambulance, being transferred to the 15th Field Ambulance in March 1916 in Egypt. He then served in France/Flanders being commissioned to LT from LCPL at the end of the war. His service papers and an allotment file explain the situation with his children and wife.
When he got home to Tasmania after the war Robert and Leah divorced (Hobart Mercury article July 1924). He subsequently married a lady named Revie and they had children named Jan, Roberta, Robin, Jill and Simon. He served on as a CPL in WW2, reducing his age by 8 years. Robert appears to have copped a few mentions in the paper over the years, including one in which Revie was injured in a traffic accident.
Robert died on 21 November 1953 and this time was living at Windsor St, Kingston Beach, Hobart. In the notice of death in the Hobart Mercury his family members were listed, including his daughter Leah who was by then married with the surname Uhr-Henry. 

This is the information that Tim used to track down Leah's son David who is now living in Victoria. The medal was sent to me by the Directorate of Honours and Awards after it was initially handed in by Adrian N of Hornsby.

 The returned medal tally is now 1079.

Post update 12 May 15.

Yesterday I received a very unexpected email from Marg Powell of the John Oxley Library. As part of her research in to the library's collecting she came across this story about Robert Adam. In the collection is a picture of Robert taken in Cairo. How amazing that this picture is connected to this story. I've provided Marg with the family's contact details so that they can also see this photo. The library's WWI blog is at this address.

Thank you to the John Oxley Library for kind permission to reproduce this picture.

W. O. J. Kielly Papers, John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland

http://onesearch.slq.qld.gov.au/SLQ:slq_alma21148548280002061