Wallscourt Steen Kelly

I commenced this search at 1300 today and at 1840 I was speaking to the nephew of the subject of this search. 5 hours and 40 minutes of solid research to get a result. There is a considerable amount of information available about this officer and I'll be including it in the story.
Yesterday, the medals awarded to Wallscourt Steen Kelly arrived in the mail, sent to me by Tony B. Wallscourt enlisted in 1916 and allocated to the 38th Battalion. His experience in the Senior Cadets saw him quickly promoted to the rank of Warrant Officer. Then in 1917 he was commissioned and moved to the 60th Battalion. Later in 1917 Wallscout was wounded in action having received gun shot wounds to his right thigh. He was also mentioned in dispatches. Wallscourt's appointment in the AIF was terminated in February 1918 to take up a commission in the Indian Army. Wallscourt was also a first class cricketer.
The Kelly's were a reasonably prominent family in their district in Victoria and as a result there they were mentioned in the newspapers on many occasions. It was through these stories that I was able to piece together Wallscourt's life and family connections. I've included some below which include pictures of him. He eventually retired from the Indian Army with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. Wallscourt married late in life to Mina Branigan who served as a nurse during WWI.
The newspaper articles gave me the names of Wallscout's brothers, Rudyard and Hubert. Rudyard served in the RAAF during WW2.
The Kelly's eventually settled in WA and Rudyard lived in Applecross. Using this information I could track Rudyard's children John, David and Delrose. John had a career in the RAAF and a very interesting piece of information came out about him. He was awarded the British Empire Medal in 1952. This award was for saving the lives of several Royal Navy sailors who got in trouble swimming off Cocos Island. I've included an article about this incident as well.
John died in 2012 and on a hunch I searched the West Australian newspaper death notice archives. I got luck and John's death notice was online. To my surprise the notice mentioned Rudyard's other son David and gave his phone number. I was soon talking to David who was able to confirm all that I had found as well as fill in some blanks. He also told me more about John's award.
As well as his WWII pair, Wallscourt was awarded the India General Service Medal with clasps for Waziristan and the North West Frontier.
The returned medal tally is now 1623.

This is Wallscourt's MID.

Wallscourt with fellow officers in 1918

Wallcourt's engagement to Mina

Wallscourt with fellow officers of the Indian Army

Wallscourt's death notice

John Kelly's BEM

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.

Joseph Miller

This has been another difficult search for several reason.
After I received the medals from the NSW RSL, via the Wauchope Sub Branch, I found there was something not quite right. The medals are named to WX731 J. Miller. However, this number was allocated to Cecil Fitzgerald. A bit of effort revealed that our man was actually VX731 Joseph Miller. I have seen mistakes on medals before but they are not common and usually the veteran will return them for correction.
Once I sorted out who was who the long task of finding a family member started. This then proved to be the second and more difficult hurdle. Bill and I enlisted the Australian Surname Group but all the leads were dry holes.
That was until today when I received a surprise email from Laurie who is Miller's nephew. He had come across listing on the web and got in touch. Another nice addition to this group is that Miller was Mentioned in Dispatches. 
The returned medal tally is now 1415. The pace is picking up a bit.

Betty Dow

This search really tested me and it was only in the last hour did it unravel enough for me to connect all the dots.
In January 2012 I received a WWII group of four medals and a plaque awarded to Better Frances Dow. The medals are impressed to B3/227 B. F. Dow. The first thing that threw me was the number which does not appear in the WWII nominal roll. I called on the experts of the British Medals Forum and the answer quickly came back as one attributed to the Red Cross and this was a typical number for a philanthropic organisation. So the first door opened I found out all about Betty. She worked with the Red Cross in Batavia and later in Europe. I've found a photo of Betty which I've attached below.
Using the electoral rolls I followed Betty until 1985 when she died. Betty didn't marry. Her brother Stewart did marry but he had no children. Stewart served during WWII and I now know the wider family have strong military links. Then the trail went cold. Several attempts to revisit the search proved fruitless until tonight when I thought I should go back several generations.
I started with Betty's father, Donald, who was a Presbyterian minister. Donald was appointed as an Army chaplain late in WWI but his service record gives little away that I found useful. I couldn't establish the names of any siblings for Donald so I turned to Betty's mother, Winifred Mona Dow. It took some time to work out her maiden name but once I had it the flood gates opened.
Winifred was the daughter of another Presbyterian minister and was one of seven children. A search using the surname Reid gave me all the names of her sibling which included Stanley Spencer Reid.
Stanley was also a minister but probably more famous for his talents as an VFL footballer. He played for Fitzroy in the first VFL grand final. In 1899 Stanley volunteered to be a chaplain for the Australian contingents who fought in the Boer War. This was unsuccessful so he enlisted as a trooper with the Western Australian Mounted Infantry. While in South Africa Stanley wrote a letter that was critical of a more senior soldier and Stanley was arrested. This was soldier was also connected with the Beaker Morrant scandal. Stanley was detained and returned to Australia. The matter was not pursued and Stanley was commissioned and returned to South Africa. He was in the same unit as his brother Surgeon -Captain Francis Bentley Reid. I take it that Betty Francis and Stewart Stanley were named for these two relatives.
Stanley was wounded on two occasions and subsequently died of his wounds in June 1902. He and  Francis were both mentioned in despatches.
This wikipedia link has the full story about Stanley and several photos of him as well.
Another brother who served was Lieutenant John Cecil Drury Reid who was awarded the Military Cross. John was a member of a Tunnelling Company and died of wounds in June 1917.
Another brother was William Bremner Reid who was also a doctor and it is his daughter, Betty's cousin, who I have found and will return the medals to.
The returned medal tally is now 1267.

Betty in Batavia with the Red Cross

Marcus Towler

This return is of a WWI dog tag. Unlike the dog tags of today which are made of metal, the WWI version were made of a fibreboard materiel similar to cardboard. As a result they deteriorated very quickly, especially when wet.
This particular dog tag was issued to Captain Towler of the Cyclist Battalion. Not much information to go on. By searching the UK Medal Index Cards (MIC) there was only one person who fit the bill. The MIC are sometimes disappointing due to the lack of information on them but in this case it proved to be a gold mine. From the MIC I found Towler's full name was Marcus Albert and he was later promoted to the rank of Major. His full medal entitlement was the 1914-15 Star, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal. The MIC even notes that he had to apply for his 1914-15 Star and confirmation of the award. To my even greater surprise I found a second MIC stating that Marcus was Mentioned in Despatches.
Based on the information from the MIC it didn't take me long to locate Marcus on the Australian electoral rolls. By following him over many years I also was able to establish the names of his children.
What confused me a little was that Marcus was on the 1914 electoral roll but enlisted in the British Army in 1915. It wasn't unheard of for men who were born in England to return there after emigrating to enlist. However, the 1914 entry did make me question my research logic. I have since spoken to Marcus' family and I know more of his story.
Marcus emigrated to Australia around 1911 and settled in Melbourne. He spent a short amount of time in WA ring barking trees for land clearing but succumbed to barcoo rot. At the outbreak of WWI Marcus return to England and was commissioned in to the Army Cycle Corps. After WWI Marcus returned to Australia and became a successful business man working for a Japanese company. Every this went well until the outbreak of WWII and Marcus found himself without a job. He was then appointed as a Captain in the 2nd AIF as a recruiting officer. In addition to his WWI medals Marcus would also have been awarded the War Medal and the Australian Service Medal 1939-45.
The dog tag was sent to me by my friend Sandra. All up the search took about 20 minutes and I learnt some new things on the way, a very satisfying result.

Cornelius Haskell

This is one of those searches which I wished happened more often. This afternoon I had a case referred to my by the WA RSL. The WWII War Medal awarded to F3622 Cornelius Lawrence Haskell (known as Laurie) had been found in a Perth suburban garden. A quick check of the electoral rolls showed that Mr Haskell had lived very close to where the medal was found. The electoral roll also gave me the name of Mr Haskill's son. A quick check of the White Pages provided me with the phone number of Mr Haskill's son and within three minutes of receiving the initial request for help I was talking to a member of the Haskell family (sorry Bill).
A broader check of Mr Haskell's service shows that he was Mentioned in Despatches during his service with the RAN.
Thank you to Sean M who found the medal and wanted to see it back with the family. The returned medal tally is now 1224. 

As can be seen in the photo this medal must have been buried for many years to now be in this condition.

Mildred Evaline Vaughan

This is a fascinating story which I'll let Bill tell. 

'The Vaughan story began when I was approached by the President of a Melbourne RSL Sub-Branch. The Club had been given a collection of medals, the result of a collector deciding to pursue another hobby. The President, while willing to accept the medals, felt that there should an examination into how the medals came to be sold in the first, and so the story began.

Invariably when we ring a next of kin of the recipient of the medals we hold, and after having explained who and what we are doing, we are most often met with the comments "Dad's medals. They have been missing for years. Where did you find them?"

It is not unusual that as we pass through our research, we swing backwards and forwards, where we sometimes think we have taken not the expected two steps back, but rather we are back again at the beginning of our search. Often trying to work out how we got it wrong by proceeding down one path, when you probably should have ignored it altogether.

But never, until I started the search for the family of VF510178 Mildred Evaline Vaughan had I been met when calling with the words "What medals? Mum didn't have medals. Dad yes, but Mum no". Then the second question; "Where did you get them? The answer to that question is usually short, but the answer to; "How did you find me?" is the one that takes up the time.

So then came the first part of the answer explanation that Mildred had served during WW2 in the Army, and as such she was eligible for the War Medal and the Australian Service Medal 1939-1945.

 The second part was a bit more complicated. Several years ago a medal collector tiring of collecting medals and having lost the enthusiasm for his hobby faced with the problems associated with selling his collection, gave them to a Melbourne RSL. An incoming President asked me if it would be possible to do an audit of the medals, in particular their background and where had they come from.

Perhaps the most pleasing part of the search was for it to end with a successful conclusion. A search that was began in March 2010 was completed this week when Mildred's medals were presented to her daughter Jane.

Mildred's family had a tradition of Military Service, her father Lieutenant Percy William Vaughan, served with the 1st Australian Service Squadron in South Africa during the Boer War from 1900 to 1901. During WW1 he was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel in charge of the defence of the Newcastle Port.

Source:  http://cas.awm.gov.au/item/A05152

Lieutenant Percy William Vaughan 

Originally the Manager of City Bank, Braidwood, NSW, Percy received 5 bars to his Queen's South Africa Medal and was Mentioned in Despatches.

His son Kenneth Montague Vaughan served as a Captain during WW2.

His other daughter, Phyllis, married a Royal Naval Commander.

So it was in this tradition that Mildred joined the Army during WW2.

As for the search itself, well it took the assistance of the team at the Australian Surname Group and many many hours in the State library of Victoria, carefully trolling over old newspapers and electoral rolls. I followed the progress from Melbourne to Perth where Mildred met and married William Hudson in 1946. Mildred returned to Melbourne to live after the death of her husband. 

But the question does remain where have the medals been all this time? And who had them court mounted. As I explained to Jane, I don't know and I guess we probably never will, but what is more important is that the medals are home with Mildred's family.'

The returned medal tally is now 1202.