11 replies to this topic

[Chalk]

I was in Canterbury Cathedral this morning and looked at one of several memorial books of names of the fallen from 1914 to the present day.

One of them is that of the Queen's Own Rifles of Canada - not something you'd expect to find, but the Canadian regiment had close links with The Buffs (East Kent) Regiment.

One part of the page on display caught my attention:-



On checking the CWGC website I found that all but one of the individuals listed on the image have their army number correct and they did indeed die in India (and are listed on a war memorial in Delhi).

However, Private E H Jeffrey is listed on the Menin Gate which rather implies that he did not die in India, and his army number is shown to be a 4 digit number on the CWGC website.

Can anyone shed any light on why he was given 1 as his army number?   Or the confusion between Delhi and Menin...........?

[Jim Strawbridge]

Confused with this one? (from CWGC)    Note :- Jeffery rather than Jeffrey.



JEFFERY, ERNEST HENRY

Rank: Private
Service No: L/1
Date of Death: 01/11/1918
Age: 31
Regiment/Service: 21st (Empress of India's) Lancers
Panel Reference Memorial DELHI 1914-1918 WAR MEMORIAL


Additional Information:

Son of Walter and Julia Jeffery.

[Chalk]

I put the same enquiry on the rather well known arrse forum (and that is not a spelling mistake), and got a surprising amound of information - including a photograph of the soldier.

See:   http://www.arrse.co....ual-number.html

[Jim Strawbridge]

My comment seems to have been totally ignored. This relates to a soldier with service number 1 (L/1 prefix = Lancers), is to an E.H. Jeffery recorded on the Delhi War Memorial. Every aspect fits save for the spelling reversal of letters in the name. Why are you insistant in thinking that this relates to an E.H. Jeffrey with a different service number and a different commemoration place?

[SteveE]

Why are you convinced any of these men are Canadians?

A quick check of CWGC shows all six men (with those service numbers) belonged to the 21st (Empress of India's) Lancers and are commemorated in India having died in a five day period between 30th October and 3rd November 1918.

Regards

Steve

[CGM]

A search of the Canadian WW1 records does not bring up any of the six names, except for

Edward Harry JEFFREY
Enlisted September 23rd 1914.
9797
DoB 07/02/1892
Born Ramse/ay Hampshire, England
NoK Mrs ? Jeffery Winchester Hampshire England

Interestingly the spelling of the surname seems to vary from re to er (and the style of H varies too). I assume that most of the form was filled in by the recruiting officer and the signature is Edwards (?)

At least we now know there are two men and it isn't one who transferred.

CGM

[CGM]

Link to the Canadian papers

[Chalk]

Jim Strawbridge, on 12 July 2012 - 08:29 AM, said:

My comment seems to have been totally ignored. This relates to a soldier with service number 1 (L/1 prefix = Lancers), is to an E.H. Jeffery recorded on the Delhi War Memorial. Every aspect fits save for the spelling reversal of letters in the name. Why are you insistant in thinking that this relates to an E.H. Jeffrey with a different service number and a different commemoration place?

Err, because that is the name in the memorial book.......   And there was only one E H Jeffrey who died in WW1.......    And he had a different number and place of commemoration.
And he was a Canadian.......   And the name E H Jeffrey is in a memorial book standing in a place labelled with the name of a Canadian regiment.............

It rather looks as though the individual who wrote the names in the book made a spelling mistake!   And that the book for the 21 Lancers is currently in the wrong place in the cathedral.....

[Chalk]

SteveE, on 12 July 2012 - 09:00 AM, said:

Why are you convinced any of these men are Canadians?

Because the memorial book is in a place labelled Queens Own Canadian Rifles.........    But it is behind glass so I was unable to check the cover of the book.   I suspect it is actually a book for 21 Lancers in the wrong place...........

[Chalk]

Mystery solved.

The memorial book for the 21 Lancers is indeed currently being kept in the wrong place due to building repairs.
It is being kept in the place reserved for the Queens Own Rifles of Canada, and in front of and concealing their physically rather smaller memorial book.

Pvt E H Jeffrey was a Candian casualty of WW1, but the soldier with the number 1 in the 21 Lancers has had his name mis-spelt - something I didn't expect to find.   There is a lot of evdence that a great deal of care went into getting them right - in a page on show today in the book for the The Buffs (East Kent) Regiment there are two identical names and to ensure that relatives know which is theirs those names have the soldiers number added as well, unlike all the others.

So, Private E H Jeffrey is actually Private E H Jeffery...    ...and a little unfortunate that there was a Canadian soldier whose name WAS Private E H Jeffrey.....

[CGM]

Many thanks for coming back with the explanation.

They do say that accidents happen when 2 or more unusual events unusually come together and that's exactly what has happened here.

CGM

[keithfazzani]

The Buffs chapel has been closed for sometime owing to danger of falling masonry. The books and their cases have been moved to the North West transept where the Bell Ceremony continues with the turning of a page each weekday at 11am. The page turning is normally undertaken by men of The Queen's Own Buffs Association in Canterbury of whom I have the privilege of being honorary chaplain.