Can anyone help me in resolving an entry I found in the official officer personnel log of Number 6 squadron. The men who died whilst in service with the squadron had their names crossed out in red pencil. Others who died after they left the squadron (the log was updated after the war with current addresses where possible) had an explanatory notation written in pencil next to their name. Apparently 2nd Lt Bamber joined the squadron in September 1915. Though his name was crossed out in red pencil, I can find no mention of him in either "Airmen Died . . . ", "The Sky Their Battlefield", nor on the CWGM site of WW1 casualties. I have however found his MIC on the database, so he must have existed. Can anyone shed light on this officer and when he died (or even if he died)?

Steve

Name: KELWAY-BAMBER, CLAUDE HERSCHEL
Initials: C H
Nationality: United Kingdom
Rank: Second Lieutenant
Regiment/Service: Royal Flying Corps
Secondary Regiment: General List
Secondary Unit Text: and
Age: 20
Date of Death: 11/11/1915
Additional information: Son of Herbert and Eliza Kelway-Bamber.
Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead
Grave/Memorial Reference: II. A. 10.
Cemetery: HARLEBEKE NEW BRITISH CEMETERY

I found this entry on the CWGC site but discounted it as from the MIC as well as the No 6 squadron records his Christian names would appear to be Claude Herbert Kelway with his surname simply Bamber. But you're absolutely right and whether his second name is Herbert or Herschel is not of huge importance.

Thanks again for your help.
Steve

You may be interested to know that he seems to have coninued to keep in touch after he died.

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=tnIUME2...;q=&f=false


Below all that nonsense (p105) are his last letters home (few pages missing). You will probably be able to work out who his colleagues are.

I tried the link (interesting reading!) but could not get below page 104 and the back cover. How do I get to the letters?

I'm not sure why that is.

I've just clicked on the above link, and I can see all the pages. They go up to about p135, with a few missing because it's a preview. Mainly about flying, but sensored so that it's all Sgt B____ etc.

Should be there.

I'll try a new search on Google Books. That should do the trick.

Papers at Kew:
WO 339/18691 KELWAY-BAMBER C H, 2/Lieut

With regards to the MICs, did you find him using Ancestry or the UK National Archives? If you looked at UKNA summery, they have been known to transcribe incorrectly. If that's what is written on the actual MIC, the original clerks also made mistakes. They could also only transcribe one of the hyphenated names. When all is said & done all those cards are is an index to a medal roll.

In your opinion, would the information held on the CWGC database be more accurate than the MICs?

Who was H_______ ?

I don't know of a 100% reliable record system, there are always errors that creap in. Take for instance the MIC and pretend they managed to get 99% error free (don't know when that is achieved either on a comprable system). For over 5m that equates to over 50,000 errors. How much cross checking went on with them? These were records produced rapidly by people suffering from Post Traumatic Stress; I'm amazed that there are so few errors! The information on the CWGC database came from grieving relatives and again was unlikely to be 100% accurate. There is another element: the data entry for the online version and for the MICs both the UKNA and Ancestry versions seem to have more mistakes than the MICs themselves!

In this case Claude H K Bamber's MIC is available on Ancestry where the card is clearly made out to BAMBER, CLAUDE HERSCHEL KELWAY- and they reference him as such. He appears in both "Airmen Died . . . ", and "The Sky Their Battlefield" (entries for 4th and 11th November 1915) as KELWAY-BAMBER. With hyphenated names it is worth checking under both.

His brother also served:
Name Bamber, Herbert Roderick Kelway
Date of Birth: 22 December 1893
Rank: Lieutenant Commander
Date 15 September 1906
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documen...p;resultcount=1

I've just started researching this officer whose name is on the Datchet War Memorial in Bucks - a photograph can be seen on our website. At first I thought the surname was Kelway but now I'm sure it is Kelway-Bamber. There is a card (but no photo) for him on Ancestry in the Royal Aero Club Aviators Certificates. I'm not sure how to include the card here - I can't seem to get it small enough.

There is also an entry in the 1911 census where he is a student at Courtenay Lodge, Sutton Courtenay, Abingdon (just round the corner from where my son lives!) aged 15, born in Bengal, India.

Hope this helps
June

His gravestone

Regards,

Cnock

Cnock

Thank you for posting the photo of the grave. May we use it on our website - with due acknowledgement of course.

June

I think I've managed to attach the card from Ancestry of the Royal Aero Club Aviators Certificates

June

June,

You may use it for Your website

Regards,

Cnock