Highland Light Infantry WWI

[andymacz]

Hi, I am new to all this and this is my first post - so all help and information would be greatly appreciated.

I am looking to find out about my paternal grandfathers military service during WWI. To date I have the following:

James McIlravey born 28/12/1896 in Greenock, Renfrew, married Mary Kemp in 1914, lived in Port Glasgow until the mid 1920's then moved to Dundee where he died 1970. Joined the HLI at some point during the war and his regimental number was 23736. I have searched the WWI service records, Pension, casualty, medal index, (hence the reg no) without any luck.

What I am looking for is the battalion and where in France he served and when, therefore any further places of research or information to help would be received gratefully.

Andy McIlravey

[Currie]

Hello Andy, and Welcome to TalkingScot.

If his WW1 Army records are not among those that have been digitised and are available on Ancestry, then I guess the almost certain likelihood is that his were among the almost two thirds of WW1 soldiers records that were destroyed during WW2 bombing and that he didn’t apply for a disability pension. If he was still in the Army after 1920 his records would still be with the MOD but that circumstance would be unlikely.

According to this site 26 Battalions of HLI were raised during the Great War and 14 of those served overseas. About half way down you’ll see a chart showing theatres of War and medal entitlement. Depending on what medals were awarded you may be able to narrow down the possible battalions. http://www.northeastmedals.co.uk/britis ... fantry.htm

There’s more about each battalion here, http://www.1914-1918.net/hli.htm and The Great War Forum may be worth a look http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forum ... hp?act=idx

If you have the medal card have you examined it carefully and do you fully understand the meaning of each entry thereon? Perhaps there are clues hidden there as to battalion and date of entry to a theatre of war that may help. There’s a guide here http://www.1914-1918.net/grandad/mic.htm

Hope that helps,
Alan

[andymacz]

Thanks Alan, I will look into the sites you noted. I am sure that he was not in the army up to 1920, but although I have no direct proof, he was involved on the Somme at some point, and a family story is that he was posted MIA when an Officer forgot to relieve a forward observation post. My grandmother was sent notification about him being missing and his wages were stopped. Again, I have no proof.

I have a note of the battalions that took part in the Somme, but again I have no way of proving anything.

This is all fun, but so frustrating....

regards

Andy

[nelmit]

His war medal record is there on Ancestry. If you don't have access send me a PM with your email and I'll send it to you Andy.

Unfortunately it doesn't give any service details.

Regards,
Annette

[andymacz]

Thanks to everyone for their help. A chap who has a fantastic site about the 14th HLI, found out that my grandfather was in the 14th battalion HLI, 40th (bantam) division. This site contains a summary of the war diaries showing locations, movements, etc. Just what I was looking for. Check it out at http://www.bellsofhell.co.uk/

thanks again

Andy