Chickendoodle Posted October 20, 2011 Share Posted October 20, 2011 I have been researching my family history on and off and have recently discovered that my Great Grandfather died in WW1. He was already a serving soldier in the Northamptonshire Regiment and died in Flanders only 3 weeks after the outbreak of the war at age 28 leaving behind a widow and 4 children. No-one in the family has ever talked about him and finding this out has made me and my DS feel really sad. I have found out where his grave is (Birmingham) and we will go and visit it sometime to pay our respects. My Grandmother would not have known him as she was only 3 when he died. I wonder if her Mother ever spoke about him as it was such a tragedy. I am suprised at how sad I feel - I would not have known him even if he had lived but I suppose it is that he almost seems to have never existed. Anything I have seen since depicting that awful war is doubly as poignant now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ain't Nobody Here Posted October 20, 2011 Share Posted October 20, 2011 What a sad story . It reminds me of some of those Who Do You Think You are? programmes where, like you, the person is surprised how upset they get when they find out about awful tragedies. How nice that you can visit his grave though. I'm sure that will help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
percy049 Posted October 20, 2011 Share Posted October 20, 2011 My dad researched his Grandad, who fought and was captured in WW1, and has written a 80 page project about him. He visited and was in contact with the archives at Nottingham, where he was from. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chickweed Posted October 20, 2011 Share Posted October 20, 2011 You will feel so sad but also very proud. My OH has gone through a very similar experience. While researching his family tree, my OH discovered that his great grandfather died in a pit flooding disaster and his body was never recovered. We have found a memorial to the disaster with his name engraved on it, along with the other 76 other miners whose bodies were also never recovered.We have also found newspaper reports that mention him too. He was only in his forties with a young family too, so times must have been really hard, and yet this awful event was never mentioned within the family. Maybe previous generations thought it best to put such experiences behind them and get on with the present by not going over bad times. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LolaLayla Posted October 20, 2011 Share Posted October 20, 2011 I found out about my grandfather, who died in 1918, through the War Grave Commissions website.(My dad was quite old when I was born and my mum was a lot younger so there is a bit of a generation slip). My dad never said much about his father and once he died I thought I would not be able to find out anything as I have so few relatives. However through the website I found that he went missing with others during a skirmish (there is very detailed info about what the regiment were doing) and his name is on a memorial in a cemetery in France. I believe he was 38. He left a widow and 3 children. It was so sad to think it was so near the end of the war and that my dad at 11 had to be the 'man' of the family. I admit I cried when I found him on the site...so emotional. I think that technology is amazing and that he could never have imagined his granddaughter would have been able to find out about the end of his life. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soapdragon Posted October 20, 2011 Share Posted October 20, 2011 Family history is fascinating, isn't it ?! One of my maternal grandmother's cousins died on the Titanic and I just cannot watch the film . I have promised myself that, when I retire, I will do more resarch on this. Equally, my maternal grandfather fought for the ANZAC's at Gallipoli and lost a leg - sadly he died about 3 months after I was born so I never actually knew him; I'd like to go to Gallipolli too at some stage. I have heard ads on Classic FM for a new series on Yesterday about ordinary people's (as opposed to celebs) ancestors who were involved in key historic events - I think it may be starting on Monday evening (sorry was busy burning biscuits for school cake sale when it was on so wasn't really concentrating! ) Will double check and post again unless any other Omleteers are more on the ball than me and DID hear it!? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alis girls Posted October 21, 2011 Share Posted October 21, 2011 What site did you use - genes reunited? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chickendoodle Posted October 21, 2011 Author Share Posted October 21, 2011 I used a mixture of sites, Ancestry, the war graves commission site (CWGC.org), a site about the Northampton Regiment. I also posted a question on a forum called Rootschat http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/board,46.0.html What an amazing result. A man who specialisies in the Northamptonshire Regiment reseached my G/Grandfather and gave me really detailed information of what battle he would have been in, even telling me what the announcement in the local paper said at the time, what his wounds were and how he died. Even more sadly (if that is possible), all he had was a shrapnel wound above the ankle and probably died of infection. My Grandmother was born in August 1912 - she had 2 older sisters and a younger brother. Looking at the dates it is very likely that he never knew he had a son. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C&T Posted October 21, 2011 Share Posted October 21, 2011 I have heard ads on Classic FM for a new series on Yesterday about ordinary people's (as opposed to celebs) ancestors who were involved in key historic events - I think it may be starting on Monday evening (sorry was busy burning biscuits for school cake sale when it was on so wasn't really concentrating! ) Will double check and post again unless any other Omleteers are more on the ball than me and DID hear it!? It's on the channel Yesterday at 9pm. I recorded it last night - not had a chance to watch yet. I find all this stuff quite interesting! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MummyHen Posted October 21, 2011 Share Posted October 21, 2011 We (hubby and I) research WW1 and victorian wars. We started after we found out that ggrandfather died in WW1. This hobby has lead to some facinating research all over the world - UK Ireland Canada Australia New Zealand India. Some sites to look at Ancestry.co.uk, findmypast.co.uk, familysearch.org, nationalarchives.gov.uk, cwgc.org (commonwealth war graves), census.nationalarchives.ie (irish census); freebmd.org.uk, london-gazette.co.uk, 1914-1918.invisionzone.com (some very knowledge people on this site) If you get stuck or need a pointer - just ask Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seagazer Posted October 27, 2011 Share Posted October 27, 2011 Last year we went to France and visited the cemetery at La Chapelle-d'Armentieres where my Great Grandfather is buried after being killed in WW1. It was the first time I had been there and I found it very emotional. My YS was with us and I was so proud of him, he made a point of touching the headstone and having a quiet moment. We took flowers too. It is beautifully kept. We then went on to the Thiepval memorial. It is really quite overwhelming, it contains the names of thousands and thousands of men that went missing in combat. My Gt gt uncle's name is on the memorial. He was only 21. We don't know too many details about my Gt Grandfather as his war/army records are part of the 'Burnt Records' that happened during WW2 (I think)- a shame as I'd like to know what happened to him during the war. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chickendoodle Posted October 27, 2011 Author Share Posted October 27, 2011 Seagazer - if you want to find out more about your G/Grandfather's war I would highly recommend posing a question on the WW1 part of rootschat.com. You will know his regiment and date of death from the war graves site (CWGC.org)and there is bound to be someone on there who has an archive for the regiment. The man who dealt with my question seemed to be the official archivist for the Northamptonshire Regiment and he knew every detail of every battle they were involved in and also had obituary notices etc from the local papers. He was able to pin my G/Grandfather's death down to a likely battle. War diaries are either held or published for a lot of the regiments - you can buy them but they can be a bit pricey Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seagazer Posted October 27, 2011 Share Posted October 27, 2011 Thank you for that Chickendoodle, I will try that. Its been quite frustrating at times. I keep saying I'd love to get WDYTYA to sort it all out for me I've watched the programme and they tell the celeb what happened to their ancestor during the war down to quite a lot of information, even down to height etc, it would be wonderful to know any details. I shall do it this afternoon, strike whilst the iron's hot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chickendoodle Posted October 27, 2011 Author Share Posted October 27, 2011 Good luck - hope you find some answers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seagazer Posted October 27, 2011 Share Posted October 27, 2011 I've downloaded some pages that somebody had suggested from the National Archive - hundreds of pages of what Gt Grandfather's battalion were doing during the war. Lots of reading for me to do. Thank you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
