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Can't find any record of WW1 Soldier

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  • 07-08-2014 5:39pm
    #1
    BigCon
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,836 ✭✭✭


    I had a granduncle who was supposed to have served in WW1 however I can't find any record of him having searched on findmypast.ie and ancestry.co.uk.
    My father (now deceased) remembers him as being "shell shocked" which he sustained in WW1.
    The details I have are:
    Michael Moore, born 1885/1886 in Clorhane, Limerick (father James Moore).
    He moved to Laois sometime between 1888 and 1890 (mentioning this as he may have put down Laois as his birth county).
    I don't have his service number or regiment etc.
    I think he died in 1956 (not sure about this).
    Given the year that's in it I'd like to find out more about him.
    Anyone got any ideas?


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    #2
    shanew
    Registered Users Posts: 2,777 ✭✭✭shanew


    Many of the WW1 records were lost during the Blitz, so no guarantee there's a record of his service. There should be a Medal Card though, although there may be a number of soldiers of that name.

    Have you found him on the Census returns ?


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    #3
    BigCon
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,836 ✭✭✭BigCon


    He's on the 1901 census but I can't find him on the 1911 census.
    There's a possible match in a teaching school in Glasnevin for 1911 but I can't confirm that it's him (maybe he was already in the army by 1911 and wasn't in the country then)?
    I think there were about 40 something Michael Moores in the medal records and I was able to rule out nearly all of them.


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    #4
    Jellybaby1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,108 ✭✭✭Jellybaby1


    I've had that problem before and found one man had not been in the army at all. However, just a suggestion, his children's birth record might give his occupation if they were born during the war years or his marriage record. I managed to get that information for some of my great-uncles and great-grandfathers. But not everyone divulged that information anyway.


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    #5
    BigCon
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,836 ✭✭✭BigCon


    Unfortunately he never married so that makes it harder again.
    If he had been killed in the war it would have been easier find him :(


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    #6
    Ponster
    Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators Posts: 10,911 Mod ✭✭✭✭Ponster


    BigCon wrote: »
    I had a granduncle who was supposed to have served in WW1 however I can't find any record of him having searched on findmypast.ie and ancestry.co.uk


    Try asking in the WW1 forum which has a dedicated thread for finding soldiers.


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    #7
    johnny_doyle
    Registered Users Posts: 1,021 ✭✭✭johnny_doyle


    this may help (or thoroughly confuse)

    http://johnny-doyle.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/irish-soldiers-ww1.html

    As you've already discovered, it's generally easier to find information on men who died than it is to find out about those who survived.

    Any WW1 campaign medals anywhere in the family? These would have his number and regiment/corps inscribed on the rim.


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    #8
    BigCon
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,836 ✭✭✭BigCon


    Unfortunately no medals that I'm aware of.


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    #9
    johnny_doyle
    Registered Users Posts: 1,021 ✭✭✭johnny_doyle


    did he have any brothers serve in WW1? Sometimes the service records of personnel mention other family members.


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    #10
    BigCon
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,836 ✭✭✭BigCon


    johnny_doyle wrote: »
    did he have any brothers serve in WW1? Sometimes the service records of personnel mention other family members.

    No, no other family members served in the war. It's like looking for a needle in a field of haystacks...


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    #11
    Ponster
    Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators Posts: 10,911 Mod ✭✭✭✭Ponster


    BigCon wrote: »
    No, no other family members served in the war. It's like looking for a needle in a field of haystacks...

    Unfortunately yes. Even if we did find the correct medal card (some have the address to where ordered medals were sent to) it still wouldn't tell you a whole lot as we're fairly sure that the service records are gone.


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    #12
    BigCon
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,836 ✭✭✭BigCon


    Ponster wrote: »
    Unfortunately yes. Even if we did find the correct medal card (some have the address to where ordered medals were sent to) it still wouldn't tell you a whole lot as we're fairly sure that the service records are gone.

    True, but at least I'd have his regiment number. Also he was supposed to have been taken as a pow and recalled how the Germans fed them "cabbage in vinegar".
    My Dad also remembered him being in a photo on the front page of a newspaper (possibly the evening press) at a veterans gathering.


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    #13
    johnny_doyle
    Registered Users Posts: 1,021 ✭✭✭johnny_doyle


    BigCon wrote: »
    True, but at least I'd have his regiment number. Also he was supposed to have been taken as a pow and recalled how the Germans fed them "cabbage in vinegar".


    The International Red Cross Records for PoWs went online last week

    http://grandeguerre.icrc.org/

    Might be worth a look. There is an M E J Moore for example but the record for this chap are in German and my schoolboy German doesn't help.


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    #14
    conorh91
    Registered Users Posts: 3,328 ✭✭✭conorh91


    I had no idea that my first cousin twice-removed served in WW1 until I came across his name in a local newspaper, mentioning a war injury.

    Since he eventually survived, I had a similar problem as the OP, not being able to find records of his service. That was, until I finally located some objective evidence of his service using the medal indices on findmypast.

    Now i find findmypast pretty useless, so I'm not touting it. What's more, you have to pay extra, on top of your subscription, to access the medials indices.

    You can get this information directly via the UK National Archives, although you will have to pay for it (about €5 iirc)

    As the above posters said, it doesn't really tell you much. But it's just nice to have a record of some description, along with the bare details.


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