Update, 21 February 2024
The database was first made available to Members at the end of December. I hope that many have had the opportunity to review it and perhaps considered making a contribution. My thanks again to Society Chairman Alan Wakefield, and Members Harry Fecitt and Andy Siddall for their contributions to the first update.
That first update was made available on 12 January with the database containing 1067 entries with 276 citations, although there were still major gaps. The second update is now available and comprises 1960 names of which 283 have full citations. The reason for the number of entries growing faster than citations is that the vast majority just do not have citations at all, and this version includes a number of awards of the Meritorious Service Medal.
22nd Division remains the best represented with 368 entries of which 87 have full citations. The 26th, 10th, 27th and 28th all have over 130. We have big gaps though, in the 60th (London) Division where only 8 names have so far been identified. Why is this? It is always possible that there simply were no awards made, although I find that hard to believe. These battalions or individuals within them must surely have been involved in something that merited an award.
The sheet with the highest number of names is “Exact Battalion or Unit Unknown”. The main reason for this is the identification of awards to the Royal Field Artillery, Royal Garrison Artillery and Royal Army Medical Corps in particular, where it has not yet been possible to find the correct unit. The London Gazette is not specific in many cases. There are several entries here where the exact unit is known, but it isn’t obvious where they belong in the Order of Battle as set out on the main Division sheets. Where possible several units have now been moved to the correct sheet, especially the Field Ambulances to their respective divisions. Also, the GHQ Troops sheet has been renamed to “Army and Corps Troops, L of C”, where “L of C” represents ”Lines of Communication”. This has allowed several units to be moved from the “unknown” sheet.
There are two further additional sheets. The first is “Chancery Awards” and a start has been made to capture these, from the Order of the Bath to the OBE, of which 181 have so far been extracted from the editions of the London Gazette. The second is entitled “Red Cross Awards”, on which 74 Nursing Staff have so far been found.
The introductory notes sheet has been updated to reflect these changes.
Some help to fill in the gaps, which are many, would be very welcome especially from those with knowledge of the 60th (London) Division. If you can want to help, please check the database and contact me before sending any information.* There is a possibility that the work has already been done.
Finally, I have made a start on extracting The Mentions in Despatches. There are many thousands of these and to include them in the same database would make it clumsy and unwieldy. I will set them out in a separate workbook for now until we can decide on the best way to present them.
Rob Elliott
February 21st 2024
* Rob can be contacted via the form below.
Salonika Campaign Society, 1915-1918 