Help please,

[Robsa68]

HI,first post from a long time lurker.
Im trying to find out about my grandads great war service and im not having a deal of luck and having seen how on the ball you guys are i thought i'd see if you might have any more joy than me.
I was aware as a kid my Grandad had been in the first war.( typical tom. He had quite a few 'gizzits' around the house, i.e german bayonet, shell cases, fair bit of trench art etc) but he wouldn't talk at all about it other than him persuading a German officer that he'd like him to give him his watch and mr Wilkinson Sword had the final say and when they threw a French mayor down a well for trying to charge them a franc each for using it as the marched to the front.
Well this has surfaced recently. Found by my uncle when having a sort out

Can anyone help? We always thought he'd been infantry ( south staffs and/or notts and derbys. ) anything would be much appreciated thanks in advance.

 

[FrosteeMARIA]

What was his first name, and do you know date of birth or death?

 

[Robsa68]

George Wiliam Rouse.
He died about 1987

 

[slick]

As Frostee said, more details if you have them ?
Do you know where he passed away ?
His birthplace and date ?

Only information from that document:
G.W. Rouse, 301926, driver in Royal Engineers, 68th (Welsh)Division

Calling @FourZeroCharlie

 

[FrosteeMARIA]

Could this be him?

 

[slick]

Struth Robsa68, you`ve been mulling over this for some years by the looks of it.... Did "naughty" soldiers get no medals ?

 

[Robsa68]

Yes thats grandad Frostie. 2 farm cottage, old hackney lane, matlock.
Slick, yeah i tried years ago to find out about him then it sort of slipped into the background. Then that bit of paper surfaced very recently and its got me wondering again.

This is great that you guys helping out. I just got a dead end when i tried.

 

[slick]

There`s a 1901 census for a George William Rouse, aged 8, born in Matlock, fathers name Thomas, mothers name Elizabeth

 

[kelvin_273]

Yes thats grandad Frostie. 2 farm cottage, old hackney lane, matlock.
Slick, yeah i tried years ago to find out about him then it sort of slipped into the background. Then that bit of paper surfaced very recently and its got me wondering again.

This is great that you guys helping out. I just got a dead end when i tried.

Once @FourZeroCharlie sees this he ought to be able to help. Some of the records he manages to dig up are astounding.

 

[FrosteeMARIA]

There's quite a few linked records I can download - PM me your email address and I'll forward on.

 

[FourZeroCharlie]

Thanks for the shout-out, though as @FrosteeMARIA is running with the ball, I'll let him do the heavy lifting

 

[jockparamedic]

I'm sure I heard that Ancestry.com was free up till 11 November for searches and documents. Might help.

 

[slick]

Got a death index and two censuses stating a birthdate of 04/12/1892.
1939 register, listed as council worker, married to Florence, children Elizabeth and Robert
1911 census listed as William Rouse aged 18, also ties in with father and mothers name in 1901 census. ??

 

[FourZeroCharlie]

@FrosteeMARIA - if you haven't found it yet, he enlisted originally in the Sherwood Foresters on 1 Sep 1914 as 'William Rouse'.

 

[slick]

Mmm, the chap I found, it looks like he was discharged due to hernia ? after just over a month.

 

[FrosteeMARIA]

Found a few bits, but my membership has lapsed on Ancestry....
Just got this though

Free access to all military records Marking Remembrance Day, all Findmypast military records are now free for a week*. Free access ends Thursday 12 November at 10:00 GMT. Start searching ​

Military, armed forces & conflict | findmypast.co.uk

search.findmypast.co.uk

 

[Robsa68]

Got a death index and two censuses stating a birthdate of 04/12/1892.
1939 register, listed as council worker, married to Florence, children Elizabeth and Robert
1911 census listed as William Rouse aged 18, also ties in with father and mothers name in 1901 census. ??

Thats him,nana,my aunt and my dad. They havent got my uncle Eric though. He was army during ww2. In the kosb for the last couple of years.

 

[slick]

Thats him,nana,my aunt and my dad. They havent got my uncle Eric though. He was army during ww2. In the kosb for the last couple of years.

Well that ties in with the service record I posted above. Looks like his first foray into service life lasted just over a month, Sept 1914 to Oct 1914.
It needs a better pair of eyes than mine to read the handwriting but I think he was discharged due to a hernia ?
Did he manage to get that sorted and re enlist at some point ?

 

[FourZeroCharlie]

Well that ties in with the service record I posted above. Looks like his first foray into service life lasted just over a month, Sept 1914 to Oct 1914.
It needs a better pair of eyes than mine to read the handwriting but I think he was discharged due to a hernia ?
Did he manage to get that sorted and re enlist at some point ?

KR para 392 iii has (at his time of enlistment) 7 sub paras allowing for discharge. Mostly for medical reasons-that is, a subsequent medical examination highlighted something missed at his attestation medical or (as would seem to be the case here) a hernia induced by military training.

KRs 1912 para 392 had 28 sub paras, all of which had varying numbers of sub paras also.

It is truly a thing of bureaucratic beauty

 

[Robsa68]

Well that ties in with the service record I posted above. Looks like his first foray into service life lasted just over a month, Sept 1914 to Oct 1914.
It needs a better pair of eyes than mine to read the handwriting but I think he was discharged due to a hernia ?
Did he manage to get that sorted and re enlist at some point ?

There was never any mention of grandad having ever had a hernia. He was working his small farm up till the day he died and played football before and after the war, (this is getting very interesting).So im presuming he got it sorted. Btw. No one ever called my grandad George it was as always Bill or Billy.