M.I.D. WW1 - General Allenby

Good afternoon everyone.

I would like some advice please on finding details of a Despatch written by:

General Sir E.H.H. Allenby G.C.B G.C M.G on: the 5th March 1919.

All attempts before, to access this information, have been foiled or discouraged by being told that very few WW1 Despatches survived the blitz of WW2.

Now I have entered 'cyber-world' and have some time to follow things up, I am optimistic of some success, with your help.

The soldier in question was my Grandfather: 25934 Sjt. Bradley RAMC attd. 127th. Ind. Combined Fd. Amb.

I know that he was at Gallipoli, and then went through Mesopotamia to Jerusalem, then finally to Cairo, before being sent home.

The date of the Despatch is interesting, in that it dates some 4 months after the Armistice? - clearly there was fighting in this theatre after 1918? or perhaps the date of Despatch is not concurrent with the events described within it?

The notice of MID is signed by Winston Churchill, in his capacity as Secretary of State for War on the 1st July 1919. I am assuming it was signed by some sort of mechanical device?

Any help or advice gratefully received

Regards - 2404

 

Have you tried the National Archives ?

 

It seems that there was a good deal of civil unrest in Egypt at the time. Infact a revolt was started in March 1919 by the followers of Saad Zaghul who demanded independance for Egypt. So your grandfather was most likely involved there.

I have the second volume of 'Allenby, A Study In Greatness' -'Allenby in Egypt'. A fascinating book.

 

Get a "Who Who" from the local library and write to his grandson the current Lord Allenby. The grandson was a Lt Col in the RAC many moons ago....maybe he could help you!!!

 

National Archives has your Grandads Medal card. Go here:

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documentsonline/details-result.asp?Edoc_Id=1568261&queryType=1&resultcount=1

 

For some reason, lots of the dates of despatch are after the Armistice, my great grandfather served in France throughout the war but some of his are listed in early 1919

 

This might be of interest aswell:

http://www.1914-1918.net/75div.htm

 

You can achive a lot if you contact the local newspaper for his home town. It would be unusual for a local boy to win a medal or MiD without some kind of article. My Great Uncle got a few column inches just for being shot in the head by a sniper, mind you he didn't get to read it for obvious reasons.

 

Hello again.

Thank you all for taking the time to post - the information has been very helpful.

Thanks to mattmo for posting those direct links - such is my staggering technological ineptitude, that I was merely going from index to index in the Archive - without ever once being able to access the information!

Thanks again,

and any further help/ information/advice will be gratefully received.

Regards

2404

 

2404, have you tried The London Gazette?
You might need to persevere a bit since not all of the keywording is accurate, but Allenby's despatch ought to have been published there. The ones that I have seen don't contain much of a description but are followed by a long list of names. I don't know if there is much correlation between the date of despatch and its date of publication.
Good luck.