Mike Royden's

Royden Family History Pages

Royden - Cheshire/Wirral/Liverpool Branches

Bombardier CHARLES ROYDEN - D Battery, 18th BRIGADE R.F.A

Further Research
Principle further research areas would be to determine on what dates Charles Royden saw active service with 18 Brigade, to read the War Diary, and general background reading.
The war diaries will be at the PRO Kew
Aug 1914 - Nov 1915 = WO 95/3918
Dec 1915 - June 1916 = WO 95/3853
Sept 1916 - July 1917 = WO 95/3889
Aug 1917 - Apr 1919 = WO 95/203 These are unlikely to have a personal mention though he may be noted as a casualty in the last one. The quality and detail of war diaries is extremely variable but should give a more detailed account of the actions noted above.
Personal details may be obtained at PRO from;
The Microfilmed "burnt documents" of soldiers papers ref WO 364, but as only 25% survived it may be unsuccessful.
The Medal Cards - microfiche list of all men's entitlement to medals ref WO 372. This will confirm the basic data; name & number etc but can be difficult to use - initial instead of full name, men using their second name etc. The 1914-15 Star entitlement is listed separately to the British War Medal & Victory medal. If entitled to the 14-15 Star there should be a qualifying date that the man arrived in France. If not all that can be said is he landed from 1.1.16 onwards. The card gives an index number which can be converted to a file reference WO 329/xxx to get the actual medal roll which may or may not give additional info.

Bibliography

Order of Battle Part 4 : Army Council, GHQs,Armies, Corps 1914-18 - Becke
History of the Royal Regiment of Artillery Western Front 1914-18 - Farndale
MacMillan Dictionary of the First World War - Pope & Wheal
Army Service Records of the First World War - Fowler, Spencer & Tamblin
Soldiers Died in the Great War.
Passchendaele in Perspective (chapter 21 - Richardson) - Ed. Liddle
Battle Tactics of the Western Front (chapter 8) - Griffith
British Fighting Methods in the Great War (chapter 2 - Bailey) - ed. Griffith

Acknowledgements
Many thanks to my friend and neighbour Mike Beckett, an expert in military history, (especially WWI & II). Mike gave me a great deal of advice and guidance regarding Charles' army history and memorabilia, such as medals.
His colleague Dave Rees, a fellow expert (who together take groups on battlefield tours in France) very kindly carried out a research enquiry on Charles' army record and sent me a result report with additional research advice. Their help and advice was invaluable in pointing me in the right direction.
After a visit to the web site run by John Burrell and Kevin Stock I posted a research enquiry, to which they kindly replied to after taking the trouble to carry out a search in their records. Their information was put to good use and a photograph of Charles is now on their Soldiers who died in the Great War web site. Well worth a visit to their pages if you are carrying out research.
Click here for gallery page featuring Charles Royden.

Return to Charles Royden (1881-1918) - Biography

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