Family history - WWI....

Recently I have been assembling family history material. The family group photograph is the main item of historic interest on my father's side of the family. Taken in 1918/19, it was undoubtedly intended to record my Uncle Harold''s award of the Military Medal ( MM ). The family members photographed are really the first to whom some anecdotal colour can be attached as opposed to those listed before them who are really only names and dates. 
 
The Military Medal was established on 25th March 1916 and awarded for acts of gallantry and devotion to duty under fire. It was awarded to other ranks including non-commissioned officers and warrant officers, and ranked below the Distinguished Conduct Medal (DCM). The Military Medal was discontinued in 1993, as part of the review of the British honours system, which recommended removing distinctions of rank in respect of awards for bravery. 
 
Harold's MM was gazetted in the London Gazette of 18th October, 1918 and in the Supplement of the 21st. Unsurprisingly it comprises a list of names and no particular citation. The Queen's Royal West Surrey Regiment 8th Bn. war diaries are online at  :
 
 http://www.queensroyalsurreys.org.uk/war_diaries/local/8Bn_Queens/8Bn_Queens_1918/8Bn_Queens_1918_07.shtml .
 
There is no mention of Harold or his action by name ; MMs were usually gazetted within a couple of months. The closest battle to the Gazette date was the Battle of Cambrai on 8th-10th October, 1918, which seems a bit close. Of course the MM may have been awarded for an isolated act of gallantry not during a major battle. The Battalion diaries indicate the Royal West Surreys were involved in some tough action around Harcourt &  Montigny in the early part of 1918. The diaries record "Battalion papers were burned for fear they would fall into enemy hands....servants, orderlies and cooks were ordered to take up arms to defend the Battalion HQ at one point....Battalion surrounded and retired as best it could to Vendelles." The 8th Battalion was "mentioned in despatches" for the defence of Le Vergnier ( see The Times of 26th March, 1918 ), at which point their strength stood at 11 officers and 150 other ranks. Typically a battalion would comprise 4 - 6 companies of up to 1,000 men. At the end of 1915, the effective strength of the 8th Bn. is recorded as 826 all ranks.
 
Turning to what we can learn from the photo, the badges on his left sleeve in descending order are – signaller, good conduct stripe and two wound stripes. Privates and Lance Corporals were awarded a good conduct stripe for 2, 6, 12 and 18 years' service without being subject to formal discipline. So we know the photo was taken more than two years after he enlisted. We otherwise know he entered France on 25th November, 1915, whereby he would have qualified for the 1914/15 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal, collectively known to the troops as Pip, Squeak and Wilfred after newspaper cartoon characters of the time. The actual medals weren't despatched until 1921.
 
On the left of the photo is Harold's elder brother Stanley eventually a Sergeant in the 9th Bn. Seaforth Highlanders. A bus driver in civilian life, he also drove busses carrying troops on the Western Front ( despite being narcoleptic ). In the middle is Charles, the eldest son. He was in a reserved occupation being a Post Office Engineer and the badge he wears on his lapel indicates this and was intended to spare him the embarrassment of being handed white feathers in the street by patriotic women ! 
 
At the front sits Cissie, the eldest daughter wearing a "Sweetheart" war time momento, probably made from a cap badge and perhaps given to her by one of her brothers. Absent from the photo is her younger sister Elsie ; both were to emigrate to Canada after the war. Paternal grand parents Charles and Lilly are in the middle and to the right sits my father Frank, who would have been 12 at the time.
 
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