The WW1 service record of Charles Messent might never have been found but for the Guild of One-Name Studies. The World War 1 service record of Charles Messent Private 10450 3rd Battalion Northamptonshire Regiment popped up in my study purely by luck. Unfortunately, more than half of the service records of WW1 soldiers were destroyed in September [Click to continue…]

Julian Henry Francis Grenfell was born 30 May 1888 the eldest son of William Henry, later Lord Desborough, and Ethel Ann Priscilla Grenfell. He had always wished for a military career and in 1910 was commissioned into the 1st Royal Dragoons and stationed in India.  In 1911 the regiment was transferred to South Africa until August 1914 when it returned [Click to continue…]

What happened to our Joe? This is the story of Joe Cree, a young Australian farmer. But it could be the story of anyone who joined up to fight for his country. It is perhaps the archetypical story of war. Joseph Cree was born in Majorca, a little town in Victoria, in November 1894. His father Samuel Talbot Cree was born in County Down, Ireland, probably [Click to continue…]

James Frederick Rayment was born at Hackney, London, in October 1873, the sixth and last child of an Essex born Blacksmith named Anthony Rayment and his wife Anne Rayment née Keeble. James was only seven years old when his father died at the age of 54 leaving him, together with his three brothers and two sisters, to be brought up by his mother Anne [Click to continue…]