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nigelweysom
10-10-2008, 19:52
Fort George Military Cemetery

occupying a position above the harbour of St Peter Port Guernsey sits Fort George , now filled with houses built in the 1960s it was once filled with soldiers from many regiments , including not surprisingly the Guernsey Militia and the Royal Guernsey Light Infantry, this last regiment being formed in the second half of the great war when the States of Guernsey answered the call for men by introducing conscription , despite the fact that there had been no conscription prior to this there was no shortage of Guernsey men who had volonteered , my Grand Father Frederick weysom had lied about his age and joined the Guernsey service company aged 16 and had transferred to the Gordon Highlanders ,many others had been placed in the Irish regiments due to a shortage of men from there, within this British Army garrison can be found Fort George Military cemetery
this cemetery contains over 200 graves containing men from 16 army regiments ,two airmen , one royal marine , family members from the garrison and one hundred and eleven men from the occupying German forces of world war two.
the regiments included are, the Queens own Royal west Kent reg the Royal Irish reg the Royal Engineers the Royal Defence corps the Prince of Wales North Staffordshire reg the middlesex reg the Grenadier Guards the Wiltshire reg the North Yorkshire reg the Manchester reg the Lincolnshire reg the Royal Artillery the Army Service corps and the Yorkshire reg , amongst the family members one grave that is of particular interest to my self is that of Gladys Vera Cross who died age 8 on Jan 7th 1920 she was my Grandmothers sister ,she was buried at Fort George because her Father was a Sergeant Major in the Scots Guards,
Fort George can be found on the Common Wealth War Graves Commission web site but there are only 25 records
Nigel

jainso31
20-11-2010, 10:01
Hi Nigel
Looking through Malcolm Bellis's work on British Regiments in WW2-I did notice quite a number of the Regiments of the Line raised National Defence Companies-have not seen any ROYAL DEFENCE units though-for instance the 11t battalion of the Hampshire Regt.became Royal Militia for the Isle of Jersey and the Devonshire Regt.10th battalion became the 80A Group NDC for the Channel Islands.
Just a snippet that would possibly set you a task of finding out about this one soldier of the Royal Defence Corps.The rest are well known units.

jainso31


Always on the Lookout!

nigelweysom
21-11-2010, 19:25
Jainso31 just one headstone for 66309 private M Sleeth Royal Defence Corp
20 Jan 1918 picture included , i probably wont to be back in our library until next month , but if i get around to it i will see if i can find any thing
Nigel

jainso31
22-11-2010, 10:25
My apologies Nigel-I'm forgetting that it was a Great War establishment!!!
The Royal Defence Corps was formed from Home Service battalions-mostly older men unfit for front line service-a bit like the Home Guard; but still War Office contolled. They could be deployed anywhere in the UK and hence Guernsey.I think 16 Regiments participated eg.The Devonshire,The Royal Welch and The Liverpool Regiments to name a few.
PS.Sorry for being such a smart a--e.

jainso31


Always on the lookout!

nigelweysom
23-11-2010, 22:13
not entirely Great war as it was still used in ww11 ,
Nigel

jainso31
24-11-2010, 10:48
Nigel--I did mean the Royal Defence Corps in WW1,which spawned the National Defence Companys in WW2. I accept that a CWGC Cemetary is for perpetuity.


jainso31