Following the sadness of the weekend, it’s hard but I guess the show has to go on – and since it’s coming up to Remembrance, particularly with it also being the centenary of the end of the Great War, here’s a wonderful offer from reader Nick Pilley that will be of great help to many researching their family history.
Nick, you’ll remember, was the reader who asked here about his great grandfather Alfred Merrick, a debate that in the end ranged far and wide and really caught the researchers attention.
Well, Nick has this remarkable and historic book: The Walsall and District Roll of the Great War.
…And he’s kindly offered to look up any name from the index, and share the entry with you. All you have to do is state the name you’re looking for.
To help you, the index has been scanned and I’ve presented each page in gallery view at the foot of this post. If you wash to study a page, just click to zoom in; pages are in alphabetical order. Alternatively, you can download a PDF file of the index by clicking here.
Nick said:
Hi Bob,
Attached is the name index from a book I have which lists all (most?) from Walsall area who were involved in the Great War.
Each entry has a very brief paragraph about their service and injuries etc. A (very) few have photos with them.
As you can see, the index shows surname, initials, local area and the page on which the entry appears. There’s far too much to scan the entire book but if anyone finds family mentioned and would like to know what it says I would be happy to provide a scan of that paragraph. They can just email me the details on that entry.I’ll try to respond quickly but I guess it’ll depends if I’m overwhelmed with requests. In which case it’ll be ‘as soon as possible’.
Thanks for everyone’s help with my research, this is a small return.Nick
Nick has included a typical entry below as an example of what can be found in the Roll of Honour.
I’d like to thank Nick here and now for this very kind and thoughtful offer, and if there’s a name you’d like Nick to look up, please do comment here, email me on BrownhillsBob at googlemmil dot com or give me a shout on social media.
Remembrance is very important to me and the blog and this is a wonderful opportunity to find out about what your relatives might have been doing in the First World War.
