Blencowe William 1886

William Blencowe [4206]

1886-1961

Father Nm: Henry Blencowe [1691] born c 1862 Banbury – Oldest Known Ancestor: Thomas Blencowe,1803, Bishops Itchington.

Mother Nm: Hannah Clutterbuck [2511] 1865 Neithrop.

Marriage: 1914 to Emily Derry

K comments: Brother Albert was killed while serving with the Oxford and Bucks LI. Uncles John, Arthur, Reuben and Edward served with Oxford and Bucks LI. Cousins Harry served with Royal Garrison Artillery, John served with the Royal Navy, Thomas and Joseph with the DCLI.

Spouse Comments: Emily J Derry 11 Mar 1892 died 1955 Banbury

Children: Albert W 1928, Gwendoline G 1925, Henry 1936

family tree 1 — The family tree of Thomas Blencowe and Ann Powell shows the ten members of the family that served. In addition to this Gertie daughter of Henry and Hannah , Hilda daughter of John and Ada and Henry Tollerton’s wife Ethel were all munition workers at the Shell filling factory.

Spouse comments:

Children:

(Research):GR[B] Banbury March 1895.

Birth 1886

31 Mar 1886, Banbury.

1901 Census 20 Boxhedge Sq. Neithrop, Banbury

Blencowe Bertha Dau 4
Blencowe Nellie Dau 12
Blencowe Hannah Wife 37
Blencowe Henry Head Builders Labourer 39
Blencowe Albert Son 6
Blencowe John Son 7
Blencowe William Son Builders Labourer 15
Blencowe Annie Dau 17

1911 Census 20 Boxhedge Sq. Neithrop, Banbury

Henry Blencowe 49 Head Labourer Electric Light Co
Hannah Blencowe 47
William Blencowe 25 General Labourer
Ellen Blencowe 22
Albert Blencowe 16 Railway Engine Cleaner GWR
John Blencowe 17 Railway Engine Greaser GWR
Bertha Blencowe 14
Frank Blencowe 7
Frederick Harry Blencowe 4


Royal Engineers	Northampton Regiment	Royal Inniskilling Rgt.

Royal Irish Fusiliers

WW1

Blencowe William, 1886, Banbury, Private, 30676, 40714, 291711, G/28171, WR/343496 1^st Bn. Northamptonshire Regiment, 2^nd Bn. Royal Inniskilling Fus., Royal Irish Fusiliers, Royal Engineers.

Synopsis

William joined up initially with the 1^st Bn. Northants Regt. (source Medal Roll). however, it seems he quickly transferred and served in two Irish regiments the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers. and Royal Irish Fusiliers, In 1917 he was most likely in Greece and Macedonia fighting against the Bulgarians. Sometime in 1918, he was transferred to the Royal Engineers to what was a home-based Inland waterway unit. William may have contracted malaria in Macedonia, it was a very common malaise for the British Soldiers and certainly many were repatriated for long treatment. This may be the reason William is returned home and eventually when recovered transferred to a home-based Royal Engineers regiment. Note: these movements between regiments are not documented in the records so some speculation as to when and why they took place. In 1965 Williams’s service records were extracted from the files and a slip was placed in the records, creating even more mystery about this man’s wartime record. It’s possible that William served in WW2 and in that case, maybe the records are attached to his WW2 file.

1916

Feb. Enlisted in February 1916 (estimate based on a soldier of Northants Regt. No 30638 enlisted 15 Jan 1916)

This suggests that probably in 1916 on enlistment he was quickly transferred to the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers and the 96^th Brigade of the 32^nd Division. In Aug 1916 the 2^nd Bn. Royal Inniskilling Fus. Deployed to Salonika and engaged in various actions against the Bulgarian Army.

War timeline of the 2^nd Bn. Royal Inniskilling Fus.

01.03.1917 The Bn transferred to the 228th Brigade of the 28th Division and engaged in various actions against the Bulgarian Army including;
The capture of Ferdie and Essex Trenches.06.08.1917 Transferred to defend the Lines of Communication.
30.09.1918 the war in Macedonia ended.
At some point in 1916-17, William transferred to the Royal Irish Fusiliers and based on his serial number G28171 he was with the 2^nd Garrison Bn. The war timeline is identical to that of the 2^ndRoyal Inniskilling Regiment .³

1918-1919

William transferred to the Royal Engineers his last regiment as the medal card indicates.

The last serial number William receives has the prefix WR which indicates Waterways & Railways unit, the Medal Roll shows his Royal Engineers subunit to be the Inland Waterway Transport. The serial number WR343496 was issued in March 1918 most likely and William spent this year and probably part of 1919 with the IWT at one of the home bases. Having no specific Engineering skills he was likely used in labouring roles involved with the water transport being made, serviced and sent to France.

Sources

Slaughter on the Somme by John Grehan, and Martin Mace.
The Long, Long Trail The British Army in the Great War, 1914-1918.
Forces war records.

Medals

Victory and British medals.

British Army WWI Service Records four images have been extracted and look like this was done in 1965.

After the War

1921 census

155 Queen Rd, Nuneaton

First name(s)	Last name	Relationship to head	Sex	Birth year	Age in years	Birth place	Occupation	Employer
William	Blencowe	Head	Male	1886	35	Banbury, Oxfordshire, England	Out Of Work Labourer	Casual
Emily Jane	Blencowe	Wife	Female	1892	29	Banbury, Oxfordshire, England	Home Duties	–
Frank	Blencowe	Son	Male	1912	8	Banbury, Oxfordshire, England