Thread: help searching for WWI soldier information

Because I am living in Canada, disabled and on a limited pension, I do not have a credit card on which to join any of the Internet based databases. For that reason, I am unable to track my grandfather's military details. Born in London on August 11, 1895, he joined the British army prior to the beginning of WW!, came home to marry his sweetheart in 1914 after basic training of a year which I believe was the standard, and he was then sent to Europe to fight the Germans. His name was James Leonard. Leonard was the way he probably spelt the name but as his mother could not read or write, it was the misspelling of Leonard as Lennard on his birth certificate which generated a few problems for him. It was properly corrected in 1939 by a legal entry. He lived in London and eventually settled in Croydon. His late father John and grandfather William (wife: Ann), an Irishman from County Cork, were both London Dockworkers living in St. George in the East. By 1934, James Leonard held a seat on the London Stock Exchange and lived in a large house in Croydon, enjoying the captures of his success. He died of heart problems at age 54 in 1949. His father John had died at about the same age when James was a youngster. I am trying to track down James's military service so I can complete that part of the family military history that eludes me. His daughter Pat was at RAF Biggin Hill as a WAAF plotter and was cited for bravery having survived a direct hit of a 500-lb bomb on the Ops Building. She appears in a group "Glamour Watch" picture in Bob Ogley's book, GHOSTS OF BIGGIN HILL. She later became a cipher officer and was senior officer of the 250-contingent of WAAF at RAF Wigtown in Scotland. Married by 1942, she resigned her commission by the end of that year due to her pregnancy. She came to Canada in March 1945 along with her two sons born in Harrogate. When asked why she joined the WAAF, she said she felt it was her duty as her father did not have any sons.



Regards

Bob Carswell (adapted)

Thanks very much for getting back to me. Unfortunately his regiment or details were not something that my mother learned before her father's death in 1949 and I was only 5 at the time. However, I do have an address when he was born in 1895 at 128 Red Lion St., St. George in the East South. He also appears there in the 1901 census with his family, aged 5. I am hoping that they were still there in 1911 but I have not accessed the 1911 census. Unfortunately, nothing of a military nature came down to my mother as she, like him, only looked to the future because the past had been difficult with his first wife dying at age 30 in 1926, fight with the in-laws who were taking care of the two daughters while he sorted out his life after her death and remarried. He had been away at war for the duration and there were a lot of memories that he wanted to forget from that period. With the name LEONARD, it is a difficult one to trace from this end as it was so common. I was hoping his papers survived or the medal file would turn up some options. The only two stories my mother told me was about a bite on the neck from a horse which suggests he might have worked with horses and being in a foxhole with some buddies when an officer came along and threw in a medal which I understand was a tactic used to motivate the men. Whether he got it or someone else is not clear. That is all I can add. I hope it helps....let me know what you find at that address on the 1911 census. His father's name was John Leonard and there were a number of children at the same address. I am guessing he left home to go to war and not before.



Thanks for the help.

Kindest regards,

Bob

Hi



There is a James Lennard, number 8900, a private, rifleman, in the rifle brigade, 'whose existing engagement will expire 27 January 1914' and who re-enlisted in London 12th August 1913. He was 5 ft 4 inches tall, and reinlisted in the Royal Engineers. His medal card also exists. He received the Victory medal, the British medal, and the Star, Qualifying date 10 September 1914, but sadly neither have any further information such as address, or next of kin, that might confirm this. I also searched under Leonard, and there were also a lot of other James Leonard's. Sadly there wasn't enough information to work out who was who, but the one above is the only one who has that earlier enlistment date. Sorry not to be more helpful.