Can you tell me about my relation’s uniform?
QI have a photo of my ancestor James Neil (born 1878 in Sheffield), and I am trying to obtain more information about him. I know that he served in Egypt. Can you help? Tina Shorter
ASixty per cent of First World War service records were destroyed in 1940, so we usually have to look elsewhere for information. Your photograph offers some clues though. It’s a studio portrait of a pioneer in a Light Infantry regiment (Durham Light Infantry or King’s Shropshire Light Infantry), probably taken in 1915.
Men who served abroad received medals, so James must have a Medal Index Card. Searching The National Archives’ (TNA’s) online collections (the best indexed) for cards for James Neil in the KSLI and the DLI, I found none in the KSLI, and only one in the DLI. This was a
Silver War Badge card for a Labour Corps private, James Neil, number 164635, which adds “ex DLI”. Silver War Badges were given to soldiers discharged through wounds or sickness to show they weren’t shirkers.
The cards are viewable on Ancestry ( ancestry.co.uk) and can be downloaded from nationalarchives.gov.uk/help-with-your-research/ research-guides/british-army-medal-index-cards-1914-1920. Ancestry also has the medal rolls saying which battalions each man served in, and one Labour Corps roll confirms previous service abroad for 164635 and that he was formerly in the DLI.
One thing we do know is that James served in Egypt. I checked which battalions of DLI served there – only the 18th Battalion, it appears. Its War Diaries are available to download from TNA’s site including its brief spell in Egypt in 1916 (WO95/4590).
Phil Tomaselli