DCM Research Notes
The principal sources used to compile this database are:
First World War medal index cards, The National Archives.
FURTHER NOTES TO FOLLOW
Soldiers Died in the Great War, Volume 48 (Essex Regiment). This notes awards held by soldiers who died, the vast majority of them having been earned with the Essex Regiment.
“Essex Units in the War” by J W Burrows, 6 volumes. Referred to as “Burrows”. Volume 1 covers the history of the 1st Battalion; Volume 2 the 2nd Battalion; Volume 5 the Territorial Battalions (4th to 8th); and Volume 6 the Service Battalions (9th to 15th). The other two volumes deal with the Militia or 3rd Battalion, which did not serve overseas during the war, and the Essex Yeomanry. The most useful is Volume 5 which contains generally complete lists of honours and awards of the four Territorial Battalions that served overseas, although there are some discrepancies in ranks, initials and spelling of surnames.
“With the 1/5th Essex in the East” by Lt Col T Gibbons (Benham & Co, Colchester, 1921). Referred to as “Gibbons”. This volume helpfully lists all the 1/5th Battalion’s honours, awards and casualties from its service in Gallipoli in 1915 to the Egyptian and Palestinian campaigns in 1917/8. Detailed accounts of acts of gallantry are included for a number of the actions.
“With the 10th Essex in France” by Lt Col T M Banks and Capt R A Chell (London, 1921)
“The Southend & District Roll of Honour 1914-21”, compiled by Jeffrey Jarvis (1998; referred to in this roll as “Southend book”). It is based on a book issued just after the war but greatly expanded to include material from local newspapers, photographs, graves in local cemeteries etc.
"British Line Regiments DCM and MM awards 1914-1920" by C K Bate and H J Williamson.
Gazettes after the war came to an end generally give the Battalion number. For other recipients whose medals have not been on the market or noted in private collections, information on the Battalion has been drawn from the medal index cards and – in a minority of cases - from regimental histories or other sources. In the event of any conflict of information, the medal index cards are preferred as a source. The cards give the battalion number only for the first award: unless other evidence exists of the battalion with which a man was serving when awarded a bar, it is assumed that subsequent bars were earned with the same battalion. Regrettably there is one MM card that has not been traced. This is to Pte Skinner who received his bar with 11th Bn. While we cannot be entirely confident, given that he is known to have served previously with 2nd Bn, the late Gazette date (October 1918) suggests that he earned the MM with 11th Bn and this is assumed for the purposes of the analysis of awards to Battalions.
First names are found on some medal index cards but not others. The MM cards for awards gazetted in 1919 give the first names in almost all cases. Forenames are not given in the London Gazette for awards of the MM and sometimes the full initials are not given. Forenames have also been derived from Soldiers Died or the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Any discrepancy between the full names and initials as they appear in the Gazette are noted.
Numbering systems
The service numbers borne by men say something of their original service. The main series of Essex Regiment numbers was issued in order of date of enlistment and ranges from below 10000 (for regular soldiers who were serving before the outbreak of the war) up to over 50000. Most numbers have 5 digits.
Numbers beginning 3/xxxx designate men from the Special Reserve, many of whom were former regular soldiers.
Following the renumbering of Territorial Force units in 1917, men who had previously served with one of the territorial battalions of the Essex Regiment are easily identified from their 6 digit numbers:
Numbers beginning from 200001 - 4th Bn
Numbers beginning from 250001 - 5th Bn
Numbers beginning from 275001 - 6th Bn
Numbers beginning from 300001 - 7th Bn
Numbers beginning from 325001 - 8th Bn
Numbers beginning from 350001 - 15th Bn
Numbers beginning from 375001 - 16th Bn
Numbers beginning from 400001 - 17th Bn
It is noticeable that a significant number of men who had served with the 4th Battalion were distributed among other battalions, particularly the 1st and 10th. These and other men bearing “territorial” numbers outside the TF Battalions are likely to have been posted on the winding up of the 2nd line TF battalions in 1918 (end of 1915 in the case of 2/4th Bn).