WW1 Pair

The WW1 pair (the left two medals) awarded to J Wynne with a service number of 3830 tells us that
he was a territorial force soldier (most regular soldiers had a 6 digit regimental number), so he was
serving with a Territorial Force Royal Welsh Fusiliers regiment when he qualified for these 2 medals.
A search for his medal index card confirms his first name as John and also tells us he was allocated a
new regimental number 241549. In 1917 virtually all territorial force soldiers were given a new 6
digit regimental number, the numbers were issued from a number block allocated to the battalions.
His number 241549 falls into the number block 240001-265000 which was allocated to the 5th
(Flintshire) Battalion which were formed in Flint 1914. After the original battalions were raised it was
decided to double the territorial force but rather than giving the new units unique numbers/names
they simply called the original 5th Battalion 1/5th and called the newly raised Battalion the 2/5th
Battalion. Some regiments also had an extra 'reserve' battalion and this is the case with the 5th who
also had 3/5th (confusing isn't it!) The question is which battalion did he serve with?
I cannot find either service records nor pension records for this man, the most likely scenario is that
they were destroyed during the blitz when the records building was bombed. What I can tell you is
that the qualification criteria for the two medals he holds in simplistic terms means that he must
have served overseas and entered a theatre of war.
The 2/5th were formed in Flint September 1914 as a home service unit, they served in Northampton,
Bedford, Westleton, Henham Park (Halesworth) before moving to Yarmouth in 1917 and then
disbanded in March 1918. None of these home service deployments would qualify a soldier for the
pair so it is unlikely he served with the 2/5th.
The 3/5th were formed in Flint March 1915, in 1916 the 5th was absorbed into the 4th, this was
before the 1917 renumbering of the territorial force so on that alone we can rule the 3/5th out,
further to this they never served overseas.
That leaves the 1/5th (Flintshire) Battalion The Royal Welsh Fusiliers which were formed in Flint
August 1914. They moved around Wales and Southern England until deployment to Gallipoli 19th
July 1915. In December 1915 they were evacuated from Gallipoli to Egypt. On the 3rd August 1918
they were amalgamated with the 1/6th Battalion to form the 5/6th Battalion.
Although I cannot find service or pension records for 3830/241549 John Wynne of the Royal Welsh
Fusiliers I have found records for 3846/241564 John Davies of the Royal Welsh. As you can see their
numbers are very close together. At the beginning of the war there was no shortage of volunteers, a
regimental number just 16 digits apart in the same regiment almost certainly means they joined on
the same day so it stands to reason that if we find John Davies service records it should give us the
date for John Wynne's attestation and most likely providing he also served with the 5th Battalion we
can speculate that they served together.
John Davies attested on the 3rd September 1915. He was initially posted to the 3rd (Reserve)
Battalion based at that time in Litherland, Liverpool. This was The Royal Welsh's training battalion so
both John Davies & John Wynne would have gone here for their initial training.
On the 4th January 1916 he was posted to the 3/5th and on the 14th January to the 1/5th Battalion.
At some point shortly afterwards he (probably they) embarked upon the H.T. Angonia bound for
Egypt (where the 1/5th were after the withdrawal from Gallipoli), he arrived at Alexandria on the 1st
February 1916 and joined his unit (the 1/5th) on the 19th March 1916 at Khatatbak. In March 1917
John Davies was wounded in action (gun shot wound left buttock) in Gaza and admitted to hospital.
John Davies was killed in action 10th March 1918 and is buried in Jerusalem War Cemetery.
The 1/5th (Flintshire) Battalion The Royal Welsh Fusiliers were part of the 158th (North Wales)
Brigade of the 53rd (Welsh) Division. The Division saw action (after John Davies/John Wynne joined
them) in the following battles:
-5 August 1916 - Battle of Romani (Palestine)
-27 March 1917 - First Battle of Gaza (likely when John Davies was wounded in action)
-19 April 1917 - Second battle of Gaza
- 7 November 1917 - Third battle of Gaza (including capture of Beersheba & Tell
Khuweilfe)
-9 December 1917 - The capture of Jerusalem
-30 December 1917 - The defence of Jerusalem
-12 March 1918 - The Battle of Tell'Asur (likely where John Davies was killed in action)

Between the 4th of June and the 29 August 1918 most of the Division's units were replaced with
Indian Army units and the British units were moved to France, this ties with the 1/5th's
amalgamation with the 1/6th to form the 5/6th on the 3rd August 1918, they then likely went to
France.
Territorial Force Efficiency Medal
The 3rd medal on the right is a TF efficiency medal awarded for long service and good conduct. The
criteria was 12 years of TF service with war service counting double. There is a separate WW1 medal
index card for a J Wynne regimental number 301, serving with the Denbighshire Yeomanry
(Hussars)(mounted). This is (in my opinion) a different J Wynne.
Red Cross County Badge
Obviously a local Red Cross Badge, looking at the census records for the Wynne's living in and
around Denbigh leading up to WW1 I would speculate that M Wynne is a female relative (Mary
crops up on census records).
The name 'Wynne'
There are lots of Wynne's in the Denbigh area showing on both census and military records, some
military records show service for a John Wynne as far back as 1903 and again during WW1, this
could be a relation but in my mind unlikely to be either of these recipients.