Oliver Strangward War Record 1914 - 1917

From his war record on the Commonwealth War Graves site, I found he was part of the 11th Battalion of the Royal Welsh Fusiliers, and, hoping to find out more, arranged a visit to Kew to the Public Record Office to see if his war record had survived in the ‘burnt documents’ in the summer of 2000.

The names beginning with ‘S’ had just been released. Oliver Strangward’s record was there and it confirmed that he had indeed been sent to Mesopotamia, as his family had alway suspected. When he went off to war he sent them back an embroidered postcard and one of them had the wording he had agreed with them before he went, telling them that he was to leave for Mesopotamia. The record was more detailed than I had expected, even describing his physical appearance:

At the time of his examination, Oliver Strangward was 20 years old, and is described as an engineer. He was 5 feet, 3 and three quarter inches tall, and weighed 126 pounds - just 9 stones. His chest measurement when fully expanded was only 33 and a half inches; 31 and a half otherwise. His physical development is only graded as ‘fair’. His vision was good in both eyes, and he had two vaccination marks on his right arm. The examiner made note of two scars on his chest on the right side.

Oliver Strangward's World War I record also summarized his movements from the time he enlisted in December 1915 to the day he was killed, April 13th, 1917:

7.6.16: Embarked: Devonport, England
5.7.16: Disembarked: Basrah
13.8.16: Oliver was admitted to hospital in Sheikh Saad
20.8.16: Oliver rejoined his unit
10.12.16: Oliver was admitted to hospital again, this time in Sinn Abtar, with a sprained ankle.
3.1.17: Oliver was discharged to depot in Tanumuna
20.2.17: Oliver rejoined his unit
13.4 17: Oliver was killed in action

While at Kew, I decided to try my luck and see if any of the war diaries of the 8th Battalion of the Royal Welsh Fusiliers had survived.

Incredibly, my luck held, and I was able to transcribe the war diary entries for the battalion, describing their activities in Mesopotamia from the date Oliver disembarked at Basrah to the day of his death.

Although the diary doesn’t mention Oliver specifically, the events tally well with his record. He was in hospital in Sinn Abtar in December 1916 with a sprained ankle the day after the battalion had completed a very difficult march in rainy, muddy and slippery conditions.

The diary talks about several injuries to foot soldiers. On the day Oliver died, the battalion was engaged in a spate of heavy fighting.

In November 2002, my research into Oliver’s story was featured in a one page article in The Yorkshire Post, generating my own clipping for the family archives.