Sunday May 12th, 1918
Company Guard. Funny Sunday. Very hot and visit from Patrick Garrett and Harry Taylor. Good time with them, dismounted guard 7:30 and had a walk with the above.
Friends Visit
Frank has a visit from two old friends from Shaw – Patrick Garrett and Harry Taylor. The latter is a very common name and therefore it is difficult to track him down. However, thanks to Charlie of the Manchesters.org, we think we might have more information on Patrick Garrett. A William Garrett served with the 13th and followed a similar path to Frank, being transferred to the Cheshire Regiment in 1919. Nicknaming him Pat (aka the sheriff who shot Billy the Kid) must have been irresistible to his friends. William, regimental number 352113, served with the 13th and then the 9th Battalion of the Manchesters. When he moved to the Cheshire regiment in 1919 his regimental number became 69781.
Detective Work
I thought that I had found out more about William and discovered a strong family connection with Frank. The Garretts lived next door to Frank’s wife’s family on Farrow Street in Shaw. Before the war, Sarah’s older brother Willie married Ethel, William’s older sister.
According to the 1911 census, William Garrett was born in about 1894. He was one of seven children to Charles and Emma Garrett. His father was an insurance agent but William and all his siblings of working age were in the cotton industry. This included Bertha, one of his sister, who at 13 was a part-time school girl and a mill worker.
William had two brothers of military age, George and Fred. I have been unable to find anything concrete about his older brother, but have found the attestation papers for Fred.
Attestation Papers
Fred was 19 years old when he attested in December 1915.¹ He was automatically put into the Army Reserve and then mobilized in mid-January when he joined the 16th Hants (Hampshire) Regiment as a private. In April, the OC of the 16th Hants, approved him to 3rd Portsmouth Battalion. However Fred was discharged in July 1916 as ‘no longer physically fit for war service’ under paragraph 392 (XVI) of the King’s Regulations.
It seems that Fred completed his basic training but was discharged instead of being sent with the Battalion to war. According to the categorization of men’s fitness to serve, his discharge indicates that he was unfit for service either with the ASC overseas or with a garrison in the UK.
By March 1918, Paragraph 392 (XVI) of the King’s Regulation had been further clarified, ‘A soldier found medically unfit by a military Medical Board for further service, irrespective of his length of service, ie unfit for any medical category required in the Army, will be discharged under this heading.’²
Footnote
My sleuthing days may be over. Further research on William Garrett of Farrow Street in Shaw showed that he drowned in France in summer 1917 while serving with 1/Hampshire. His regimental number was 21991 and he is buried at Crump Trench British Cemetery in Fampoux. This connection would also explain why Fred joined the Hampshire Regiment.
This means of course that William Garrett, Frank’s friend and colleague in the 13th, remains a mystery.
13th (Service) Battalion War Diary – 12th May 1918 – Saida
Church Services as usual.
References & Further Reading
¹ Attestation papers, public domain, sourced from Ancestry.co.uk
² More info on Paragraph 392 of the King’s Regulations
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