A Kennedy Material

[Chris Grimshaw]

Afternoon Team

Slowly working my way through some of A K's material.  I have a bundle of 19 covers, all with contents, mainly Honour envelopes. Spanning from 26 June 1916 through to September 1920. Early one's are all cancelled FPO 81, one T 27 and D 26

Honour envelopes are signed W Mortimer, all written by a son to his mother See scan for a clear indication of his address.
There are big gaps in the correspondence, however in June and August 16, two covers are censored 3 / 226 which FD records as allocated to AC 1 Brigade RFA.

First look at medal cards shows 115 W Mortimer's listed, however adding RFA cuts this down a lot, I think he's Sergt W/344 William Mortimer.  Can anyone confirm this based on the family address?

Cheers  Chris 

[Chris Grimshaw]

A little more on this one.  Have now downloaded his medal card, still available as a Freebie from Kew

It appears he was discharged and awarded the SWB (Silver Wound Badge)  however in a 1919 letter he talks about he was glad he'd stayed in the Army as GB was c--p

Therefore back to square 1, I think.  Chris

PS Medal Card too big to attach......

[Alan Baker]

I have found him, or rather his mother, on Ancestry. In the 1911 Census, she is listed as the daughter of W Wood of Tuddenham St Martin, living with her children, including a son Walter, aged 19.

There are four Walter Mortimers listed on FWR with the RFA. One is your sergeant, one is Canadian and the other two are Walter F. I have not yet managed to trace either of them back to the one on the cover (neither is listed as holding the rank of sergeant)

Still looking...

[Howard Weinert]

Could a sergeant in the British army censor his own mail?
In the American army, only lieutenants and higher could censor mail.

[Chris Grimshaw]

Hi Howard

During wartime officers had to sign when censoring.  The example I've posted dated during Jan 1919 was after the armistice when censorship was starting to relax. Therefore he was able to self censor.

The only wartime exception was the use of the Green Honour envelopes, these were signed by the sender certificating that matters contained within were of a family nature only.  These were liable to censorship at Base level however. 

Chris

[Michael Dobbs]

Chris

I think what Howard is trying to get at is if soldiers cannot censor mail (and you have agreed with this - as do I, only officers could censor mail) then the censor (Mortimer) of your cover [b]could not[/b] be "Sergt W/344 William Mortimer" as you suggested it was!  Back to the drawing board??

Mike

[Chris Grimshaw]

Hello Mike

I've had a further look at the run of correspondence, the cover I posted is certainly signed W Mortimer, the writer of the correspondence.  Signature is exactly the same on the Honour envelopes.

A further Honour envelope cancelled APO Y 31 July 1919 is signed the same and gives us some further information.  He gives his address as Dr (Driver)  Mortimer 78705 R.F.A.  G.H.Q. Horse Lines, Army of the Black Sea. Constantinople.

Question is, was he re-numbered or did I get the wrong chap. I feel the latter.

[Alan Baker]

On FWR, I have seen reference to the Army of the Black Sea. We are away at the moment, so cannot check until we get home

[Peter Harvey]

Mike,

You make a valid point that technically only Officers could censor mail. However, even early in WW1 there are many accounts of Officers asking their SNCO's to read the mail (so censor), before the Officer countersigned.

It is also not unusual in 1919 (and onwards) to see mail with the writers rank and signature, which like Chris I would assume the only purpose was too self censor, or at least make a statement by signature, much as the honour envelopes.

The attached make the point: